Some people feel that managing diabetes places restrictions on their daily lives. It feels as though there are a lot of “shoulds” and “should nots” about what to eat and how much activity to do. You have more to think about in your daily life than you did before you had diabetes.
This may seem like a lot of responsibility, but it also means that you have the freedom to make your own choices. Because diabetes is an illness that you manage largely on your own, you are in charge of most of your daily self-care. Your health care providers do not live with you and cannot insist that you follow their advice. As much as your family and friends can help you and offer support, they cannot manage your diabetes for you. It is up to you. You are free to decide how much or how little you do to care for your diabetes. Because you live with the results of your choices, you have the right to make them.
Many events in our lives are not of our own choosing. Diabetes is not something most people want. But while you cannot change the fact that you have diabetes, you do have choices to make about how you live with it and your attitude toward it. The way you respond to diabetes can affect whether you feel diabetes is a disaster, a burden or an opportunity to choose a healthier lifestyle. No matter how limited you may feel, there are always choices you can make.
Taking responsibility
However, with freedom comes responsibility. Because the choices you make every day affect your long-term health and quality of life, you have a great deal of responsibility. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by this, but there are things you can do to better handle it:
1. Learn all that you can about diabetes. The more you know, the more you are able to weigh the costs and benefits of the choices you make. Ask your health care provider for a referral to a diabetes education program in your area. Keep up-to-date about new findings.
2. Work with your provider to develop a diabetes management plan that matches your goals and abilities. Be honest about what you can and cannot do. Remember, you are the one who has diabetes and lives with it each day.
3. Be honest with yourself. It may be tempting to shift the decisions to your health care provider or to blame the people around you for how healthy or unhealthy you may be. If you are struggling with this level of responsibility, ask yourself the following questions to try to understand more about why you feel this way: What stands in the way of accepting responsibility for my diabetes
- What are the negatives of being forced to behave in certain ways?
- What are the benefits of feeling controlled by diabetes?
- What are the negatives and positives of accepting responsibility for diabetes care?
- What one thing can you do this week to take charge of your diabetes care?
Power comes from accepting responsibility for our choices. Taking responsibility for managing your diabetes gives you power and control over your diabetes and your life.
