This is an interview on positivity with fellow health coach and diabetes advocate, Ginger Vieira.
Ginger: Positivity…that word could be interpreted so many ways. In life with diabetes, how would you define positivity?
Riva: For me positivity in living with diabetes is seeing what you are doing well and giving yourself a pat on the back and then seeing what you can do a little better and doing it. Also, not beating yourself up for not being perfect, which no one can be frankly, and thinking less about the scary stuff of diabetes like complications.
Living with type 1 almost 42 years, it helps me stay positive to see the benefits diabetes has brought me. We all say we wouldn’t wish diabetes on anyone, but if you’ve already got it, you’ll feel better if you can find a few things about it that have value. For instance, I would not be as fit and healthy as I am if not for diabetes; I know I would not walk an hour a day as i do or have lost thirty pounds and kept them off for two decades.
In my workshops, I ask people to tell me one positive thing diabetes has given them. Once they get over the shock, they invariably do find something, and their energy and the energy in the room skyrockets.
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