Shadow and light do co-exist

 

On the Road to Acceptance

Like many people, when you first discovered you had diabetes you may have experienced a profound sense of loss. You may have felt that spontaneity had left your life. This is not uncommon, nor is experiencing the 5 stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — as you learn to integrate diabetes into your life. What’s important is traveling through the stages and arriving at the final one, where diabetes is not your enemy but a part of you and how you live.

Denial is a common reaction to diabetes. At times denial can protect us, but not when it comes to diabetes. If you can’t admit you have diabetes, you will not put the appropriate effort into managing it.

Anger often follows denial. You feel, I don’t deserve diabetes! It’s not fair!!!Anger creates enormous stress on your body, mind and spirit.

Next may come bargaining. “Oh, please, if you take away my diabetes, I’ll never complain again…”  But bargaining will not make diabetes go away.

Depression is very common with diabetes. You feel, Why bother? It’s too much. What’s the point? Like denial, if you are suffering from depression, it is almost impossible to take care of your diabetes.

Acceptance is the last stage of grieving and the first in turning a new page. You feel you can take care of your diabetes and live a happy life, regardless of its presence.

Just as life has cycles, so too will living with diabetes. There’ll be stormy periods and then the sun will come out again. You may move through a stage and then fall back in unexpectedly.

Don’t be surprised when this happens. Just make sure that you give grief the heave-ho as soon as you can. There comes a natural time to let go of grieving so you can move on and successfully begin managing your diabetes.