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Thinking Outside the Cardboard Box

31/12/2012 11:25

How classic is it to see kids playing with the largest cardboard box that they can get their hands upon?  With pure imagination & engineering ability, children seem to come up with some of the most unique uses for what we as adults may consider at best recycling material.

In life, we can often see parallels in objects & thinking.  As we watch children making a multitude of creative uses out of the good old cardboard box, it can represent to us as adults that life too can be approached by choice & with out of the box thinking.

Ordinary days or events can be transformed into extraordinary ones.  As we “grow up” it is my belief that our creative abilities continue too to grow.  It could be though in many cases that our inner “stifle” can sometimes go into overdrive.  At what point in our lives do we choose to simply be ourselves?  By this I mean totally ourselves.  Somewhere along the way to adulthood it seems that it becomes a rite of passage that most individuals go through a bit of a “simmering” of enthusiasm.  The great news though is that if this has happened to you or I that bringing back our passion for life, our enthusiasm& creativity is an idea & decision away. 

Last week, I read a quote that spoke to my heart.  To paraphrase , it essentially said that we each choose to be totally ourselves when we meet the people that we are most comfortable with.  Here’s the aha moment though that I found in that quote.  I thought, hmm, what if the comfortable person that we find along the way is actually ourselves.  That would then mean that wherever we are & whoever we are with…well…guess what, we are ourselves because the “comfortable friend” that we bring everywhere is our self.  That felt “exactly right” to me because then we do not need to rely on the company that we find ourselves in.  We rely on the comfort that we have in ourselves & from that, we decide to go ahead & fully be ourselves. 

Okay, now what in the world does any of this philosophy have to do with 365 health challenges?  Here it is…we can choose to stop apologizing for having a health challenge to others along the way.  We are each way huger & so much more than our health anyhow.  Okay, so if it is a challenging day health wise, my decision for a couple of years now has been to be upfront about that.  Sometimes, I will use humour to convey how the day is going & other times a more straight forward approach & other times especially if I am with an especially intuitive battle buddy, a knowing wink or smile will do.  It does not mean that I feel sorry for myself because I do not.  The flip side though often can be hiding our feelings & a part of ourselves on challenging health days to others as we do not want to “bother” someone with it.  Some days, let’s face it, we can “suffer in silence” yet there is a choice in between feeling like a victim or being a martyr.  The choice is to go ahead & be comfortable with ourselves & just let the honesty of the situation be shared as if it is simply part of a natural conversation.  It seems as if when we are comfortable with ourselves, others are too.  When we make a big deal out of something or behave unnaturally, well, it tends to lead to others feeling uneasy.  And what could be more natural than simply being ourselves? 

The week in between Christmas & New Years, I have found has been the one week of the year that is especially challenging health wise for the past 6 years.  This year, I have saved more energy by simply being comfortable with whatever the day brings health wise.  Here’s the cool part…I have felt better I am certain as a result.  That does not mean that probably like a number of folks with type 1 diabetes that I have not seen more 15’s registering on my glucose meter than I would like to see.  I am just okay with it especially for a week out of the year if it means that I get to instead choose to enjoy my family, friends & this adventure that we call life.  The neat thing though that this year, I tried a little experiment on myself (the sociologist in me at work), & that was that I would admit if I needed a bit of time to myself.  A couple of times, I was preparing feasts which I love to do for my Dear Hearts.  My glucose shot up like a rocket for a variety of reasons.  I went ahead & let my Dear Hearts know that my glucose had skyrocketed & it would be great if I could just work away in the kitchen on my own for a while.  As I then calmly cooked, my glucose came down (with insulin correction thanks to Sir Frederick, my new pump).  By the time meal times rolled around, my glucose was back in range & we enjoyed one another’s company.  It was a more natural & more health building choice then having well intentioned folks in the kitchen while I was trying to take blood sugars from boil to simmer.  The extra bonus too was that the Dear Hearts instead got to play with our boys & our goldie & just relax at this time of year.

Here’s another “out of the box” experience that has happened for the past 6 years at our home.  This is something that puts the extra love into this time of year in my heart.  Ever since we moved to our home 6 years ago, we have received a telephone call during Christmas week from a once stranger who is now a family friend.  The first Christmas that we had in our home, the telephone rang & on the other end was a complete stranger.  It was a young man who simply said that he needed to call our number as it had been his Grandma’s number.  He missed his Gran very much.  Here’s the finding “your comfort outside the box” & that is in the choice with what you do if or when a telephone call like this is received.  I asked the young man to tell me about the story of his Gran’s life & we chatted for a good long time.  At the time, I thought that it was quite a heartwarming tribute to the legacy of love that his Gran gave to her grandson for him to miss her so & to speak so beautifully & honesty about her to a complete stranger.  Every year, that young man calls & we chat about Gran & we have become friends. 

This year, my hope for you too is that you give yourself the precious gift of becoming comfortable with yourself, take this comfortable you everywhere you go & live life with fullness.

Smiles, Saundie

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