Another post that first appeared on the Diabetes OC site when I was “Featured Blogger of the Week” over the holidays. This one kind of sums up what keeps me going, even on the worst D-days…
Hope
If I’ve learned anything about living with diabetes (see my previous post here), it’s that attitude is everything.
When other people hear that I have diabetes, and they ask, “Oh, is it bad?” I can choose to get pissed off, or not. I can also start to think about it with the same negativity myself: “Yes, it is bad. It’s hugely invasive, and the statistics say there are some pretty ugly diabetes complications in my future….”
Let’s face it, I’m over 40, and I do not expect to see a cure for this illness in my lifetime. If I focus on all those things, I can get pretty darn depressed. And then it’s hard to care about whether my post-breakfast BG was in range today. It’s a viscous cycle.
For those who know my blog, clearly I am skeptical and often sarcastic about new treatments and findings. But don’t mistake my offbeat humor and my use of sarcasm as a defense mechanism for fundamental pessimism. I remain full of hope for the future, which I believe is essential for living a healthy and productive life.
I’ve known Dr. Bill Polonsky of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute for quite a while now. He’s been very inspirational, and has solidified for me the value of a can-do attitude: “The patients who do best are the optimistic ones — not because they are by nature ‘happy,’ but because optimism is really a problem-solving approach. When a bad thing happens to an optimistic person, that person feels empowered to do something about it. Pessimists, on the other hand, do not feel empowered, and compound the problem by telling themselves: ‘this will always happen to me.’”
To my mind, a can-do attitude can only spring from the belief that things can and will get better, despite whatever setbacks may occur.
In other words, Quality of Life with Diabetes is all about your attitude. And to have a positive, can-do attitude, you have to have hope. Hope is everything.
1hope
Function: verb
1: to cherish a desire with anticipation
2: to desire with expectation of obtainment
3: to expect with confidence
I disagree. Pessimism is hoping for the best but planning for the worst. And that is the best strategy for life, the ultimate problem-solving strategy. Optimism was the chief foible of the Bush administration — refusing to confront problems and admit that things wouldn’t go as well as originally conceived, thinking that all the disasters that occurred would magically resolve themselves. Therefore they had no Plan B. What was the famously clueless Reagan if not an optimist?
Pessimists always have a Plan B, Plan C, etc. We’re better prepared and equipped to tackle life’s problems. Also, we don’t tend to sit around and cry about misfortune, or be surprised when terrible things happen. This makes us more resilient and better able to cope with the bad stuff in life. Sometimes there isn’t a silver lining and you just have to ride out the storm — as with type 1 diabetes.
Pessimism is not fatalism. Hope is important, but so is being in touch with reality. I cried tears of joy when Obama was elected on a message of hope. But he is not a cockeyed optimist. Nor should we be.
Lauren, I would label you as a realist, not a pessimist. I think Bill is talking about someone who expects and plans for worst feeling that this always happens to them, life sucks, etc. You sound more like someone who has a plan for whatever happens, positive or negative. Just my opinion.
joan
Interesting take, Lauren. But I still believe that pessimism means believing things will turn out badly, which is generally a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Also, having hope doesn’t mean you have to be naive.
I am interested in healthcare reform, and you can’t have a discussion about reform without addressing chronic conditions like diabetes. I’m ashamed to say it’s a condition I know very little about.
Can it be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle, or are some people predisposed to getting it?
Amy, I’m totally with you. Having lived with the T-1 for 45 years, I’ve have my days of outright pessimism and fear but my friends and family see me as an optimistic human being and I agree. The pessimists in my life think I’m a bit Pollyanna, but really – it boils down to a saying my Mother gave me a long time ago “don’t borrow trouble from the future” which means, deal with today and don’t fret over what might or might not happen tomorrow. How Zen of her. In another valuable lesson, she also once forced me to spit an expensive piece of chocolate into her hand – not because I was being a bad diabetic by eating that candy, but because my face was so dissapointed by getting one I didn’t like. Then she told me to pick another one saying – if you’re going to sin, at least make it worthwhile. Such good wisdom! And that attitude has helped me stay healthy, because I refuse to get stuck on the downers that occassionally present themselves and try to live in the moment with the choice of being happy. Real optimism comes by facing reality, dealing honestly and choosing hope over fear.
Amy. Here is a plug to stay the course. All new news is old news happening to people that did not read history. It is always the darkest before dawn. Do you remember the glow of a full Moon, a starry night, a rainbow after a storm, and an aurora borealis display. They are all still there even during a dark and stormy night. It is easier to curse the darkness than light a candle. You have brought light to a dark scene. The light you shine bring facts and knowledge in place of ignorance. Living live is a 24/7, day-to-day and minute by minute. Over the years, 42 as a type 1 diabetic, it has been very difficult to shine a light and knowledge to people that do not care, fearful, scared, angry, in denial, depressed and or do not want to care. Your website is a direct reference point that I can share with diagnosed diabetics, staff, nurses, etc., with a message that there is HOPE and they are not alone.
Keep up the great work and thanks for being there!
D2
You can have all the hope in the world but if you don’t have access to or can afford quality health care, you’re screwed.