Tuesday, July 28, 2009

When We Fail

Persons with diabetes are prone to our own, “failures”. Do any of these sound familiar?
- Forgetting your insulin shot/bolus with meal or even before bed
- Forgetting to take a blood test before said meal and shot/bolus
- Forgetting diabetes care supplies when doing whatever you do
- Forgetting some form of quick acting food when exercising
- Forgetting, or postponing, quarterly endocrinologist appointment
- Or just plain forgetting (non-selective, mind you)


We often call any one of these (and more), the big FAIL:
- For
- Again
- I
- LOSE!

Diabetes is one, big, never-ending reminder that we are personally responsible for our choices. We cannot just leave our diabetes home, for the day, and expect everything to work out right. We’ve come to expect the unexpected (Why is my insulin taking soooo darn long?) and prepare for trouble (What? I’m low? Now?!? Time for sugar...).


Lastly, it’s how we handle the “fail” that defines us. Those of us who are long time diabetics know to pick ourselves off the floor, dust off, and get right back in the game. Thus the “fail” becomes a reminder, a lesson, that we are not perfect…


But we long to be. :)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Mark....inspiring today when I feel like I've failed....appreciate you're helping me to pick myself up and go.

JaimieH said...

Excellent post! Loved it...so very true...

Lorraine of "This is Caleb..." said...

Agreed. It's hard to not take them personally. My mind knows that, my heart - not so much.

Crystal said...

:::clapping:::
Well said Mark. Well said.

Cherise said...

Mark-

*STANDING, CLAPPING* great post. We've all felt like we have at some point. Great post! GREAT POST

The Mindful Diabetic said...

OK, I needed this today! For the first time since I went on the pump I forgot to bolus for breakfast this morning. I needed a reminder that we are not perfect and shouldn't expect ourselves to be.

Alison said...

Great post Mark, you can put me down for a fail in all of those categories at some point. You only really fail though if you stop trying, so as long as we keep plugging away at it failure is just a distant spectre.

Unknown said...

Yup - diabetes is about avoiding the fail! (That would make a great t-shirt...)

It's when you combine two or more from your list that things really go horribly wrong! What fun!

Heather said...

Thanks for that post - made me feel so much better! I'm newly diagnosed with gestational diabetes...not exactly the same boat, but just as frustrating. Today was a tough day with high readings for reasons I just can't figure out...and despite my best efforts I was just feeling like a failure. It's compounded when knowing my failures can affect my unborn daughter. :( Patrick directed me to your post and it was exactly what I needed to read. Thank you!

Scott K. Johnson said...

So true! And we also often don't appreciate ourselves when we get things right!