The daily-ness of chronic disease can leave you feeling overwhelmed, powerless and exhausted. And on some days, you may find that those feelings are more challenging than the physical symptoms. Those are the days when you have to search for inspiration, for discipline, for hope. Your physical diagnosis may require certain care, but you have to be in the right frame of mind with the right intention of spirit to care for yourself properly, consistently and wisely.

If you’re reading this post, you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with diabetes. That means a doctor has already told you what you need to do to take care of yourself. Depending on you, your doc’s communication skills and the specifics of your case (and everybody’s diagnosis is different) you may have come away with some pretty straightforward instruction. I can handle this, you think. And you can.

But one day you’ll have a particularly difficult day at work, and you’ll come home exhausted. Though you know exercise is good for you and helps you keep your glucose low, you just won’t feel up to going out for a jog or stopping at the gym.

Or maybe you’ll find yourself a little stressed out by some family drama.  If there’s one thing that sooths your nerves, it’s a little bit of chocolate-chip ice cream—and you just happen to have some in the freezer, so you take out the carton and a spoon and enjoy a sweet, creamy frozen dinner.

Then Thanksgiving will come around, a time when your whole family gathers for a mini family reunion. After you feast on Uncle Bud’s deep-fried turkey, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, collard greens with ham hocks, good old-fashion cornbread and three kinds of cake, you’ll sit around the table talking, laughing, reminiscing—and absentmindedly nibbling at the leftovers. Time will fly by and you will have forgotten all about your insulin and checking your blood glucose.

Christmas will come with gifts and goodies. It will be too cold to jog in January. April 15 will roll around and you’ll crunch away tax-time stress with bags of chips. You’ll nibble too many rich hors d’oeuvres at a wedding, or accept too thick a slice of birthday cake at a party. You’ll forget your glucose monitor when you go on vacation. And day-by-day, decision-by-decision, you’ll be handling your diabetes, alright. But you won’t be handling it well. And before you know it, your diabetes will be handling you.

You heard the doctor. You know you should watch your diet, get daily exercise and monitor your glucose. And you have the best intentions. But unless you are extremely disciplined and dedicated to taking care of yourself, there are going to be times when your mental state or your emotional life will interfere with doing what you know your body needs.  In fact, even the most conscientious person will have lapses.

We’re only human, after all. 

But because you’re human—and you happen to be a human with a chronic condition—you have to do everything you can to support yourself in taking care of your diabetes. That’s why, if you want to live long and live well with diabetes, you can’t just address it as a physical condition. You have to take a mind, body and spirit approach.

How are you supporting yourself in taking care of your diabetes?