The Power of Thoughts: Part 2

Originally published January 2011 

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. 

~Arnold Glasow

A great way to get your mind on a positive track (hard to do when diabetes is constantly derailing you) is to decide to knock toxic people out of your life (when possible, anyway).  It’s not easy, mind you, but it’s effective to the point that it’s life changing.

I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that most of us are pretty influenced by others.  It’s normal and natural.  The thing is, for diabetics, health should really be a top priority.  And this means that being surrounded by those whose presence around you somehow doesn’t support your health is not the way to go.  In other words, people who aren’t respectful of your health goals or people who constantly pressure you against what you’ve set out to do are toxic to your health.  This doesn’t mean that if you are trying to eat healthier you need to let go of friends who live off of pizza.  It means that you need to avoid being around friends who live off pizza who also tell you “Oh come on just have some!” after you’ve said, “I really don’t want any and I shouldn’t have any tonight.”

You may have a different opinion than me on this but, in my experience, as long as I stuck to kind and thoughtful people, I felt a sense of support towards my health goals.  When I hung out with those who somehow made it easier for me to let go of my goals or who somehow made it easier for me to feel like my health wasn’t important enough for sacrifices, my diabetes suffered and of course, my whole life did, too.  Health issues are at the root of 99% of my seemingly unrelated problems in life.  Really.  So if I simply tackle health issues, the rest will at least improve.  Just the same, if I ignore health issues, my life will literally fall apart and that would really affect loved ones.  It’s a big deal.

So honestly, and you probably know this deep down for yourself, If you spend time around someone who makes it that much harder for you to do right by your health, talk to them about it.  Give them some time to adjust if that’s what they need.  If that doesn’t work, consider your options in spending less time or no time with them.  You’re worth it.