A few weeks ago, I shared a resolution here and promised to update everyone on my progress. The resolution: to dedicate myself to my daily music practice, and renew my focus on progressing my career with full effort and concentration. That was my resolution, and I invited others to share, as well.
So, three weeks on, how am I doing? I’d give myself a B-. As luck would have it, life crept up on me in a big way and most of that time and energy had to be diverted to crisis management. I haven’t been able to get out and hit the area late-night jam sessions as I was hoping to do, but I’ll give myself a pass on that since I had a number of the back-to-back 12-hour days and a sincere desire to avoid getting sick.
I probably could have taken a few more opportunities to practice at home, though. And I could have gotten on the horn and called the local clubs again to scour for shows for my start-up project (an organ funk band called “Get Happy”). So on that point, I’m taking some points off. The crisis weeks seem to be behind me at this point, though, leaving my “legitimate excuse bin” empty for the new few weeks. Wish me luck…
A Milestone
I realized the other day that I have been writing this blog for just over one year! It still feels rather new to me, to be honest. I don’t consider myself a “writer” per se, and there’s still some part of me that can’t quite believe this is all for real. But it is real, and it’s been a wonderful experience for me as the writer. I certainly hope that those of you reading it have walked away with something worthwhile, as well. While I’m on the topic, I want to express my sincere thank you to Diabetes Self-Management for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts each week, and in particular I want to thank Diane Fennell, the Web Editor, who I work with most directly.
The one-year mark seems like a good place to pause and think about the future of this blog. There are things I hope to carry forward — topics I want to revisit, themes I have grown fond of. And there are things I’d like to change. I think of it the same way I think of a visit to my endocrinologist. We review the numbers, find the patterns, and adjust what needs to be adjusted.
The more prominent item on my list of adjustments is to get specific. I like talking about the emotional impact of diabetes. After all, I’m a former therapist living with diabetes, so the topic is right in my wheelhouse. But you can only say so much about stress patterns, emotional reactions, and coping skills, at least in the broad view. My original pitch, the pitch that ultimately led to my hire as a blog contributor, was to have a kind of emotional “advice column” in the print magazine. I’d like to resurrect this idea. Each week, I want to officially invite you, the readers, to post questions, challenges, or issues you’d like to see addressed. I hope to use these posts to create all or part of each weekly blog entry. After all, talking about general stress is all well and good, but getting specific is always more helpful — because how you address the stress of a high blood glucose will differ from how you might address the stress of talking to your partner or spouse about diabetes. So share your concerns and questions, large or small. The therapist is in his office.
One more thank you
I’d like to close this week with a simple thank you to the readers. Thank you for listening, for sharing your comments, and for supporting this blog. Being able to share my thoughts with my “fellow Diabetians” each week is such a privilege. We are an incredibly strong, incredibly talented, and incredibly resilient group of people, and I’m honored to be a part of it. So thank you again, and here’s to many more blog entries in the future!
