Create a
gratitude reminder.
Whether it’s a song you put on your
phone, a saying you post on social media,
or a string you wear on your wrist, fi nd
one simple thing that either makes you
happy or reminds you of a good memory.
Then engage with this reminder for three
to fi ve seconds a day. “You’ll immediately
feel a burst of joy, and that positive
emotion can lead to gratitude,” says
Nicole M. Bereolos, Ph.D., M.P.H., a clinical
psychologist and certifi ed diabetes
educator in Dallas who’s been living with
type 1 diabetes since 1992.
Choose an app.
Download an app that sends you
random positive quotes throughout
the day. “These can break through the
negativity of the day,” Bereolos says.
Deroze, for instance, uses the “I Am”
app, which delivers daily affi rmations on
a customizable schedule. The app also
lets you create your own mottos, which
Deroze has found helpful for managing
diabetes. Some of her favorites are “I am
diagnosed, not defeated,” “Too blessed to
be stressed,” and “Doing better today than
yesterday.” “They help remind me that I’m
not defeated by diabetes,” she says.
Acknowledge the
power you do have
over your health.
You may not be able to control every
variable that aff ects your diabetes. There
may always be times when, in spite of
all of your eff orts to keep your blood
sugar stable, it still veers out of range.
Yet, thanks to a wealth of medications,
devices, and digital tools that have
emerged over the past 10 years, you do
have options when it comes to managing
your blood sugar and your health. Rather
than focusing on what you can’t control,
try acknowledging the power you do have.
In doing so, you may feel more uplifted
about your experience, Bereolos says.
Find one good thing.
Diabetes is with you 24/7, but if you
can fi nd just one positive thing about
every challenge you face, you’ll emerge
stronger. “Something as simple as
focusing on how we’re living with
diabetes is a necessary paradigm shift
from feeling like we’re dying from
diabetes,” says Deroze, who also founded
the website Black Diabetic Info, which
provides culturally competent diabetes
information. For example, when she
wakes up with high fasting blood sugar,
she might feel grateful after lowering it
that she can go to work feeling better,
which then sets her mood for the whole
day. “As a result, my stress level is lower,
and that in turn helps my blood sugar
and makes it more likely I’ll go to the
gym,” she says. “It’s like a snowball eff ect
so that once you create a habit of feeling
grateful, it becomes second nature to
shift your mind when negativity sets in.”
Volunteer.
Bongiorno points to the saying—“If we
all put our problems in a pile and saw
everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back”—
as the rationale behind the importance
of stepping outside yourself and
volunteering. She suggests looking for
volunteer opportunities at a hospital or a
facility that serves the underprivileged.
“You’ll learn that while diabetes isn’t the
best thing in the world, it’s not the worst
either,” she says. Once you realize this,
you may see that you have more to be
grateful for than you thought.
Say thank you.
This may be easier said than done, but
try to take time to recognize the people
who are helping you. “By lightening your
load, they’re helping you shift away from
your pain of managing diabetes,” says
David Weingard, who was diagnosed
with type 1 diabetes at the age of 36.
He was so grateful for his fi rst diabetes
educator that he was inspired to create a
company named after her: Cecelia Health,
a technology-enabled diabetes and
chronic disease management company
in New York City. Recently, he located her
son to thank him in person for his mom’s
inspiration—Cecelia had since passed
away. While you’ll likely not go to these
lengths, expressing your gratitude with
a simple thank-you, a small, meaningful
gift, or a thoughtful note can give you an
immediate feeling of joy.
If expressing and experiencing gratitude doesn’t come easily for you,
that’s OK. The more you put that gratitude muscle to use, the easier—
and more automatic—it will be to fl ex it.
58 DI ABETIC LI VING / FALL 2 019
