Inspiration

Just Like Federer

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Earlier this month, I watched Roger Federer make his return to tennis after six months off at the Hopman Cup in Perth. At the time, I hardly would have expected him to make it to the Men’s Final of the Australian Open.

His last grand slam title was back in 2012, and he’s now well into his 30s. He was also matched against one of his greatest rivals, Rafael Nadal, against whom he did not have the odds of beating.

Yet last night, I was glued to the edge of my seat as I watched Federer break back his serve in the fifth set, and then earn a break of his own that saw him serve for the match.

It’s pretty remarkable to think that Roger Federer has been playing tennis for as long as I can remember. Although he hasn’t won a grand slam title since Wimbledon 2012, it hasn’t stopped him from continuing to play tennis.

I suppose the same can be said of Venus Williams, who scored runner up in the Women’s Final on Saturday night after a few quiet years. Mirjana Lucic Baroni, who made the Women’s Semi Finals for the first time since 1999! And Rafael Nadal, who is constantly prone to injury, but continues to persevere.

My diabetes management is feeling like a very endless task at the moment. In January, the victories feel like they have been outweighed by frustration. The motivation to diligently attend to self management tasks subsequently disappeared. The care factor has just not been there.

Yet watching some of these seasoned tennis players over the past two weeks has been so inspiring. For many of them, the victories have been far and few. Yet they continue to persevere. Their endurance never wavers. They are passionate, and enjoy what they do.

Unlike these guys, I can’t say that I am passionate about, or enjoy tending to a broken pancreas.

However just like Federer, I am confident that I will persevere to see the victories once again.

Mid Year Blues

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I sit down in the evening, and I marvel at how quickly yet another day has gone by. I glance at the calendar, and I cannot believe that it will be August in a few days. I watch the mornings slowly beginning to get lighter, and I want to make the most of this beautiful time of the year before its gone once again. Another Friday rolls around, and I cannot believe how quickly the weeks are flying by.

In the grand scheme of things, there are a million things that I want to do.

I want to sit down and write, every day. I want to put more effort into my meals, rather than the usual toasted sandwich I have for lunch every day. I want to save the money I spend on the odd treat at lunchtime. I want to work on my fitness. I want to improve my hba1c. I want to finish all the odd jobs at the house this weekend. I want to read. I want to get hooked on a new TV show, instead of falling asleep out of lack of interest. I want to make time for myself. I still dream of one day having a career that I’m really passionate about. I want to feel full of energy. I want to be excited. I want to be enthusiastic. I want to go to bed feeling fulfilled at the end of the day.

In this grand scheme of this thing that we call life, there are simply not enough hours in the day to get all of these things done.

Last week at the Telethon Type 1 Diabetes Centre in Perth, Canadian T1D athlete Sebastien Sasseville spoke about having a bank of good and bad blood sugar levels. He reminded us that there’s no point focussing on those bad readings that were deposited in the past. Like anything in the past, there’s nothing I can do to change it. I can only look forward, and at what I can do today to deposit more readings into the good blood sugar bank.


I’ve definitely been reflecting on my own diabetes management quite a lot at the moment, particularly now that things are starting to settle somewhat with my insulin pump. I think a lot about where I’m hoping to be with my diabetes in the long run, and what I hope to achieve.

One of my favourite quotes reads “no expectations, no disappointment.” I’m often reminded of the diabetes goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year. That goal of striving for stable overnight glucose levels was full of expectations, and led to a lot of disappointment.

While I’m unlikely to start training for a climb up Mount Everest or a triathlon across Canada anytime soon, I did take away a small piece of inspiration from Seb’s talk. Going into the second half of this year, I’m definitely going to try to focus more on my diabetes for today, and for the now.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIPTtdeAMcA/?taken-by=franksita

Because in the grand scheme of things, the now is what is going to get me to where I want to be in the long run.