If there are so many states to acceptance, as the old adage goes, I’ve definitely been through them all with my high risk of diabetes: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, blame, acceptance. It seems to me, if I dare mention the B word (brexit), as a country, we’ve collectively been through the same thing with brexit. ( Is brexit a thing? Or is it like breakfast, and not worthy of a capital letter?) #willeditlater
My transition to acceptance has only taken a few weeks, and I think this is because I was raised to, as my father used to say, treat my “body as a temple”. I have no idea whether he understood the profound effect his words had on me. I’ve always found words incredibly powerful things.
Discussing this with you gets me to thinking about a conversation I had yesterday with my son. I messaged him about a newspaper headline yesterday in The Times which suggested it was ok to drink 25 cups of coffee a day, yes, a day. Of course this is ludicrous, as my father used to say. He wouldn’t have a newspaper in the house. It was because of the negativity, largely, I think. The headline is suggesting something preposterous to grab the reader’s attention. The problem with headlines is that often people only have time to read bite size pieces of information nowadays, myself included, and probably won’t read your whole blog, which is why relatively short blogs are effective, and excerpts get your point across more succinctly; the trouble is a headline isn’t an excerpt, it’s what it says on the tin, an eye catching, attention grabbing headline.
My son, who has spent the past 10 years of his life studying science, is a PhD and is in the second stage of his medical degree course, was telling me that everything you read has a subtle influence upon you. I often disagree with my son, but in this I’m prepared to agree, probably because I’ve always suspected it was the case, and in my experience if one person hears something about another person before they meet them, I’ve noticed they are apt to believe it over the evidence presented them to the contrary, unless it is overwhelming. Now, I am not suggesting this is always the case; I have had the opportunity to work with many leaders in my lifetime, and I’ve noticed that some of them are good listeners, and the good listeners take you as they find you; they are the people who are listening to hear, and not to project an opinion into you. They don’t just ask pertinent questions but another thing they don’t do is offer an answer to the question they just posed. The people that offer answers to questions are not really interested in your answers, they like the sound of their own voices.
This brings me to a book again. It is a children’s book that I love. It is written by Madonna. Yes the Madonna, no not that one; the singer. It is another of my favourite children’s books. I haven’t remembered to tweet about it because I was overwhelmed by all the evidence that well tried books with well known authors should take precedence; but I wonder why that is. If you get a chance look up Mr Peabody’s Apples; it’s about assumptions, perspective, and not talking about people negatively. Now I’m guilty of that too, even though I adore the message in Madonna’s book, and I’ve been hurt by the unkind words of strangers.
Remember that everyone we meet has something to teach us, even when they try our patience. It is always better to listen. Which brings me once again to thanking my partner Vince for showing me through his exemplary ability not to talk negatively about almost everyone (- almost- nobody is perfect), that it is possible to be even more patient than I once believed.
What has any of this to do with diabetes? Well, I began this blog to share with you that Ferrero Rocher only has around 30 grams of sugar per 100 grams, which I found out yesterday, and then I digressed because I was distracted by a newspaper headline.
Best wishes,
Hermione
hermionelaake 