Tag: #stressmanagement

Wellness Wednesday: Ways to Combat Diabetes Distress and Burnout to Prevent Depression

Yesterday, we’ve discussed diabetes distress and diabetes burnout. To recap:

Diabetes distress occurs when someone feels overwhelmed by the daily demands of managing diabetes.

Diabetes burnout occurs when a person becomes tired of managing their condition, and then ignores it for a while, or even permanently.

If diabetes distress and burnout are not taken care of, both could lead to depression.

There are ways to prevent diabetes distress and burnout before they cause serious long-term complications or lead to clinical depression.

  1. Observe your feelings. When you have diabetes, you can experience frustration, stress, and fatigue a lot more than usual. When you experience these feelings for a long period of time, you might need help managing your diabetes.
  2. Speak with your healthcare provider about your feelings. If you are experiencing any difficulties with your diabetes care, talk to your doctor, nurse, diabetes educator, psychologist, or social worker. They can help you with problem-solving your diabetes concerns. They may also suggest that you speak with other health care providers.
  3. Consult your healthcare provider if you are experiencing negative reactions from others. It is important not to feel that you must hide your diabetes from others; your health care provider can help you manage feelings of being judged by others.
  4. Find out if you can receive assistance with the costs of diabetes medicines and supplies. Your pharmacist and health care provider may be able to assist you with the cost of your medication if you are concerned about the cost. Additionally, look into community health centers to see if they offer programs to help people get insulin, medicines for diabetes, and supplies (test trips, syringes, etc.).
  5. Talk to your family and friends. Tell the people around you how you feel about having diabetes. Be honest about the problems you’re having. Just verbalizing how you feel can have a positive effect on reducing stress. However, in some cases, the people around you can add to it. Be clear about how and when you need their help.
  6. Allow your loved ones to help you manage diabetes. The people who are closest to you can help you to take your medicine, monitor your blood sugar levels, participate in physical activity with you, and prepare healthy meals. They can also learn more about diabetes and go with you to appointments. Provide your loved ones with ways to help you manage your diabetes that are useful to you.
  7. Speak to others who suffer from diabetes. It may help to talk with others who have diabetes. They can give you insight into how they manage their diabetes and what works for them. Other people with diabetes can help you feel less alone and overwhelmed. You can find diabetic support groups in your community or online by asking your healthcare provider.
  8. Focus on one thing at a time. Managing your diabetes can be overwhelming. If you are suffering from diabetes distress, make a list of every task that you have to do each day. Try to complete every task one at a time.
  9. Take it one step at a time. You don’t have to meet your fitness goals immediately. You may want to walk for 10 minutes, three times a day, five days a week, but you can do it by walking twice a day or every other day.
  10. Spend time doing what you enjoy. Take time to do something you enjoy; it might be talking to a friend, playing with your children, or working on a project you enjoy. Look for activities around your area that you can do with a friend.

When you address the source of your distress and burnout, you will be able to regain control of your diabetes management with the help and resources you need.

Please don’t wait to get help, you don’t have to suffer diabetes stress or burnout any longer.

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic

Busy Week Ahead

How I’m using the PURE stress management method this week.

This week will be an extremely busy for me personally. Therefore, I will only be blogging for a couple of days this week.

A few days ago, I wrote about an upcoming youth entrepreneur event that my organization has been planning this month. The event is this Saturday and we are in full preparation and promotional mode.

We’ve managed to score a radio interview, which one of the youth entrepreneurs and I did yesterday, and an upcoming TV interview on Wednesday. Other than that, we are creating signs, decorations, swag bags and certificates all week long.

So instead of being superwoman and doing it all, this week I have implemented the PURE stress management method and decided to focus on making this youth entrepreneur event successful. I will only blog today and tomorrow. Then return with to my normal blog posting schedule on Monday.

This will help me not get so overwhelmed and will have some extra time to rest when I can.

It’s important to practice what I share with you because if I don’t, then everything that I’ve been sharing with you would be just meaningless advice.

So continue to prioritize your health first so you can be able to focus on the things that matter to you. And as my good friend always says:

You cannot pour from an empty cup.

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic

Under Pressure

How I keep my composure while under stress.

Right now it’s 9:35 PM where I am. I’ve just finished taking a hot, relaxing bath after an extremely rough day.

Besides blogging, writing contributing articles and moderating, I am also a co-founder for a local nonprofit organization that helps young school-age entrepreneurs. In about a week from now, we will be hosting our biggest annual event: a youth entrepreneurship fair where youth from all over our state and surrounding states sell their products and services.

I absolutely love planning this annual youth event! I love seeing the excitement of the youth when they make a sale. The fun and amazement from the community when they hear the stories of how these youth entrepreneurs got started. It makes planning this event so rewarding.

Planning this year’s event is a little different than previous years, with the exception of last year’s event (which was online). Because of the pandemic, our event, which usually takes place in March, takes place this month, on July 17th.

Unfortunately, we’ve been hitting a lot more snags than usual. Many of our senior youth participants have canceled because of timing and schedule conflicts. It’s been harder to get media coverage for our event (which usually we had been able to get media coverage from all TV stations and radio). There has been a lot of miscommunication or no communication at all, from some families of the youth participants. Then there’s the health department requesting extra data and requiring us to implement extra procedures from kids who only plan to sell drinks and packaged sweet treats.

Today, I was really under pressure and at my breaking point. Between following up with parents who I have not heard from since the pandemic contacting us two weeks before the event, the last minute cancellations, the health department breathing down our backs, following up with the TV and newspaper stations, making sure my kids are not killing each other and trying to work on blogging and posting, I was angry, frustrated and depleted. Every ounce of me wanted to explicitly express how I felt at that moment.

Needless to say, it has been rough experience for me and my colleagues.

Instead of losing my cool, I’ve stopped everything I was doing, changed into some walking gear and walked. I didn’t care what was happening at the moment. I knew that I needed to pause in order to keep my composure. Fifteen minutes later, I returned home and resumed work with a sound mind. I was able to solve all of the issues that I could with kindness and patience.

A brisk walk is one of the newest ways that I’ve been managing my stress. Besides exercise and diet, managing stress is a huge component of diabetes management. All of us have experienced various forms of stress, including personal, interpersonal and environmental.

For those of us living with diabetes, stress can make it more difficult to manage our condition. Stress disrupts our daily routines and causes fluctuations in our blood sugar levels. Stress increases our blood pressure and raises heart rate, resulting in rising blood sugar levels.

If you find yourself in a stressful situation or environment, remember, everything doesn’t require a response. Try these healthy strategies to help manage stress:

– Pause and rest

Stop everything you’re doing and take a break. Check out my previous post about my thoughts on this here: http://geneticdiabetic.home.blog/2021/06/29/pause-and-rest/

– Continue to take care of yourself

Continue to eat nourishing foods that boosts your energy. Take your medication and vitamins as directed.

– Get moving

Take a walk or run around the neighborhood or park. Dance or lift weighs. Staying active helps relieves stress by increasing your endorphins.

– Do relaxation exercises

Deep breathing signals your brain to calm down and relax.

– Meditation and prayer

Feeding your soul really helps with managing stress. Find out what I do to feed my soul here: http://geneticdiabetic.home.blog/2021/06/05/feeding-your-soul/

– Talk it out

Talk to a trusted family member or friend. You can also join a support group or seek professional help.

– Have a good laugh!

Laughter is an awesome stress reliever and it’s good for the soul!

– Have a good cry

There is a lot of healing that takes place when you shed a few tears.

The next time you find yourself enormously under pressure, put these strategies into action! I encourage you to do what I like to call the PURE method:

– Pause what you’re doing

– Use your stress management strategies

– Regain your composure

– Establish a new game plan to help relieve the stress in your situation

Unfortunately, stress cannot be avoided. However, how we cope and respond to the stressors make a huge impact when it comes to managing diabetes and our overall health.

Until Next Time,

The Genetic Diabetic