3 Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Your Blood Sugar (Without the “Just Think Positive” Mindset)

*Disclaimer: All content and  information in this blog is for informational and educational purposes only. 

We hear it all of the time.. “You attract the energy you put out into the world. Just think positive.”. The person who came up with that saying never lived with type one diabetes..

Let’s be honest, diabetes is hard. We are faced with looking at numbers all of the time. Our blood sugars. Our carb counts. Our ratios. The arrows and what they mean. The alerts on our pumps or continuous glucose monitors. The endless decision-making and acting as our own pancreas can get exhausting (to say the least). 

I believe that diabetes burnout lives on a spectrum. Sometimes I notice it in the small day-to-day activities like changing my site. Other times it’s when I wish I didn’t have to wait 15 minutes to eat or count every carb on my plate. Sometimes diabetes feels all consuming. Other days it’s on the back burner and the last thing I want to think about. Burnout comes in both forms.

If you’ve been experiencing burnout in any form, here’s your reminder that it’s normal – and it’s okay. This blog post is here to give you tools that you can use when the feeling starts to creep up.

#1: Anchor in a Positive Environment:

Anchoring is an amazing practice used in neurolinguistic programming. It’s a tool that utilizes any of our senses to activate a desired emotion. You have anchors built in subconsciously already…

• The smell of cookies that reminds you of your grandmothers house
• The song you listened to in high school that reminds you of that ex-partner. 
• The smell of disinfectant that reminds you of your endocrinologists office.
  

Anchors can be used to create a positive experience at any given moment – like when checking your blood sugars. Why is this important? When we’re in a better headspace while checking our blood sugars, the more rational we are in our decision making – and the better our blood sugar outcomes are.

For example, when I check my blood sugars in my office, I tend to feel rushed and stressed. This shows in my decision making when I put a rage bolus in my pump or set a random temp basal. The outcome? A low an hour later and back on the roller coaster I go.

This outcome would be much different if I took the time to implement an anchor like:

• Turning on the diffuser to create a relaxed environment
• Stepping away from my desk into another room
• Turning on my favorite hype song that makes me feel confident every time.
  

#2: Reframe the Experience:

Our mind is a muscle – we have to train it. It takes conscious work at first, but after a while the muscle grows stronger. It’s easy to get caught up in the highs and lows because our mind associates them with ‘bad’. But what if we could remain neutral and use them as information for our next action?

The best way to do this? Take one day to see the thoughts that naturally pop up when you see your blood sugars. Write them down. Later that night, rewrite them into what you would like to sound like instead.

My favorite reframes:

• High blood sugar → out of range
• I should know this by now → I did the best with the information I had.
• Good blood sugar → in range 
  

#3: Disconnect the Number from Your Self Worth:

As much as we are constantly reminded of the numbers, it’s important to remember that they are not an indicator of our self worth. They are simply a response to the food we ate, the insulin we took, or the stress our body is under.

My favorite exercise to take our clients through in our Keeping it 100 Data Reflection calls is to say three things the love about themselves – that have nothing to do with their blood sugars. This simple, yet effective activity reminds us that our time in range, A1C or average blood sugar does not define us, and it brings us back to the confidence in ourselves that we deserve.

Burnout is common, but when you have the right tools and community to lean on, it doesn’t have to last. To learn more check out Keeping it 100 Radio, Episode 37: 3 Ways to Improve Your Relationship with Your Blood Sugar (Without the “Just Think Positive” Mindset) available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.