I had my bloods taken a couple of weeks ago by my lovely diabetes nurse. We had a really good open chat about my burnout experience and subsequent improvement. I jokingly said I’d become “a little bit obsessed” with diabetes recently. She warned me (in a kind, empathetic way, but with genuine concern) to watch out that I didn’t go too far in the other direction and let diabetes management take over my life. A bit like over-treating a hypo and ending up going too high. I have to avoid rebounding from diabetes burnout and bouncing into a level of diabetes management that is too intense, time consuming and distracting from all other aspects of life to sustain in the long term.
I don’t feel like I’ve gone too far – for me focusing a bit more (well, truthfully, a lot more) on diabetes related stuff personally and in the outside world is helping me to feel more engaged and interested in it, and less inclined to try to push it into the background like I used to. That’s true for now, but I am grateful to the nurse for raising this with me so I remember to ask myself now and again if I’m doing too much. I’m aiming for a good balance between diabetes management and everything else that’s important to me – it feels like I’ve found it but I wonder how long it will last?
