When "I Could Never" turns into "I Can & Do"

15/11/2012 12:25

How many folks with diabetes have had that experience of someone saying to them, "I could never inject myself?"  That statement could be referring to either an insulin needle taking say 4 times per day or infusion set that needs to be inserted every 3 days or even the task of poking those "10 little piggies" (fingers).

Although it has been 5 years of poking & injecting, I still remember the very first time that I had to do a blood glucose test.  Psychologically, it was one of those things that my mind kept saying, hey, this is tough to poke your own finger on purpose.  Many times, other folks with diabetes have shared with me that they were fearful of the sight of blood.  I could relate to that.  The thing was that I also had a fear of needles. 

Faced with the reality that in order to be as healthy as possible that poking & injecting was going to have to take place is something diabetes presents to each one of us.  The first couple of weeks, I remember thinking, how do people do this day after day & year after year.  After those couple of weeks, I made a decision.  I had a chat with myself & made a decision that I was going to find ways to go from that current thinking of "I cannot imagine this" to "I can & will do this" because it is worth it.  It was a decision that said too that diabetes was just a part of my life but sure was never going to take over my life.  It was a way of thinking that brought me towards the goal of getting my previous energy & positive attitude back.  Better than that, it was a decision that I would take steps to accept diabetes & live life with even more attitudinal energy. 

Going from "I could never" to "I can & do" took time.  Time in of itself however is not the answer I believe though.  Here's an example of what I mean by that... When I studied grief counselling, one of the statements contained in one of the study guides leapt out at me & you know what, it was an aha moment for me.  The statement was that time does not heal wounds, but rather action together with time heals wounds.  The author went on to illustrate this idea by giving the example of a person who has a car with a flat tire.  He stated that telling a person that time would make the tire re-inflate without action was absurd & he stated that the same is true of human healing. 

Even if the steps we each take that get us from "I could never" to "I can & I do" takes time, as long as there are positive action steps (sometimes they are baby steps), it is something worth celebrating.  Everyone is unique & each step will be different for each person.  What works for me may not be the answer for you yet there is something that is the "aha" for each of us.  May you be blessed too with your "aha".

Smiles, Saundie :)