November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, a time to highlight not only the science of diabetes—but the experience of living with it.
Because if you have diabetes, you already know: worry is baked into the job description.
Always “Pancreasing”
Every day with diabetes involves a series of calculations, adjustments, and forecasts—hundreds of them.
People living with diabetes make up to 120 more health-related decisions each day than those without it. Think about that—120 extra moments of What do I do now? or What if I get it wrong?
Every meal, every activity, every feeling, every change in schedule… we are constantly processing and “pancreasing”—doing the work our body no longer does automatically. No wonder we’re tired. No wonder our minds never quite rest.
The Purpose of Worry
Worry isn’t all bad. It’s actually part of our survival system. Our brains use worry to predict potential danger and prepare us to handle it.
If you’ve ever had a scary low, a stubborn high, or a technology failure, your brain remembers—and it tries to protect you by scanning for anything that might cause it again.
In that sense, worry is trying to help. It’s our mind saying, “I don’t ever want to go through that again.”
It’s a forecast mechanism—using past experiences to predict possible futures. Helpful, right?
Until it’s not.
When Worry Takes Over
The trouble is that worry activates the sympathetic nervous system—our built-in “fight or flight” response.
That’s fine if you’re facing a tiger, but not so helpful when you’re facing a blood sugar reading. Over time, this constant activation becomes chronic stress—a state that feels like anxiety, irritability, or emotional exhaustion.
When that happens, worry stops protecting us and starts running the show.
It colors everything with fear, doubt, and worst-case scenarios. It can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy, where fear of failure makes us pull back from what actually helps—checking, adjusting, asking for support.
Common Worries in Diabetes
If any of these sound familiar, you’re not alone:
- Future complications
- The impact of highs and lows
- What other people think
- Not being understood by doctors or loved ones
- Feeling stuck in negative emotions
- Loss of control
- Judgment or embarrassment (especially after a low in public)
- Financial strain from supplies and care
- The sheer exhaustion of keeping it all up
All valid. All understandable. And yes—all exhausting.
So What Can We Do?
This is where nervous system regulation comes in.
The good news is we can train our body to come out of chronic fight-or-flight mode. It takes practice, but the tools are simple, free, and available anytime.
By sending calming safety signals to your body, you begin to override the stress messages that worry sends out. It’s a way of taking your power back.
Here’s one of my favorite ways to do it:
A Simple Practice to Soothe Worry
- Notice when you’re ruminating on a future fear.
- Pause and say to yourself, “Hey, I’m doing that worry thing.”
- Ask: “Is this true? Is this really happening, or am I making up the future?”
- Ground yourself:
- Place your hand over your heart.
- Take a deep, slow breath.
- Relax your shoulders and soften all you can.
- Remind yourself: Right now, I have electricity, medicine, running water, choices to make… I am safe.
- Say out loud, “Right now, in this moment, I am OK.”
- Do it again. Relax on purpose.
- Shift the focus: “Even though things could be bad, things could also be good—and I choose to believe in that outcome.”
- Seal it: “So it is.”
That simple series of thoughts and movements tells every cell in your body that it’s safe. With repetition, your nervous system learns to trust calm as the new normal.
It’s not about pretending everything’s fine—it’s about giving your body permission to believe it might be.
Closing Thoughts
Worry is part of life with diabetes, but it doesn’t have to control it.
You can learn to notice, interrupt, and soothe those fear loops. You can re-train your system toward peace—one breath, one choice, one moment at a time.
And if you’re struggling, please reach out.
You don’t have to face this alone. I can help you find your calm, your confidence, and your better diabetes life. 💙
Best,
If you would like to watch my videos on this topic – check out my TikTok series!
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