Hi friends! Sarah here, back again this week to share what I’ve been thinking about in the times of coronavirus as a young adult with type 1 diabetes (T1D). I’m not a medical expert, or an expert in anything at all really. I’m just a person with T1D who’s trying to keep it together and get through this quarantine the best I can.
Last week, I talked about the food I’ve been eating to best manage my blood sugars, and I started to touch on today’s topic: mindset.
I’ve been practicing meditation on and off since I was 17, but over the past few months it has felt impossible to get my brain to be quiet for three seconds, let alone a fifteen-minute meditation session. At this point, the idea of sitting alone with my thoughts for any amount of time sounds daunting, and I’m drained just thinking about it.
But I know I need something to help calm my nerves and ease the stress that impacts my blood glucose levels. So, I’ve replaced my usual meditation with some prompts that can give my brain something positive to think about and focus on. Here is what I am asking myself:
1. What was your favorite part of today?
This is a question that my boyfriend and I have always asked each other at the end of the day, especially when either of us is in a bad mood. It’s become especially helpful now that our days are entirely uneventful and spent totally together.
Pinpointing one moment from the day when you felt happy, no matter how small, helps you end the day thinking about something positive. You get to relive your happy moment – even if just for a second, and maybe even laugh about it if you’re sharing it with another person.
Last week on a day when everything felt bad, my favorite moment was watching ducks swim in circles in Central Park.
2. What are 7 good things that happened today?
This one can be a real challenge when you’ve had a bad day. I use this all the time when I catch myself ranting about everything that was less-than-perfect that day.
I use the number seven because it’s just enough that it makes you dig deep to find the small positives. Once, on a particularly bad day, a couple of good things on my list were “Animals exist” and “I own a soft shirt.” These aren’t necessarily good things that happened to me that day but thinking about decent things in the world can be a real lifesaver when you feel overwhelmed.
The thing I’m most excited about for tomorrow is that it will be my birthday, and even though it won’t be nearly as fun as my Chuck E. Cheese party in 1997, I’m hoping there will be cake involved.
3. What are you most excited about for tomorrow?
I remember lying in bed as a kid, unable to sleep because I was so excited for something the next day. In hindsight, those exciting events were actually small, like knowing I had music class on Tuesdays or that I was going to use a new mechanical pencil in class.
You can lean into those feelings again and make yourself genuinely feel like there are exciting things to come. Nowadays, my answer to this question is usually “Maybe I’ll see the cute dog outside my window again” or “The Masked Singer is on tomorrow” – but still, it’s something to be excited about.
As silly as it may sound, it works. And no matter how many things go wrong in a day, I still have that one thing that is within my control to look forward to.
Picturing moments when you were happy makes them real. This week, try to acknowledge every time you laugh and hold onto that feeling so you can think about it when you’re having a rough time. Always remember that you’ve had positive experiences before, and you will have positive experiences again.
Stay safe and up to date on the latest recommendations from the experts about COVID-19 and T1D. Check out Breakthrough T1D’s COVID-19 resources page, updated daily with the latest info at jdrf.org/coronavirus.
