Is there a recipe for a good life with diabetes?

I read a great book in german about psyching out diabetes (“Diabetes ist meine Sache” by Axel Hirsch).
It made me see so many things in a more realistic, relaxed but also empowering way…
At the end of that book I made a little list with the things that helped me most (along with my own ideas) and I thought that would make a nice blog entry. Here we go:

1. Humor- Laughing about some of my weird diabetes habits instead of blaming me and analyzing it down to the ground.

2. Acceptance- Be compassionate about yourself

3. Realistic- Diabetes is neither a lucky challenge, nor a catastrophe

4. Empowerment- You have the choice to decide about how you treat your diabetes, and noone else

5. Open minded- Try again and again and again… No matter how many drawbacks you have, change is always possible!

6. Limits- They have to be accepted without generating new ones that aren’t there

7. Letting go- There are much more important things in my life but diabetes. Living healthily enables me to enjoy them

8. Honest- I should be honest about myself without blaming me

9. Feelings- Must be accepted as they are, good ones and bad ones, coming and going…

10. Active- Living an active life gives me the power and motivation to keep up good health!


Well… There’s no recipe, but some ingredients might help! :wink:

1 Like

that’s a nice post. will check the book out but my german is quite rusty

Really enjoyed your post Astrid. I don’t speak German though so I’ll have to take your word on the quality of the book :slight_smile:
I really liked your ingredients too!

Nice post Astrid.

For myself, I also “Stop feeling guilty about everything”

We are human !

For me, it’s “Everything in moderation.”

I have been wanting to read this book. A few others recommended it on here. Sounds like you do too! :slight_smile:

Nice summary for an approach to living with Diabetes. Thanks. Not sure the book is readily available stateside. Would like to try it with my limited German.

@ Astrid - Hast du die verschiedenen Diabetes-Bücher von Grit Ott gelesen? Schön geschrieben, einfaches Deutsch. Da ich als Übersetzer arbeite - mit Sprachrichtung Deutsch > Englisch - möchte ich sie gern übersetzen.

Actually this book “Psyching Out Diabetes” is available in English and in the states. It is old though. You will have to get a used copy.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=psyching+out+diabete

Hmm… maybe these aren’t the same books. I thought maybe you were reading the German version of this book above. Perhaps they are different. Different authors. I don’t speak German so I not sure of the translation of your book name.

Gee, I just noticed that I can get it as cheap as 80 cents used on Amazon. Why have I been waiting? I kept looking on Ebay for a cheap version. Duh. :slight_smile:

@Astrid
Thanks for the cheer. Attitude influences how we experience life, with or without diabetes. Thanks for the reminders to stay on the positive side.

Wow, I have to thank you for the many comments! :slight_smile:

Well, the book I read is not the german version of “psyching out diabetes”, but the author of my book recommented “psyching out” as well :wink:

I really enjoyed this post Astrid. Thanks for sharing it! : )

Great post! Thank you, Astrid.

I am very happy that you enjoyed it! : )
Thanks a lot!

Honestly a great post! I am going to print these out, and look at them all the time.