Holiday Headspace, With A Side of Diabetes

When I go travelling, I’m the first to admit that I tend to take a “break” from diabetes. Then again, I can’t literally take a break from diabetes. But I do put it on the back bench. I decide to enjoy all of the holiday eating that comes with travel, and just do enough to get by. I don’t pay too much attention to my blood sugar levels when I’m travelling. But I know there is a lot of extra bolussing. Lots of spikes and lots of surges. Diabetes “Rest” Mode.

If there is one thing I do hope to achieve from this trip, its to be a little more sensible. I don’t exactly enjoy watching my BGLs surge after that massive lunch and then having to fix those nasty lows that come afterwards. I don’t enjoy walking around uncertain of where my Blood Sugar Levels might be at this point in time because of all that spontaneous eating. I want to tuck into some good holiday food, but I also want to be sensible at the same time.

I have had a LOT of conversations about this trip with others over the last couple of weeks. And the thing that everyone loves to remind me of is just how cold Canberra is going to be at this time of year. Over and over. I say bring it.

There’s one particular conversation that did stand out to me. I was talking about travel with a friend at work a few weeks ago. She also happens to be jetting off on the same day as me, and we’ve been counting down the days together for weeks.

“Think of all the wonderful sights you’ll see in your lifetime,” she said.

We both agreed that we weren’t big on travelling for long periods of time. That we both missed the comforts of home, and that we would get sick of eating out all the time while on holidays. I brought up the fact that I had diabetes, which did make eating out a challenge.

“But you walk around a lot and exercise, won’t that help with your sugar levels?” She said to me.

“I have type 1 diabetes. Sugar has nothing to do with it. My body just can’t process most of the foods that I eat,” I replied.

No resentment here. It’s just one of many examples of how much type 1 unawareness we have in this country. Even people who know me, who talk to me everyday, still don’t get it. They think that somehow I got this disease because I was unhealthy.

But anyway, fast forward to now. It’s taken me ages to get into that holiday headspace. And its finally hit me, sitting at the airport (which looks WAY too deserted to be the Capital of Australia). The holiday (and much cooler) me has taken over, ready for some new adventures.