Winter Blues.
Uni goes back this week after a Winter hiatus. While I haven’t exactly been looking forward to it, thankfully week one is just a ‘go through the unit outline’ kind of a week. Which means a few more relaxed nights catching up on Australian Survivor.
At the beginning of my break, I stared into the depths of my wardrobe where my diabetes gear is housed, contemplating change. Did I want to take a pump break? Try that new meter? Or put my new faster acting insulin to the test? I got as far as a different meter, but after a few false readings was quickly reminded of why I love my AccuChek Guide so much and shoved it back into a drawer.
The more that I stared at the contents of my wardrobe, the more I realised that I no longer desire change in the way that I manage my diabetes. Which is weird, because for the greater part of the past three years, I’ve genuinely wanted change to help me to better cope with diabetes at that specific point in time. Perhaps it meant seeking out an insulin pump to give me more flexibility in managing my blood sugars. Or subsequently taking a break from the pump to simplify things and alleviate the mental burden of navigating pump settings. Or hassling AMSL Diabetes to cough up a #TslimForFrank so that I’d have something more modern and wearable to look at.
Yet now, I feel comfortable with what I am doing. I feel comfortable with what I am using. I also feel confident that what I am doing and what I am using allows me to manage my diabetes in the best way that I possibly can – for the time being.
In the midst of a crazy intense year, I think my real focus is minimising the burden of diabetes on the rest of my life. At the moment, I don’t have the headspace to deal with the hiccups that may come from adjusting to different tools. I need that brain space for my studies, for my work, for my family and for my life.
So I guess for me right now, minimising the burden of diabetes doesn’t involve paying attention to the diabetes itself, but moreso the things around the diabetes.
I’ve been getting more organised with my meals through the day over the past couple of weeks. When I’m more organised with my meals, I eat better than when I’m not. When I eat better, I feel better. See: this post. I’ve added a few more recipes to my brekky/lunchtime/snack repertoire. I’ve also been consciously trying to eat more veg and drink more water.
I’ve got alarms set on my phone to remind me to change my infusion sites and refill my cartridges. I’m in a pretty good routine of changing my site every 3.5 days, so that changeover falls every Tuesday afternoon and Saturday morning. Cartridges get replaced and filled with half of a penfill on a Saturday, and topped up with the back half on a Tuesday.
I’m also hoping to give myself a little more structure in my studies this semester. It often became far too easy to sit pondering over a problem for far too long, when it could be more easily solved with a fresh set of rested eyes. I know that when there’s more balance between study and free time, my mindset is better – which is equally pertinent when diabetes is strapped along for the ride.
Speaking of mindset, sunny Winter weather of late has also given me more time for this.
I’ll be honest – the past six weeks have been weird. I’ve quite possibly been consumed by everything that I want to get done in the back half of this year at times.
It took a while to get here, but I’m happy to report that I’m feeling the most refreshed that I have been over the past six weeks. Here’s hoping that my second semester is easier now that I know what to expect.