Living with Diabetes: How to Overcome 3 Common Barriers to Change

Year after year, we set these binding New Year's resolutions in December. You have to do it, right? Everyone does it. Blog posts, news channels, magazines - they're all about making decisions. But year after year, January comes and goes and resolutions inevitably fall by the wayside. While setting a goal is a necessary first step in reaching a resolution, it is arguably the simplest step. The hard part is sticking to your plan of action. While most social media is all about setting goals, let's talk about why it's hard to stick to those goals.

Here are the three most common barriers to change I see (although there can be many more) and how they can be overcome.

Difficulty Breaking Old Habits

Habits don't change overnight. They take years to develop and are likely to take a long time to decompose. Make sure you do everything you can to make it easier to break these old habits.

For example, if you can't remember to check your blood sugar, just trying to remember it probably won't solve your problem.

• Maybe setting an alarm on your phone will help you remember it.

• Could you leave an extra yard at work if you don't remember to take it every morning?

• Perhaps put your meter in plain view to physically remind you to measure your blood sugar.

Focus On Specific Results

"My A1c must be less than 7%". While having that goal is great, be sure to measure success in other ways. An A1c is not always the best indicator of your progress and is only taken every three months. Waiting so long to check your progress can be daunting. Make sure you take note of the positive signs that you are moving in the right direction:

• You have more energy or you are less thirsty.

• Your fasting blood sugar has dropped.

• You've been taking your diabetes medications closer (put them on a schedule to keep track of).

• You are not short of breath when you take a walk.

No Purpose

You need to find out why you have chosen a specific goal. In other words, what is the purpose of this goal? If your answer is "My doctor told me to do this" or "My partner thinks I should do this", you are doomed. Think about why YOU want to change.

• If you choose to lose weight then ask yourself why do you want to lose weight? Maybe you want to be able to keep up with your grandchildren, or you want more energy to do your favourite hobbies.

• If you want to lower your A1c, how will this benefit you? Maybe you want to have fewer doctor's appointments, or you want to use less medication.

The Value the Purpose of Your Goal

Whatever your goal, you need to assess its goal to be motivated to change.

So how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? Do you need to re-evaluate your goals or change the way you achieve them? Hang on! Making an intentional change is never too much!