This post is my January entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information here.
This month, the topic is: What is the one thing you are looking forward to in 2012? (diabetes related)
Who makes New Year’s resolutions? And who makes them expecting to keep them? Certainly not me!
Diabetes-related resolutions are all-too easy to make:
‘This year, my A1c will get to below 5.5%.’
‘I will check my BGLs six times a day. Every day. For the whole year. And track the results on an Excel spreadsheet.’
‘No more chocolate cake for breakfast.’
Well, they’re all great. But if your A1c is sitting at 11.9%, getting under 6% is a huge ask. And if you are currently using the same box of strips you cracked open on 1 January 2010, increasing to six checks a day is a giant leap. OK – the no chocolate cake for breakfast is probably a good one. For everyone. Just saying.
We all know why resolutions fail. When we expect too much, it’s too easy to give up.
I don’t make diabetes-related resolutions (or any sort of resolutions), but what I do love about the beginning of the year is the possibility, the optimism and the opportunity to wipe the slate clean.
And I look forward. I have a lot to look forward to this year and diabetes-wise, for me it’s all about expanding networks and horizons. I am looking forward to building on the networks I started developing in 2011. I am looking forward to the planning of the 2013 International Diabetes Federation World Diabetes Congress which is in my home town, Melbourne and I am looking forward to the choir of the DOC voices getting louder, more in tune and being heard more broadly.
Looking forward. It’s a good thing to do. And it allows you to look back a little and see how far you’ve come.
Diabetogenic 
5 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 30, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Jeann
I don’t make New Year Resolutions and I certainly don’t make diabetes ones. I may say that I would like to reduce my HbA1c and i do try. But I no longer beat myself up.
As a quilter who also does mixed media, collage and textile work I particpate in some ‘arty farty’ forums. Last year we were challenged to select a word to live by for the year. I chose ‘gentle’. because i thought I was demanding too much of myself to be everything to others. So, I took a backward step and was ‘gentle’ with myself.
This year i have chosen ‘do’ because I procrastinate. I particularly want to ‘do’ more in my creative fields instead of thinking and reading about them. So, fingers crossed that i will ‘do’ this year
LikeLike
January 31, 2012 at 1:14 am
Andrew Canet
I want 2012 to be the year that I can get my HbA1c under 7.0. Why is it always so difficult to knock over that last little step? I consistently get a result in the low sevens every six months.
LikeLike
January 31, 2012 at 2:59 am
Karen G
Oh how I love this!! Resolutions are so easy to break, and chocolate cake is so hard to resist. 😉 But expanding horizons and networks? Now that is an excellent plan!!
LikeLike
January 31, 2012 at 11:37 am
Cherise
Hi Renza- I agree, resolutions are hard to keep. At least you are starting off on the right foot. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate cake but I love networking and I’m trying to keep back on track with diabetes. Cheers to Melbourne.
LikeLike
February 8, 2012 at 4:11 am
DSMA Blog Carnival – January Round-Up | Diabetes Social Media Advocacy
[…] Renza wisely skips making New Years resolutions (except maybe one involving chocolate cake – LOL) and instead looks forward to expanding networks and horizons. […]
LikeLike