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Managing a Good Life Anyway

By Aileen Kirby

Live a zestful life with diabetes.
Cope with fears of complications.
Live your best possible life with complications.

  • Learn everything you can about diabetes.
  • Learn everything you can about your own body.
  • Be an active participant in your own health care.
  • Be sure you relate to your medical team according to your medical needs.
  • Build a support network.
  • Use stress managers.
  • Learn to live in the present.
  • Grieve your losses, feel your feelings.
  • Develop the spiritual side of yourself, in accordance with your own beliefs.
  • Rely on a sense of humor.
  • Be pro-active---find out your options and do what you can.
  • Make realistic goals and approach them in manageable increments.
  • Develop a variety of passions and interests.
  • Be clear to others about your expectations.
  • Avoid being over-compulsive.
  • Use mental tricks to help you cope.
  • Incorporate the AA Serenity Prayer into your thinking:

    • God grant me the serenity to accept the things
    I cannot change, the courage to change
    the things I can and the wisdom
    to know the difference.
  • Be open to change and new discoveries.
  • Be open to possibilities you cannot yet imagine.
  • Be open to insight, inspiration, support and encouragement from unexpected sources.
  • Avoid personalizing the case histories of other people.
  • Continually ask yourself, "What will improve the quality of my life?"
  • Build a mental inventory of joyful moments.
  • Get professional help for the "Big Ones".
  • Get involved outside yourself.

Psyching Out Diabetes - A positive approach to your negative emotions. How to share, laugh and let go to overcome the hardships of diabetes.

Diabetes Burnout - Fed up with diabetes? Advice for dealing with diabetes-related fear, depression, good intentions of those close to you and more.

Caring For The Diabetic Soul - Solutions for the difficult challenges that come with diabetes. Simple exercises that deal with anger and more.