Good. Better. Best.

Have you ever thought about how good your life is? Have you thought about the good things in your life and how much worse it could be? Do you often analyze your success by comparing yourself to others? Have you ever wondered if things could be better? Have you ever imagined the best possible life for yourself? I feel like I am always analyzing my life and constantly striving to be better. I love my life, I really do, but I often wonder how could it be better? I imagine what the perfect life for me would look like. So, I ask, how do we decide which part (s) of our lives should take priority? I often feel like there is simply not enough time in my life to do all the things I need to get done. So how can I make my health and my diabetes a priority, without letting it rule my entire life. Can I be better and if so, how?

        I have read, seen and heard so many ideas for self improvement. I watched movies and listened to inspirational talks. I sometimes wonder what is enough, how can I find my best self? This world seems to be always trying to drag us down. If you are a religious person, you might say Satan is gaining more and more control in our world. How are we supposed to fight him and find a way to be our best selves? I believe without a doubt that Satan wants us to be miserable. He is like that little 2 year old toddler who didn't get his way and throws a constant tantrum. As the old saying goes misery loves company so Satan tries to make us as unhappy as he is. I think he uses time pressures to do this. The world we live in is overwhelming. There is so much technology, so many things to do and never enough time. We are all focused on stuff, and money, and on doing more and more to have more and to be more. I think this is again a way Satan tries to ruin lives.

        Life is hard. We have so many demands on us for our time and our talents. For me, finding time to be the diabetes guru of the world is impossible. There is just no way for me to ever spend the amount of time I think is required to be a perfect diabetic, on my diabetes. So how can I be better then what I am? How can I be my best? My A1C’s used to always be 6.1-6.3. Now they run 6.5-6.6. Does it bother me? Yes, but can I get back to where I used to be? My weight has also gone up. I am not working out as much as I used to and I feel bleh as a result. But how can I do better when I can't find time to even clean my house?

It seems to me that our health should be a priority, but how many of you can honestly say that it is? We all know how to lose weight right? I mean we take in less than what we burn off in our daily life. Over time weight comes off. It is amazing how we all feel like we can’t lose weight though. We all swear there is something wrong with us. I am different, I am special. I have thought about this a lot lately and honestly I can say for me I simply don’t put forth the effort I need to. I don’t follow through with things. I give up too easily when it doesn’t happen quickly. I know I am not the best me I can be. I seem to lack the self-discipline needed to make my life the best it can be. I let distractions get in the way. Distractions such as TV, the internet, looking into ways to make my life easier and obsessing to find the answer, looking for my “easy” button.

I feel like I am being pulled in a million different directions every day. I have so many demands on me and my time, it is hard to prioritize myself so I don’t take the time to be the best me I can be. Again, is it not true that we can help people more if we are ina good place ourselves? Can’t you help others better when you feel you are taken care of? So I challenge each of you to put yourself first. Take care of you, which means taking care of your diabetes. Your health should be first. This will allow you to be the best version of you that you can be. You eat and exercise and sleep and you take your medicine and monitor your sugars and you do you first! Then you do everyone else. So take this next month and work on putting your health first. Work on becoming the best version of you that you can be, one area of a time, starting with you health (and your diabetes).