Sunday 15 November 2015

What are your objectives?


People's actions can be misinterpreted if you don't know what their objectives are. Often, quite similar objectives can require quite different approaches. In the picture above, many asked why the final runner in the relay team still has the warp drive engaged when victory is in the bag and she should be doing a celebratory run in with her team mates.

Her objective at this stage is not to win the race. There is an informal competition between kids, and some adults to see who can get the fastest finish split. It is a bit like the yellow and green jerseys in the Tour de France. It often goes to a person who is not the overall winner. More categories of winner increases the fun factor.

What are your objectives in managing diabetes? Do you want the lowest HbA1c? the lowest cholesterol? do you want to avoid your blood sugar every falling below 3.1?
None of these things rate highly on my agenda.
Getting a life certainly does. Devoting lots of time and effort to achieve perfection in blood sugar control would make me just as much a victim of my disease as would complications.
Getting wrapped in cotton wool is a potential complication of diabetes.

The other problem of obsessing about blood sugar is that is not the main problem. As the endocrinologist said to a friend the other day. - Don't worry too much about your blood sugar. Most diabetics die or are disabled by cardiovascular disease.
Focus on your CVD risk factors. Start by asking yourself how many dozen of them can you name.