When you live with diabetes there is a focus on your physical health but your quality of life is so important. This means caring for your mental health, increasing your happiness, confidence and positive feelings about your life.
You can live well with diabetes. Wellbeing is about feeling good - physically, mentally and emotionally. It is about taking care of yourself. Sometimes these things can be neglected when juggling the demands of life, and particularly when you live with diabetes. It is like a full-time job just managing your diabetes!
It is quite common for people to experience feelings of anger, guilt, fear, discouragement and a lack of motivation. Sometimes people can find life with diabetes overwhelming and experience increased stress from the day to day effort of managing.
You are not alone if you are experiencing these things. Having good mental health requires you to focus just as much on looking after your emotional, psychological and social health, as your physical health.Like regular exercise, eating well and visiting the doctor for check ups, you need to do things that support and improve your mental health and wellbeing - after all, physical and mental wellbeing and health go hand-in-hand. This does not mean you have to feel happy ALL the time! Nobody in the world does. Having feelings of sadness, anger, frustration and so on, are all part of life and it is healthy to experience these things. If they are taking over your life, then you need to seek help. Support from people who understand you, other people with diabetes, your family and friends and your health care team, is a key part of this. Being as informed and up-to-date as possible about diabetes management options, and having interests and passions outside of your diabetes, are also very important in having good wellbeing. Sleep, relaxation, healthy food and exercise, all add to having the best wellbeing possible.
You will find information on the following pages to assist you in caring for your wellbeing and your diabetes.