Attitude

"Change your thoughts and you’ll change your world"

 – Norman Vincent Peale

Are you familiar with the author Anne Lamott? If not, I think you should read one or all of her books. She writes about faith from someone from the perspective of one who has hit rock bottom, found God, and remembers what rock bottom feels like. While she does talk politics and religion it is not in any preachy way – in fact I think when she talks politics she is preachier than when she talks religion. (Oh and if you find 4 letter words offensive, she may not be exactly for you.) But she has some great quotes. She talks about the negative tapes that play in our heads and bring us down. Those self-doubt tapes we plat that keep us feeling bad about ourselves. She is very open about the tapes that play in her head and that is part of her charm.

“I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out the cat dish.”

- Anne Lamott

When a person has diabetes, it is easy to be hard on yourself. You have a meter that will pass judgement on you several times a day. You will go to the doctor and have you A1C checked and your weight. I don’t think anyone looks forward to going to the doctor but that A1C is a killer. 

And here is the thing – it is not completely your fault. Okay if you drank a liter of pop then perhaps you do bear the responsibility but there are times that you didn’t do anything that you thought was wrong but still the results aren’t what you think they should be.

Let’s just say it – this disease stinks.

But when you have diabetes, you need to practice some positive thinking along with all this checking. You need to remember that you are human and that you will do better the next time. Maybe it is just me but sometimes I can get a bit stuck on all the things I have done wrong and forget that I am not a horrible person. Flawed but not horrible. So when you are feeling down, you might want to have something to fall back on that will remind you that you are a good person. (I sort of remind myself of that Saturday Night Live skit with Al Franken when I say this but I mean it.) 

So the next time that you are listening to a voice in your head that tells you that you are not good enough, just remember –

“Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”

                                                                                                                             Anne Lamott

Thanks for reading!