Diabetes On The Wrong Side Of 40
I’ve got diabetes, but I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t avoid it because I feel guilty: I feel fine. I don’t avoid it because I’d prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist: it’s as much a part of my life as my shaving; my showering; my worrying about my children and my getting up for work.
I don’t talk about it much because, for the vast majority of people, it would be boring. There are some excellent blogs about diabetes out there and I’m not going to print a list of them here. Maybe I will one day, but not today.
Today, I’m not going to talk about what it’s like to live with diabetes. Nor am I going to share with you how it affects my day-to-day life (not right muchly). Instead, I’m going to share with you my mantra for living, which has served me well through almost 20 years of insulin-dependant diabetes:
It’s The Habits That Kill You, Not The Treats
Over 20 years or so, I’ve used this phrase with every friend who’s ever told me about their diets, their lifestyle choice du jour or their inability to improve themselves in some small but frustrating way. Life is about choices, but the most important choice as far as I see it is the one you make about your day-to-day existence.
I love cake. You love cake too. You know you do, you love it, you do. Love it! But we don’t eat it every day. Well, I can’t speak for you but I don’t. Last night I had a massive plateful of cottage pie, then at bedtime I had some cheesecake. A cake made of cheese which was delicious. This sort of thing doesn’t happen every day. If it did, I’d be a right fatty. As it is, I’m a skinny bloke with a little pot belly. I can live with the little pot belly.
It is not the superfoods you occasionally eat; not the meal you skip once a day for a fortnight; not the meal replacement shakes you persist with until they run out and you can’t face re-filling your cupboards; not the frenetic jog aound the park on a sunny afternoon when the kids are being looked after.
It is your day-to-day routine; your habits that you live your life by. These are the things that are more likely to make you what you are. For “what you are“, you might be thinking… healthy; happy; quick on a bike; capable of that 10k run. I hope you are.
If you’re thinking… overweight; unsatisfied; too slow; unfit… then have a think about your day-to-day routine.
Most of the people who read this blog are a lot fitter than me. You ride faster and further; you run faster and further. I like that. I read your blogs because they help inspire me to become fitter myself, quite aside from making me laugh and keeping my feet firmly on the ground.
As far as the diabetes goes, it’s helped me to give a big reason for trying to live my life right. I don’t want to go blind and have my kidneys fail; or to have my feet amputated. But the same goes for us all: if you look after yourselves, the chances are much higher that you will live long and prosper. To you, that might be earning loads; it might be doing that marathon or that massive ride.
To me, it’s watching my children grow into what I’ve started to make them, and what they’ll decide to be.
Just look after yourselves. 🙂
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