Understanding Worry: Diabetes Discussion & Meditation

This meditation is for people who live with diabetes. The session begins with a short discussion on worry and how it impacts you mentally and physically. A guided meditation follows that offers healing and peace to the parts of the body most impacted by diabetes.

Transcript

My name is Patricia Daker and I'm the owner and founder of Better Diabetes Life and it is a company that is dedicated to helping people with that what I call the other side of diabetes,

Which is all about dealing with it.

Not the blood sugars and everything,

But the part that affects your mental aspect,

Your life,

Your finances,

All that other stuff.

And so a little bit about me.

I am a registered nurse.

I've been a nurse for 35 years.

I am a former health care executive right now.

I'm a board certified nurse coach specializing in diabetes and I live with type 1.

So I've had type 1 diabetes for almost 30 years,

It'll be 30 years this summer.

And so what I'm going to share with you are lessons that I've learned from all of those different areas from my clinical background,

From living with the disease for so long,

Some coaching skills thrown in and actually some of corporate America thrown in there as well.

So as we're getting started,

This is a meditation all about diabetes.

So if you know someone that is struggling or could use a little support and encouragement,

You might shoot them a real quick text and maybe they can hop on before we get too far down the path.

Okay,

So before we get started just a couple things.

The good part about this is you don't have to know how it works,

Right?

You just sit back and listen and you're going to get a couple really cool benefits.

I'm going to ask that you hold any questions until the end and I will be happy to answer anything.

But we're going to do sort of a guided practice and I'd like to get through that.

There's no right or wrong way to do this,

Right?

So whatever your experience is,

Whether you're an experienced meditator and you're kind of good at guided meditation or this is brand new to you,

You will receive some benefits.

All you have to do is just listen and enjoy so it's not hard.

There is a little donate button up there and Insight Timer would be grateful if you would make a donation.

That's how they maintain this platform and let us come on and provide these services.

Okay,

I think that's all the stuff I wanted to tell you to get started.

Okay,

So what we're going to talk about tonight,

There's kind of two pieces of what we're going to do.

The first part is some kind of clinical information and you know,

Just getting to understand what's going on with some things I'm going to talk about and how those physiologically react in your body,

What that does,

How that can exacerbate or make some diabetic conditions worse.

And then we're going to do this guided meditation that actually helps provide balance and it'll make sense as we go through it.

So the topic of the night is worry.

So if you live with diabetes,

I can guarantee you at some point you have had worry,

Right?

So,

Oh my goodness,

Like what's my blood sugar doing?

Did I take the right medicine?

Do I have the right doctor?

What are they talking about me?

Did I eat the right thing?

Did I eat the wrong thing?

How much things should I eat?

How much exercise?

I'm not doing enough exercise,

You know on and on and on.

They say that a person that lives with diabetes makes about 200 additional decisions in a day and every one of those are an opportunity for worry.

And because we are always mindful of,

You know,

What are we doing,

What are we eating,

What's my blood sugar,

All these things,

It's very,

Very common to kind of ruminate and get stuck in this pattern of worry and thinking about it.

So worry,

Even though it's common,

It actually isn't our friend all the time.

So worry is a form of fear,

Right?

So what if?

Oh my gosh.

So we're going to talk a little bit about fear and that's really what I want to talk.

And fear can show up in many different ways.

Fear might look like shame,

Guilt,

Blame,

Frustration,

Feeling judged,

A lot of different things like that,

A lot of negative emotions.

But they all have some clinical reason for being there and we're going to talk about that.

So when you have worry,

Then worry is fear,

The body reacts to fear with a part of your body called the sympathetic nervous system.

And without getting into all the medical terms,

Sympathetic nervous system is your 911.

You know,

It is the rescue,

The alert,

Oh my gosh,

We're under attack,

We need to rally the troops.

That's 911.

Really great if you're a caveman being chased by a bear or perhaps if you're in traffic and someone cuts you off,

Right?

So when your sympathetic nervous system takes over,

When your 911 system kicks in,

Physiological changes happen.

So it's something that occurs in our mind,

It's worry,

It's fear,

It's an emotion,

But it changes things in our body.

So our heart rate increases,

Our blood pressure increases,

Our scope of vision narrows,

Our blood is shunted away and energy,

Our blood and energy is shunted away from internal organs to our limbs.

So if we need to run or fight,

Right,

We have extra energy.

Good to do if you're having an acute or short event.

But our minds actually process fear,

Whether it's real or imagined.

So if we're worrying about things,

If we're fearful about complications,

Doing it right,

Pleasing people,

You know,

All that stuff inside,

What can happen with this chronic worry is we get in a chronic state of 911,

Right,

Of rescue.

And if you think again of like paramedic EMS,

How much energy that takes,

Right?

So a lot of effort,

A lot of noise,

A lot of chaos.

Again,

Good if there's an emergency.

But if you're just thinking about things or worried about the future or feeling guilty about the past and nothing is happening right now that's worthy of this expenditure of energy,

We get stuck in this state,

Right?

So we,

What happens?

So when we're in this sympathetic 911 state,

We're releasing hormones such as cortisol.

It's great,

Again,

In short term,

But long term it could be damaging to our organs and tissues,

Our heart rates up,

Our blood pressures up.

And we know all of those things are not a good way to be long term.

Well,

Luckily our body is really,

Really smart and we have this balancing side called parasympathetic.

So if your sympathetic nervous system,

Your fear and worry,

And you know the scary part is your 911,

Your parasympathetic is like Parks and Rec.

It's the fun part.

It's relaxing,

It's laughter.

It's also maintenance where things are being rebuilt.

So if you imagine you would never build a playground or restore your sewer pipes,

Right,

In the middle of a fire in your town,

Right?

So when the 911 system is engaged,

We're not doing things like rest,

Repair,

Rebuild,

All those things.

And when we live with this toxic kind of product inside of us all the time and on high alert all the time,

Guess what happens?

We get really tired.

We don't have any energy because all of our mental,

Even our mental energy is put towards this sympathetic 911 state,

Right?

And it's no one's fault.

There's no right or wrong reason.

There's a lot of good reasons because we have a reason to worry.

So just knowing that's going to be your baseline,

That's going to be there and you're going to have these issues,

We have some things we can do about it,

Right?

So we need to have some balance in this parasympathetic state,

Right?

We need to get over parasympathetic.

Other things that happen during parasympathetic.

Think about after you eat like Thanksgiving dinner,

You are lazy,

Right?

You don't want to move,

You're tired,

You feel like napping,

Maybe if you've been pregnant you might feel some of those,

Again that fatigue,

That not wanting to do anything.

That's because all of your energy and resources have gone into rest,

Digest,

Repair,

Grow,

All that stuff,

Right?

So we're not in the mood to go jump on a trampoline,

Run a race because all of our energy is inward on fixing and digesting,

Right?

The good part about this is we really don't have to think that much about how it actually happens.

So we don't think about digesting,

You know,

We eat,

It just happens.

We don't think about healing a cut on our hand,

It just happens.

So healing can happen without our conscious awareness but if we get into this parasympathetic state,

Then that healing could be more likely to happen,

Right?

And it's fun,

That's the other thing.

It's easy,

It's fun,

It's free,

You can do it all the time,

I recommend it daily.

So that's what we're going to do.

Let me think if there's anything else I didn't tell you about that.

So we're going to do a little guided meditation.

So it's fun,

It's easy,

It's relaxing.

And so we'll do a couple things before we get started.

So one,

I would like you to think of all your worries,

All the stuff like complications,

Blood sugars,

Testing,

Doctors,

People,

Judgment,

Food,

Exercise,

Like all that stuff.

Your finances,

How you're going to afford it,

Your job,

Health insurance,

COVID,

Vaccines,

Like there's so much.

So I want you to imagine you're going to put that in a box.

Put all that stuff,

It's important,

We need it.

That's one other thing I'll say about your sympathetic system.

All that worry is because it cares.

It wants to keep you safe.

It wants to make sure that you know and you're aware and that you're not going to miss something that might potentially harm you,

Right?

So right now we're going to take all that information,

We're going to put it in a box and we're mentally going to put it on a shelf.

And we're going to tell our sympathetic system,

We know,

Thank you,

We know that you care for us,

We know that you're worried.

But for right now,

We're going to do something different and I promise if the house catches on fire,

We'll engage your system.

But for right now,

You're on a timeout.

We're going to put you up in the box.

So we're going to do that.

Okay?

Alright,

Let's see.

So that's out of the way.

So we don't have to be worried.

Right now,

All we have to do is participate and do this thing with us,

Right?

So I'm going to set an intention for this time together.

And I always think that's kind of good to know what the purpose is,

What we're trying to get out of this.

So our intention is that we're going to have optimal healing,

The most peace,

The best relaxation,

Right?

And we're going to gift ourselves with some parasympathetic wonderfulness that's going to restore and rebuild and put some,

Throw our cups back up because we live in such a state of worry.

We need to do this for ourselves.

The other piece that's really nice,

We're in a group now and there's many people online.

And even though we can't see each other,

Because you're listening to me and everybody else is listening to me with you,

We are all connected because we're having the same experience.

And that sharing actually brings us together as a group.

It's kind of a cool,

You know,

Holistic phenomenon.

Whether you believe it or not,

Our energies come together and one plus one in a setting like this does not equal two.

It equals about 200.

Right?

So we're going to come together and have this shared experience.

All right.

So as we get started,

I'm going to invite you to take a few deep breaths.

Right?

So breathing is a good way to transition from this fight or flight to an inward state.

Another thing about fight or flight is we're looking everywhere.

Our ears are on high alert.

Our vision is keen.

Our skin feels everything.

Right?

Every sense we have is on high alert,

Looking for the external.

What I'm going to ask you to do right now is go inside.

So I would invite you to sit back and relax.

The rest of this,

You just listen to my voice.

I'll suggest some things to you.

And as I speak,

You just follow along and I'll bring you back at the very end.

So go ahead and close your eyes.

Soften your gaze.

We'll take a deep breath together.

Inhale.

We're going to exhale.

Let some of that tension and worry go.

Remember that worries up in the box.

We don't need it right now.

Breathe in again.

Let your shoulders relax.

Exhale.

And one last time in through your nose,

Out through your nose.

Let your belly soften.

I want you to feel warm and cozy.

Since we spend so much time on the external,

This is an internal journey through your body.

And I want you to focus right now on your heart.

So I want you to imagine that you're inside and put your attention where your heart is.

It's right there behind your breastbone and your chest.

Beating.

Now,

Once you imagine.

Your heart beating and as you imagine it,

Your brain thinks this is true.

So as we have these images in our head,

We're actually cueing our body to respond.

So your heartbeat is strong,

Steady,

Rhythmic.

Your heart receives blood from your body,

Bringing back carbon dioxide and waste products.

Which are carried to the lungs and you exhale your carbon dioxide,

Water vapor.

As you inhale,

You bring in fresh oxygen into the blood.

It goes,

It travels through the right side of your heart.

Taking up that oxygen from the lung and shunted out to every part of your body.

Through your blood vessels.

These blood vessels also care for your heart.

They feed itself.

I want you to imagine now you're inside the blood vessels that circulate around your heart.

And inside those blood vessels,

You notice they're clean,

Smooth,

Bright pink,

Healthy tissue.

The blood flows smoothly and easily every part of your heart,

Feeding and nourishing the muscle that keeps you going.

All the way down to the smallest and tiny capillaries.

If you notice any bumpy spots or blockages in your mind,

Imagine them melting away and dissolving completely,

Allowing for the blood to feed to your heart unobstructed.

Awkward gratitude and kindness to your heart for its endless and untiring journey.

Your heart actually provides more information to your brain than your brain gives to your heart.

And your heart releases the most electromagnetic energy,

The center of your soul.

We want to offer thanks and gratitude to our heart.

As we leave the heart,

We'll travel down into the abdomen.

We're going to notice right now our digestive organs.

So it can happen with diabetes that the digestion gets interrupted,

Painful or difficult.

There are things like gastroparesis,

Constipation,

Diarrhea.

If we're in a chronic state of worry and blood flow and nutrition and energy are shunted to other parts of our body and away from our digestive tract,

Those systems don't have all the energy they need to do their work.

So as we think about your stomach,

Your small intestine,

Your large intestine,

I want you to imagine rhythmic and smooth pulsations flowing through your abdomen.

Imagine that it's warm,

Calm,

And everything is flowing smoothly through.

The blood is flowing to all of those organs through arteries that are clean and smooth,

Bringing it life-giving energy,

Immune system,

Nourishment,

Removing any waste and products your body no longer needs.

There's also a neural network of your nervous system that surrounds your digestive system.

I want you to give permission for your nervous system to be calm and your digestion to be smooth.

Physically imagine this in your brain.

Thank your digestive system for doing its wonderful work and we'll move on.

Next we'll go to the liver.

Your liver is in your right upper quadrant beneath your ribs.

Your liver does many,

Many metabolic functions.

It's responsible for releasing hormones,

For clotting factors in your blood,

For getting rid of toxins.

It's also responsible for some of your glucose control.

When your liver is fully supplied with rich oxygenated blood,

It does its job very well.

So once again,

Imagine you're in a blood vessel flowing in through the liver.

The blood vessel and blood flow is smooth and clean.

The walls of the vessels are pink and glistening.

The liver receives all the gifts and all the nourishment and is able to fully do its job.

Once again,

We thank the liver for doing this important work and we ask this organ to help maintain your best glucose control,

Providing extra glucose when you need it and inhibiting glucose when you've got too much.

Close to the liver in the middle of your stomach,

Behind your belly button a little bit higher,

Is your pancreas.

And your pancreas is an organ that's been impacted by your diabetes.

Depending on any level of function you have or don't have,

We can imagine this organ being fed with nutritious,

Life-giving blood and repair any damage,

Any functions that aren't working.

Even if you don't know how it happens,

Imagine that your body is sending in the repair team,

Cleaning up any broken parts,

Reestablishing life,

The immune system rebuilding and rebooting.

Thank your pancreas for this wonderful job it does,

Despite not having perfect function.

It does what it can under these difficult circumstances.

Next,

We'll travel to your kidneys.

Your kidneys live in your backside under your ribs,

Above your waist,

Inside your rib cage.

There are two organs on either side that filter your blood,

Removing waste products and helping with fluid regulation.

Each kidney has millions of little nephrons that filter fluids from your blood.

These tiny nephrons are fed by very small capillaries,

Little small blood vessels.

These can become damaged with high blood sugar.

So right now I want you to imagine that your kidneys are open,

They're flowing freely,

Blood in the smallest capillaries is able to easily get by,

Fluid is exchanged,

And your kidneys are able to do their work effortlessly.

Your immune system is called in and gifting your kidneys with repair and restoration.

Imagine a warm blanket being wrapped around your torso.

Let that warmth radiate through your kidneys on both sides.

Mentally imagine additional blood flow,

The vessels dilating,

The blood flowing smoothly,

And function improving.

Again,

We thank their kidneys for their work and we offer healing from our most highest self.

As we leave the kidneys we'll travel down and in this next section we're going to go through the legs.

So we'll go down the large vessels in your thighs.

Once again,

I want you to feel inside of your legs.

Feel the large blood vessels from your torso going down towards your knee.

Imagine yourself in these blood vessels,

They're clean,

Smooth,

Any blockages or rough spots melt away allowing for perfect circulation past your knees,

Down your calves,

To your ankles,

And to your feet.

The blood vessels are open and flowing even if there's fluid in your feet.

If there is fluid,

Imagine the blood picking up that extra fluid and bringing it back up.

The small blood vessels in your feet have to overcome gravity to return back to the heart because your feet are the furthest place around or from your heart.

We often have complications in our feet because of the distance and the gravity we have to overcome for our blood to return.

So we can have stagnation in these areas.

Stagnation is something like,

Imagine a pond where the water isn't flowing,

Maybe moss.

I want you to imagine a raging river flowing through your toes,

Feel the warmth,

Feel the tingling.

Imagine vessels opening up,

Oxygen,

Immune products,

Healing products,

And everything that you need to repair what's brought to these tissues in the farthest parts of your body.

Imagine the blood easily flowing back up your legs into your torso.

Next,

Move your attention into your shoulders and we're going to travel down our arms,

Focusing on the inside,

Traveling in the blood vessels that are clean,

Clear,

And locked down through your elbows,

To your forearms,

Into your hands.

As the blood flows through your fingers,

I want you to imagine that blood flow.

You might feel some tingling,

Maybe you feel some warmth.

I want to spend some time on your hands that have to do so much work,

Perhaps taking pokes to get our blood sugar checked,

Maybe drying up medication in a syringe,

Maybe counting pills,

Measuring our food.

Our hands are busy all day doing work.

Offer love and kindness to your hands.

Let warmth flow through them.

Imagine circulation bringing every nutrient,

Immune product,

And healing product to each part of your hand.

Thank your hands for the job they do.

I want you to thank your hands and offer gratitude for their hard work to keep you well and safe.

I want to thank,

If you do finger sticks,

I want to take an extra moment to pay homage to our fingertips that get stuck,

That take this pain and injury for the good of themselves.

Thank you fingers for whatever part of your body that you have to stick to test your blood sugar.

We honor their sacrifice.

From your hands,

Let's move up to our throat and our neck.

The blood vessels that take the blood from our heart to our brain.

Imagine those blood vessels again traveling inside,

Moving up,

Blood flowing completely,

Cleanly,

Easily.

Any blockages,

Rough areas,

Abnormalities,

Imagine them melting away.

After we travel up our neck,

I want you to put your focus in your eyes,

To the back of your eyes.

There are thousands of tiny little blood vessels that feed the photoreceptors in your eye,

In the back of your eye,

Behind your retina.

Imagine these tiny vessels,

Repaired,

Perfectly functional,

Delivering blood,

Oxygen,

Nutrition,

Removing waste products,

Ensuring that your vision is clear and clean.

If you have any visual problems,

At this time,

Ask your body to send anything and everything to heal your vision.

Imagine your eyes relaxing,

Loosen the muscles around your eye,

Soften your gaze,

Let your eyebrows relax.

Let your eyes be soft and recede the healing efforts of your body.

From your eyes,

I want you to imagine your brain.

It's your neural center,

The source of much activity,

Information,

Direction,

Your thoughts,

Ideas.

It's fed by,

Again,

Blood vessels flowing through your body.

I want you to imagine all the blood vessels that's bringing any blood to your brain,

That they're clean,

They're pliable,

They're strong,

They're able to exchange fluids easily.

That there's any soft spots,

Any bulging areas,

Any tough or rough spots that the healing parts of you are sent to repair and restore.

Imagine the blood flowing through your brain,

Bringing clarity,

Bringing peace,

Bringing calm,

And restoring all the best functions that you have.

Now I want you to put your attention in the center of your brain,

Right behind your eyes,

Behind your nose,

Above your throat,

Between your ears.

It's the very center.

I want you to notice the inside of your body,

The seat of your soul,

The core of your mind.

From this place,

From this seat of power,

I want you to ask your body and instruct every part of you that allows for repair,

Restoration,

Rebuilding,

To be sent to the part of the body that needs it the most.

Think of the part of your body that you would like to have more function,

Better healing and protection.

Allow that part to swell and receive this gift.

Without knowing how or knowing why,

You're changing the chemical makeup of your body and sending help and healing and rescue to every part that needs it.

Relax and give yourself permission to receive this gift from yourself.

In this calm state,

You've shifted from our worry brain to our rest and relax.

We're in a state of healing,

Of restoring care and something.

From this place,

Imagine your glucose levels are normal,

Your body is massively moving,

All fluids,

Hormones,

Electrolytes and any parts that are necessary to establish normal,

To help you get back in balance,

To take away your worries and concerns so that you can rest and repair.

Right now,

You are okay.

Right now,

You are healing.

Right now,

You are restoring.

Right now,

You are loved.

I want you to linger here for a little while.

Enjoy how it feels to be relaxed,

Comfortable in a state where your body is helping itself.

Try to keep your attention inward and if you do hear a thought or noise,

Let it go.

It can wait.

As we've offered our body this healing presence,

This healing state,

This metabolic way to establish a state in your body where you can become peaceful,

Healed,

Better,

Happier and more relaxed.

As we come to the end of our journey through the body,

I want you to relax and imagine in your head a cloud up above you.

Everyone on this meditation is joined together in that cloud.

I want you to reach out to this group with the positive healing and energy and connecting and offer your highest good,

Your highest self and your best wishes to each one.

Imagine a beautiful warm glow flowing from person to person.

Take it from the person next to you.

Hold it for a moment and imagine giving it to the person as you pass it on.

Take another deep breath.

From this relaxed state,

These breaths will help us lock in.

Breathe again and know the shared energy between everyone in this group is giving you more than you have in the room.

I'd like you to take your thumb and your ring finger on each hand and push them together like an okay sign.

The right finger to right thumb,

Left finger to left.

I want you to take a breath,

Breathe in and push your fingers together to walk in how you feel right now.

How it feels to be in a state of repair and restore.

So that the next time you need this,

Push your fingers together in the same fashion and it'll be easier for you to come back.

So when you're ready,

Blink your eyes open.

Notice how you feel.

Come back to present.

Take a deep breath.

And once again,

Thank your body.

Thank you.

So thank you for the kind words.

I'm glad you like it.

I think this is so helpful.

I want to thank you all for sharing your time with me.

I know diabetes is usually a topic on this platform,

But I was hoping there might be people like me who kind of need this.

So thank you for joining.

If anybody has any questions,

I would be happy to answer them.

If you want to know more about me or what I do on my bio,

They have a link to my website.

We're not allowed to kind of advertise or give that out.

But if you go to my bio,

You can find out more about what I do.

Thank you.

And thank you,

Susan and Theresa,

For your compliments.

I appreciate it.

Once again,

There is a donation button.

If you feel so inclined to take a breath,

If it feels like something that resonates with you.

This does help insight time really to offer these services.

So if it's within your thoughts to do that,

Please share.

Okay.

Any questions,

Anybody?

I love seeing so many people on.

Maybe you're asleep.

You know,

One question I have for you is about time.

I'm thinking about doing this once a week,

Maybe.

I am recording this one.

Hi,

Claire.

Thank you.

You could do that daily.

Wonderful.

I do have two other meditations on insight time already.

One is a healing journey,

Sort of like this,

A little bit different.

But it's a journey through the body that's healing.

And one is for restoring and recovering from hypo.

So if you're a type one or if you get low blood sugar,

It's really after you've treated yourself and you need to wait until your blood sugar comes back up and you're anxious and feeling bad.

It's a 15 minute meditation.

So you can,

You know,

The 15 minute mark to kind of get through that and then check your blood sugar.

So,

Yeah,

So I am going to do this.

I'm in Dallas,

Texas.

So it is 737 my time here.

Curious if this is a good time,

A good day.

Like I said,

I will.

This one's being recorded.

So I plan to take the soundtrack off of this and lay it down as something that you could listen to.

Susan,

Weekly is great at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And also,

If you know anybody that's struggling,

I find that.

Thank you,

Dwayne.

I find that people that tend to be the first ones on these platforms or on my blog or other things I do are usually the ones who are really kind of self-motivated.

And they're probably looking for something to help them manage their diabetes.

But I think there's a whole sea of people out there who don't even know that this sort of help exists.

So,

Hi,

Chaya.

Oh,

You're pregnant.

Yay.

Well,

Keep at it.

Check those blood sugars.

You'll be fine.

I had two babies.

I had,

With type 1,

I had children at 39 and 41.

So I was an old lady.

But you know what?

Check your blood sugars.

Just pay attention.

Be present.

Notice what's going on.

That would be my best advice.

But anyway,

If you know anybody that could maybe benefit from just trying to find some positivity because diabetes is a heavy burden and I don't think our providers do enough to help us for this other side.

There's just a lot of expectations and doo doo doo.

I know for me personally,

Even though I was a nurse,

I knew when I was 26 when I was diagnosed.

And I knew all about insulin and diet.

I knew all of that stuff.

But nobody helped me with how to get over hating it.

How do you come to love your life again?

How do you find some peace?

How do you find a way to cope with never having a day off?

And I can tell you it's possible.

It is possible.

Things like this are very,

Very helpful.

So,

If nobody else has any questions,

I think we might wrap it up.

I'll stay on just a minute if anybody has any other.

Hi Kat!

So,

Missed the main chunk.

More about having kids with type 1s.

I could talk about that all day.

So,

I had babies in 2004,

2006.

So,

It's been a while.

I have teens now.

Way before CGM.

And I wore three watches,

Literally.

So,

Again,

I'm a nurse.

I was paranoid.

Like,

Nobody's business of doing something that might harm my kids.

So,

I literally,

And again,

No CGM.

They might have had them,

But they were probably this big.

I checked my blood sugar 7,

9,

11,

1,

3,

5,

7,

9,

And 3 AM before I was pregnant,

While I was pregnant,

And when I was breastfeeding.

Just because I had to know what that number was.

So,

My blood sugar was never really unmonitored or out of whack for more than a couple hours.

And my A1Cs during both pregnancies were 5'4"-5'6".

So,

They were normal.

Both my kids were normal weight compared to myself and my husband.

My husband,

Like,

Our size.

Like,

They were the same size I was.

And my mom wasn't diabetic when she had me.

So,

No time in the NICU,

No hypoglycemia.

All we really did was,

The moment they were born,

They both were given a little bit of formula,

Even though that's not the breastfeeding thing to do.

Just in case they still had insulin on board from my system.

They wanted to have a little bit of extra sugar,

You know,

Formula in their system,

Just in case.

And they checked their blood sugar a couple times and they were fine.

So,

You know,

For me,

The pregnancy thing was being very mindful about just making sure my blood sugars were okay.

And I probably didn't rest and restore and recover like this is talking about as much as I should.

At that point,

I was working in corporate America.

I was an executive and I was traveling and doing all kinds of crazy stuff.

But I still got it done.

So,

It was about priorities and some other things.

Like,

The housework,

Eh,

It kind of fell off.

And so,

Kat,

If you have other questions too,

If you go to my bio,

Like I said,

My website's there and you can contact me that way.

It also has links to my social media.

And I'm on all the social media platforms too.

So,

Just check out my bio here and you should be able to take the next step.

Thank you,

Kat.

Yeah.

Yeah,

I'm healthy and well too.

So,

I just turned 56 not too many years ago and so far,

No complications.

All the parts are working.

But I can honestly say the reason I think I'm doing so well,

And this is going to sound crazy weird,

Like I know it sounds weird,

But I love having diabetes.

I hated it for so,

So,

So long.

And it was such a burden on my life.

And so,

I had to find a way to love that part of myself.

I've written a story about this,

But I'll share this since we're talking right now.

When I was first diagnosed,

You know,

Diabetes was a snake.

And I hate snakes.

I can't stand them.

And so,

It was this little scary,

Creepy,

Dark thing that came out of nowhere and bit me and sharp and pokey and,

I mean,

All the bad stuff I can imagine about a snake,

It equals diabetes.

And I did not want it.

It was sort of like I got diagnosed and I'm like,

Here,

Here's the snake.

Keep it alive and you'll be alive.

Okay,

See me in three months.

I'm like,

I don't want this thing.

Right?

That was such a good analogy for the way I felt.

And I did the minimum.

I did what I had to do to kind of survive and I went from doing everything perfectly to doing nothing.

I mean,

Just crazy roller coaster.

And I eventually went and saw a counselor because it was just like,

This is nutso.

And so,

The interesting thing is I had to find a way to make peace and I found peace.

So now my diabetes is this little girl and she's a version of me when I was probably,

I don't know,

Seven or eight,

Something like that.

And I can care for her and I can love her.

She didn't do anything wrong.

But I give her her medicine.

I take care of her because she's worth it.

Right?

She's worth it and I can do that.

The snake,

Not so much.

I didn't like the snake.

Oh,

Hi Claire.

Yeah,

It's hard.

Sorry you're in the club.

I hate that,

But I'm glad you're here and I'm glad you're getting healing.

Hi Teresa.

Good.

I'm glad you like the advice.

Let me tell you,

If you can figure out this part,

All the other stuff falls into place.

If you can come to terms with your mood,

Your emotions,

Understand your motivation,

Figure out what you are willing and not willing to do,

And figure out how to tell people what you want to say so they know,

Those things,

Those are the hard ones.

That's really hard.

Once you kind of get some of those things under your belt,

The rest,

You'll make good choices.

You'll pay attention.

You'll notice.

You'll feel empowered.

And that's where you need to get to.

Let me tell you,

Your doctor is not going to help you and I hate to say anything negative,

But my approach and what I do as a coach,

It's holistic.

So body,

Mind,

Spirit.

So as a nurse,

Body,

Body,

Body,

Body,

Body.

Right?

Hi Charlotte.

Oh,

Thank you.

Yeah,

So,

You know,

Your body,

That's all we focus on,

Right?

We just go check your blood sugar,

Do this.

It's all this external stuff,

Which we all know.

I don't think there's a person on the planet,

Right?

That we don't know.

We have to eat,

Right?

We have to do all these things right,

Right?

We know that.

But it's harder than that because there's so many other competing priorities.

We have finances.

We have other desires and ones like nobody wants to do this full time,

Right?

But it's a full time job.

So now maybe you're a mom,

Maybe you're working,

Now you have full time diabetes,

All the,

You know,

Church.

There's so many things.

So that coping,

How do you cope with that?

And how do you stay out of the 911 crazy,

Right?

How do you do that?

There's a way and it's possible and it's nothing your doctor's going to tell you.

But when your body is not able to do that,

It's your mind and your spirit,

Right?

So your mind's kind of crazy.

I'm kind of going off on a tangent.

I didn't want to and I'm glad you guys are interested.

But so if we talk about our body,

Right?

It is what it is.

It's a recipient of our holistic self.

So our holistic self,

Body,

Mind,

Spirit.

So if we think about our mind,

Like how much do you trust your mind,

Right?

Our mind's kind of cray cray in there,

Right?

We can agree with that,

Not agree with that.

I'm going to do this.

No,

I'm not going to do that,

Right?

We can get in this place where what's going on in here doesn't make any sense.

And it's very fickle.

It'll change.

It'll tell you one thing and then it'll change its mind.

So from like a source of comfort,

Our mind sometimes is the worst.

And that worry mind,

God bless it,

It's trying to help us.

Oh,

By the way,

It's still up in the box if you all still have your worry mind in the box.

But we'll have enough worry.

We don't have to try to get more.

And all your worry mind is trying to do is keep you safe.

So sometimes we can say thank you worry mind.

I know.

I know you're trying to keep me from having low blood sugar.

I know you're trying to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I know you're trying to keep me from having complications later.

But I got this.

I got this.

I know what I'm doing.

And sometimes that gives you separation.

But that mind,

Crazy place.

So then we have the spirit side,

Right?

So body,

Mind,

Spirit.

Our spirit part,

There's a many,

Many different sort of interpretations.

And I'll tell you my version of it.

But spiritual can be like,

You know,

Church or religion.

That's one.

But for me,

The spirit side is the part that's always there.

That's never changed.

So it's your essence.

It's your core.

It's who you are.

It's your passion.

It's your purpose.

It's the things that light you up.

Right?

It's fun.

It's what makes you like chocolate versus vanilla,

Right?

It's the innate part that's you.

Thank you,

Charlotte.

Oh,

I appreciate that so much.

Oh,

Good.

Mindfulness right here.

That's super,

Super,

Super.

Yes,

And it is a full-time job.

But so it's that body,

Mind,

Spirit.

And so when your body's depleted and with diabetes,

Let's just think about it,

Right?

Our blood sugars are all over the place.

We're functioning with some broken parts.

So other parts are having to accommodate.

So a lot of our energy is going towards worry.

So the energy to actually do your work may be really,

Really low because there's all this other stuff you have to do too,

Like food,

Shop,

Cook,

Exercise.

And so where do you get this energy from?

Well,

Often you don't get it from your mind.

You may try.

Like,

I really want to do this.

I really want to do this.

But often willpower just is not a good motivator.

And so if the body can't just give us extra energy and the mind tends to dwindle our energy,

It's tapping into your spirit side that actually gives you energy.

And that's chasing your passion.

So I'm going way off.

This is fun.

I did this meditation.

I didn't mean to go to this place,

But thank you for listening.

And so when we talk about tapping into that spirit side,

Right,

It's things like motivation.

Do you know what motivates you?

At the core,

You have to have some purpose.

So again,

I had to get straight in my head,

Like I wasn't motivated by the snake,

But I was motivated about this part of myself that needed care.

And there's a million stories.

There's so many different things that we can do.

And I'm trying to make sure I've said it.

I don't see everybody on the chat.

I'm having a hard time reading and scrolling.

Oh my gosh,

You're so great.

Thank you.

So the other thing,

I mean,

I have a lot of this content.

It's the five things that I believe are the key factors.

And again,

This is all published out there.

I've got a couple of ebooks and things,

But one is the first thing is education.

You have to know this.

And that's covered in spades with the internet,

Diabetes educators,

Your doctors.

There's so much information.

You have to kind of figure it out for yourself.

What works for you?

Because a carb is not a carb,

It's not a carb for everybody.

People's insulin ratios are different.

Pumps versus syringes versus pills,

Like it's different.

So there's going to be some part where you have to keep being educated and that never stops.

I think that's the other.

Hi,

Susan.

I think that's the other piece is that diabetes education never stops.

It keeps changing.

You'll keep all change as you go,

As you age and different things.

You get pregnant and all these different things change how your diabetes works.

How you're constantly mindfully keeping educated.

The second piece is emotions.

This was probably the thing that got me the most.

And there's all these emotions that you have that you kind of,

Hi,

Jennifer,

Thank you.

You know,

Things that you've got to get in your head because you're going to be afraid and you're going to feel defeated.

And there's all these really crazy emotions.

Maybe I'll do a talk on this one the next time.

Y'all might be pinging me and let me know.

But I have a whole series on emotions.

But it's really important to understand why you have them,

Where they're coming from and what their purpose are.

Because you're not crazy.

You're really not crazy.

Three is motivation.

Kind of like I talked about with my snake and my kid.

There's a million different tricks of what motivates you.

What keeps you going?

Number four is ownership.

And this is upside down.

Like nobody's business in health care.

So doctor-patient relationship.

I give orders.

You get care.

So active,

Passive,

Right?

And so our medical system puts us in this victim role where we're given orders.

We're told what to do.

We have these expectations that we may not even be able to meet.

So you have to figure out ownership and make it yours.

Like my diabetes is mine and you literally.

I pay my doctors just like I pay a chef.

They give me information.

They give me food.

I get something from them,

But they are not in charge of my life.

And it's my decision.

It's a hard lesson for some providers and I've left providers over that.

But at the end of the day,

It's my life.

Right?

It's my life.

I get to decide.

And the last piece is communication.

So those are my five.

So communication is again,

How many of you feel like nobody gets it?

Nobody understands.

Nobody listens.

They try to tell you what to do.

Right?

So those five things you'll never hear from a diabetes educator.

You'll never hear from a doctor.

Thank you,

Charlotte,

For writing that on there.

Yeah,

Those are my five.

And I have built a whole practice around figuring out how you get on those.

Because once you get those,

You've got a really good foundation to kind of deal with whatever comes at you.

Because stuff will come at you.

It just will.

People will be annoying.

Doctors will be annoying.

The world will change.

Finances will be an issue.

It just will be.

Right?

I'll wrap up with this because I think we could keep talking all night.

But all of this is kind of about managing your expectations.

Right?

So when I worked in the ER,

I worked with this doctor,

Dr.

Coletta,

Who's a really great guy,

And he always used to say,

No matter what you do when you walk into the patient's room,

Never go,

Oh my gosh.

You never make a facial expression.

You go,

Aha!

Just what I thought.

Right?

So I have that same approach with diabetes.

Whatever comes my way,

It's like,

OK,

Here it is again.

And when I expect it to be weird and I expect it to be variable and I expect people not to know and not to read my mind,

I am always right.

And it feels really good and it doesn't zap my energy.

Right?

OK.

We're coming up on an hour.

Gosh,

Y'all,

This has been so,

So much fun.

Thank you,

Theresa.

I hope.

I have been doing this for several years.

This is my first live,

So I am thrilled,

Thrilled,

Thrilled that you guys hopped on.

Yeah.

And I think I'll do it again Monday nights if this works for everybody.

Like I said,

It's coming up on eight o'clock in Texas.

It's an evening time.

So we'll see if that works.

And I think.

Thank you,

Dwayne.

I think hopefully you can contact me via this platform.

If not,

You definitely can on my website,

Which again is in the bio.

So I would love Monday.

Thank you,

Susan.

Kat,

Charlotte.

Dwayne,

Theresa,

Jennifer,

Juan Carlos.

There's so many.

Susan,

I can't say everybody,

But it looks like there's a ton of you on here.

So I'm going to do this again.

If you guys.

I'd love to hear what other ideas you have,

Other struggles you have,

Because I could certainly.

My goal is to have an educational topic and then do the meditation piece again,

Because you cannot get enough of that mental restoring.

So.

Yeah.

OK.

I guess I just sign off to stop this.

This is my first one.

I'm not sure.

Gosh,

We'd love to hear more.

Hi,

Diane.

Thank you.

Please check out my bio.

There's a wealth of information on my website.

So thank you all.

And we'll see you hopefully next Monday.

I'll check my calendar and I think I will do this again.

Thank you so much.

Bye.

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