Managing diabetes can often feel like a constant fight for survival, but what if there was a way to shift this mentality and instead, thrive? On a journey to answer this question, we sat down with Kylee, a Type 1 diabetic who has been managing her condition for 15 years and we discuss what it looks like to get out of survival mode and begin to thrive with your diabetic management.
Kylee on TikTok: @the.diabeticyogi
Join our Facebook Community
Follow me on TikTok
Follow me on Instagram
Managing diabetes can often feel like a constant fight for survival, but what if there was a way to shift this mentality and instead, thrive? On a journey to answer this question, we sat down with Kylee, a Type 1 diabetic who has been managing her condition for 15 years and we discuss what it looks like to get out of survival mode and begin to thrive with your diabetic management.
Kylee on TikTok: @the.diabeticyogi
Join our Facebook Community
Follow me on TikTok
Follow me on Instagram
Welcome to the Type 1 Unscripted Podcast. My name is Sean and we are pulling back the curtain on the true experiences of life with Type 1 Diabetes. Together, we will explore the highs and lows of living with Type 1, sharing stories of inspiration and triumph, educating and learning and, most importantly, fostering our amazing Type 1 community. As a reminder, anything you hear on the Type 1 Unscripted Podcast, or any episode, should not be taken as medical advice. So before making any changes to your diet, insulin or healthcare plan, please consult with your physician or medical professional. Welcome to another episode of Type 1 Unscripted. My name is Sean and today I am so excited to be doing this episode because we have on the show Kylie Lyric.
Speaker 1:Our paths crossed a few weeks back. Kylie is a Type 1 diabetic of what did you say? 15 years, 15 years, yeah, that's right. I believe you said you were diagnosed in the fourth grade. And Kylie is a yoga instructor as well as a health and wellness coach, and she also is a content creator on TikTok, also raising awareness and education for Type 1 diabetes.
Speaker 1:And as soon as I saw her content, I knew immediately I needed to get her on the show so we could have some really fun conversations and when we were talking about what topic we wanted to cover, we kept coming back to this one idea that, kylie, I believe you said you were really passionate about, and that is the whole idea of how people can be thrown into this survival mode, whether diagnosed, and then how can we move from reacting with our diabetic management to responding to our diabetic management. So I believe there is a whole lot here, a lot to unpack. I'm just ready to dive in. So let's do it, kylie. Let's start talking about what survival mode is and how that works. Does that happen when you're first diagnosed? Can that happen to you if you've been diagnosed for 20 plus years? What does that look like? What is survival mode?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question and I truly think that it's something that starts with our first diagnosis, or our original diagnosis, and it really is a matter of how you process that diagnosis and I think plays a role as to how you're going to navigate that as an adult.
Speaker 2:And so, while I do believe that, upon our diagnosis, almost everybody is thrown into this state of survival of, oh my gosh, I have to become my own pancreas. I have to do this, I have to take shots, I have to do all of these things like XYZ, over time that becomes more familiar and you're able to get out of this state of survival. But just as easily if you're stuck in your mindset and things just are swirling around all the time and diabetes feels so overwhelming, I also consider that a state of survival mode. So I view it as this thing that we kind of fluctuate and come in and out of, and obviously we have tools to help us get out of that state. But just with anybody living with diabetes, managing our own pancreas is not an easy job and we really are saving our lives every single day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I don't think people recognize the significance of that that. We do this every day, and you mentioned something a second ago about how we have to think and act as our pancreas, and I want to point that out because we were not born to do that. We were not taught in school to do this in any form of class. That is very difficult to do. It's just not something that does or should come natural to any human being. And when you get told that your pancreas is no longer working and that's now your responsibility now we have a lot to learn and figure out and then you get told that this is now your everyday life.
Speaker 2:This is for life, yeah, so, upon diagnosis, one thing that I always like to talk about is the difference between textbook diabetes and real life diabetes. We love our doctors. They saved our lives, they found out we have diabetes, like yay, thank you for that. But a lot of our doctors and a lot of our endocrinologists are not type one themselves, and so, while they have this textbook knowledge of what diabetes is like, it's really quite different from actually walking a day in the life or walking in the shoes of somebody who's living with type one diabetes. And so I don't know about you, and we have different diagnosis stories.
Speaker 2:But when I was diagnosed, I got sat down in this room and it's like, okay, you're going to have to start taking shots every day for the rest of your life, which, speaking of something that doesn't come naturally to a human. It's not natural for us to be poking ourselves with needles all the time. So you have to do this and you have to count carbs and oh, yeah, if you start to feel a little funky, you probably should eat some sugar, otherwise you could die. There's all of these things and just so much information thrown at us that I think it immediately puts us into this state of oh my goodness, I just have to try to survive. That's what I'm here to do, and that's way different than actually thriving and like living a full life with diabetes and working on your health and wellness and building healthy habits that allow you to thrive with diabetes. So I'd be curious about that.
Speaker 1:Oh, go ahead. Yeah, and no, I was going to say in speaking of X, y and Z, of hey, you got to do this, you got to do that, giving yourself shots and insulin and crub counting. It's typically a crash course, right, and you correct me if you think I'm wrong here, but I feel like each one in itself could be its own college course or major or something like you know, like majoring in carb counting or something crazy. That's not sounds a little crazy, but like it's a lot. Carb counting is hard, managing insulin is hard, all that stuff is difficult.
Speaker 1:And to just be thrown into it and one day you're not doing it and the next day you're having to do it and learn how to do it, just to keep yourself alive, right, and that's to me, that's what we're. The survival mode, that's what I think I'm not thinking of. Survival mode is what are we doing to help ourselves on a daily basis? Now, like you know, and like I think a lot of people can kind of relate to this, whether they have got this newly diagnosed cancer diagnosis or there's other chronic illnesses out there that are very dangerous as well, but I think people don't often realize, especially the person who's getting diagnosed with diabetes. You may not even realize how dangerous type one can be if not treated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it's also important just hearing you talk about different diagnosis is. I don't even think it's just type ones that can be in survival mode, but I think about all of the parents of type ones. You know I was diagnosed at 10 years old, which, so you know, I was old enough to kind of understand like, oh, my life's going to be different from here on out. But I think about all of the super young kiddos and the babies that have. You know, the parents that are trying to manage the pancreas of another human.
Speaker 2:And that brings on even more challenges yet.
Speaker 1:OK, so can we elaborate on that just a little bit? So I know that we're both in support groups and we're in each other's support groups as well. What does that look like? What does survival mode look like for them? Any thoughts?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I think I think about my mom and my dad, who really helped me, and I'm so grateful for their support that I did get through diagnosis and even to this day. But as a young kiddo, I was a competitive gymnast and so, for example, I think about the times where and this was I don't want to say back before CGMs, but CGMs weren't just readily available, and so I'd go to these like six hour gymnastics practices and I would be like out on the floor and all of a sudden the room starts spinning and I'm like I have no idea what's going on. And I could see my mom just staring at me and like giving me a thumbs up, like you OK, like are you good, and I'm like I don't know. And then I see her like looking around, like I need a juice box and like I just sometimes I mean and I'm sure you can relate when we have low blood sugar, it gets us into this state of survival.
Speaker 2:And I think about all of the parents that are, oh my goodness, not only am I like the protector of my child. I think that parents are naturally protective of their children and obviously want to keep them safe, but now it's a matter of life or death. This is a matter of I'm the manager of another person's pancreas and I couldn't even imagine, you know, like the parent doesn't feel the hyposymptoms coming on, the parent doesn't feel the high blood sugar symptoms coming on, they just see a number on the CGM and I feel like it's an immediate, like we got to act now, and I think that that puts parents in a constant, in a chronic state of stress as well, unless they have a healthy outlet and a way to manage that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ok, so forgive me, this is how my brain works. I follow many different trains, but a minute ago you mentioned CGMs, technology and whether it's parents monitoring or we're monitoring ourselves. Do you think technology such as CGMs and other things do you think it enables us to be more stressed and sometimes, because we rely on it and it makes us want to be perfect, can that play a role into a fight or flight? Can that? Can that enable us to want to be in that survival mode even more, because we're constantly analyzing our data, or do you think it helps us to get up to survival mode, or is it kind of a catch 22? It's a little bit of both. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:I think it's a catch 22 and all in the way that you perceive what you're looking at. For example, something that comes to mind is when you're looking at your CGM and you see I'm at 102 with double arrows down, are you immediately like, oh my gosh, like I'm going to go low, like I need to go to the fridge, I need to drink this juice, or are you able to take a step back and say, okay, I'm at 102. I see double arrows down, but that's not a promise that I'm going to go tanking into the 40s, because what I can say is there's been plenty of times where I'm speaking from experience here Like I do see the double arrows down, I run to the kitchen, I start chugging the juice, just for 30 seconds later, the arrows to stop and the CGM levels out. So I really think it's a matter of how we're perceiving and how we're using our technology, and it all begins with the awareness in our bodies. But I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that and what you think about technology.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, yeah, the reason I asked that question is because, again, I think, for example, this is a good example for those of diabetics are out there who are on the DEXCOM G6, there is a two hour warm up period. What is your mental state during that two hours? I see it all the time on TikTok and on Instagram and Facebook and all that stuff People are. They're the ones who are out there who are finger pricking like every 15 minutes during those two hours because they just it gives them so much anxiety that they can't get their phone at any given time and see what their blood sugar is. And there are the ones who may not check at all during that two hours and maybe they've learned to trust their body a little bit more and be more in tune with their body a little bit more.
Speaker 1:I feel like there's a few different reasons out there, but I'm with you. I feel like technology can enable us and disable us from being quote unquote in survival mode Like we, like. I think there's that person out there, like you said, who can see you know, a 1668 with double arrows down and they're freaking out. The alarms are going off, right. That doesn't help either. You know. Everything's like going crazy. If you're an omnipot, wear that beeps to everything's beeping and that can be stressful and that I could see where that would snap you into survival mode. Now the alarms are there for a reason, right? Because the whole purpose is to alert us that, hey, I need you to address this so I could see how that could be. That could affect different people different ways. And then you know there's the camp of this is giving you the technology and the advancements in technology to be healthier and manage diabetes in a way where it takes some of the frustration out. It takes the overthinking out, because this technology now also helps predict where our sugars are going in the future and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:And I think there's. I think there's different things or different ways to look at it. You know one of the things I don't think it's the same topic, but a lot of people strive to be perfect with their blood sugars. They want to be in range all the time and they're looking for that 24 hours of 100% in range. And you know that's rare, it doesn't happen for all of us, and you know I mean when it does, I think, hey, yeah, let's celebrate it, let's shout it from the rooftops and be thankful that it happened. But you know, for us to strive to happen every day is maybe a little unrealistic and I don't know. But does it know if that played a role in survival mode at all?
Speaker 2:I think it totally does, and you bring up the perfect example of saying you know the people that strive for 100% time and range. For me, it goes back again to our intentions. It's like are you aiming for 100% time and range? Because that's when you know like I genuinely feel good in my body and I feel healthier in my body when my blood sugars are between 80 and 180, or whatever your specific target range is. And I'm eating breakfast, I'm eating lunch, I'm eating dinner, I'm eating my snacks.
Speaker 2:In between, I'm moving my body five to six days a week and I'm truly taking care of my health and I've been able to track patterns and understand these patterns to get to a place where I can have 90 to 100% time and range. Or are you viewing it from this intention of my? Diabetes defines me and my time and range is directly connected to my self worth and therefore, in order to get 100% time and range, I'm cutting out carbs, because carbs are bad, because carbs raise blood sugar levels, and through cutting carbs and just sitting on my couch all day long and not moving my body, I have 100% time and range and therefore, yay, I'm a great diabetic. Because to me, those are two completely different things, and that's the difference to me between being in survival mode and thriving. It's the difference between surviving and thriving with your diabetes management and your diabetes diagnosis.
Speaker 1:Thriving is what we all crave. We want to thrive in what we do. We want diabetes not control us, I think. I think we want to be in control of it. That's kind of the point of self managing diabetes, because diabetes is something that we are in charge of. It's nobody else's job but ours. People are there to help us 100% we have.
Speaker 1:If you're a type one diabetic, you likely have a team of healthcare professionals a dietitian, a diabetic educator and your endocrinologist and maybe you have a health wellness coach. Maybe you have a personal trainer to help you with fitness. Whatever it may be, there's a lot of things that play there. You got your family, you got that support system. Maybe you're part of another support system, but at the end of the day, you still carry that burden and that weight to make yourself not feel bad and get high sugars and control the low sugars. And we're probably not even aware of how much we think about diabetes. But I don't know about you.
Speaker 1:But in the mornings I pull out my phone and check my Dexcom app and check my sugars instantly, without thinking, and I've been trying to challenge myself to give myself 30 minutes before I do that. Now, if I'm feeling rough checking my sugar. First thing is probably important to do, but if I feel fine, what's 30 minutes for me at that point to have time to myself and mentally get ready to start my day instead of starting off go? Oh man, I woke up at you know 193. What happened? And then you start going down that trail and you're like, well, maybe I should get myself insulin. Now I've got to correct and all this stuff and then that's no fun when I just start any day. I think sometimes we just don't, we're not aware of things that we do. That puts us in that form of survival mode, naturally without even thinking about it, and we're not aware of the stress that we're creating for ourselves, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you bring up a great point of this morning thing, Like the first thing that you do is check your PDM or your pump or your CGM, whatever it is. And I think back to you know, depending on we all have our different TikTok algorithms playing a role here, but I'm on the side of TikTok.
Speaker 2:It's, like you know, try not using your phone for an hour after you wake up, like, wake up and get the sunlight in your eyes and take a breath of fresh air and read 10 pages of your book. And it's like you know, I'd love to do that. But, hello, I'm managing my pancreas over here and so I'm with you and I think that there there really is a fine line where we can say and like, really try to do our best to be out of survival mode, but the at the end of the day, it's going to be in the back of our minds because it is a matter of life or death, whether we want for it to be. But I think that it all comes down to are you able to regulate that stress? If you notice that you're starting to get stressed out, are you able to take care of your blood sugar and then put the pump away and say, okay, I've treated, I've done what I need to do. Now I'm going to switch gears and go read my book and try to deregulate.
Speaker 2:Or are you starting your morning like that? You're the adrenaline's pumping, the cortisol's pumping, you're trying to figure out what happened. Which of the one of the 42 factors influenced your blood sugar levels last night, like trying to figure that out. And then here you are, scrambling to get ready to work, you're driving to the office Now, you're mad in traffic and there's just these stress hormones raging through your body and you're not allowing yourself to deregulate, because I really, truly think that that's talking about survival mode here. That's.
Speaker 2:Another difference is how you're able to handle the stress, because not all stress is bad. There's such thing as good stress and bad stress. An example of good stress is when you do wake up in the middle of the night to a do, do, do, do, do and low blood sugar alert and you're like, oh my gosh, the heart rate is pumping and you're like, okay, what do I need to do? That's a great stress because, hello, it saved your life. But how can you deregulate from that, rather than allowing hormones to just be pumping through the bones, through your blood?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really good question. Now you got me thinking Well, can we do this for a second? So we mentioned survival mode and you mentioned thrive mode. So what I want to do right now is get into the really good nitty gritty of it all. Let's break that down. What is the path from survival mode to thriving mode look like? And you mentioned fight or flight a couple of times, and that's kind of where I want to start. I think is because I'm coming from a background where the only time I've really heard that and maybe anybody's probably really heard fight or flight is maybe in psychology class or some type of health class in school or college is not something that our doctors are talking to us about. Our appointments often whether you're a diabetic or not, like this is not a terminology you go around using frequently. So can you mind breaking that down a little bit for me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think of fight or flight mode and now that's kind of like the main terms. But now there's actually four stages of that. There's fight, flight, freeze and the font response. And these are the four ways that human beings respond to stress, or the four ways that that we know of it anyway, and myself, for example, I'm a freezer.
Speaker 2:I, when I am stressed out and overwhelmed, I feel like my brain shuts down. I shut down, I just need to, like, sit down and be in a space of quietness. You know, maybe other people are fliers, like they get uncomfortable and they're like I gotta go, I got to get out of this, out of the situation. And this really is something that is an adaptation from our ancestors who, back in the day, were maybe having to run from a bear that was chasing them and attacking them, and so there's a dread, like their bodies, like, ah, we're in danger. I'm going to pump this adrenaline and pump this cortisol because, oh, and my liver is going to release glucose to give me the energy and momentum to run away from this bear and save my life. But now here we are. It's 2023. I don't think many of us are worried about running away from bears or getting mulled by a tiger.
Speaker 2:But, this flight response still shows up in in other ways, whether that's you know, like we have so much information flying at us from all different directions, from our phones, from our laptops, our computers, our text message, our phone calls, like there are so many things that can make our make ourselves feel like we are a threat or like we're being threatened rather, and so we have that adaptation where we feel threatened. For example, you get a low blood sugar alert on your, on your pump, and all of a sudden the body's like Okay, we're in danger. And that's like our primal mechanism is like we're in danger. I'm going to release the adrenaline, release the cortisol in the case that I need to flee or fight this situation, because our bodies don't know if we're looking at a low blood sugar notification or if we're looking head on to a black bear that's trying to come after.
Speaker 1:So to me it's like it.
Speaker 2:You know, yes, it's, it's a helpful mechanism.
Speaker 2:And or, you know, I'm somebody who hikes a lot. If I'm hiking along a trail and my foot slips down the edge and then I feel the adrenaline rush, it's like that's a helpful fight or flight response because I genuinely am in danger. But you know, like I said, nowadays there's so many perceived threats that it's up to our minds to to determine what's a real threat and what's not. And I don't think that many of us are able to make that connection and like step back and see the bigger picture of okay, I have a low blood sugar notification. I notice that my heart's racing, I'm feeling like I need to go eat the whole entire kitchen, but you know, the truth is I only need about seven carbs to treat this low. And I've done that. And even though I've done that and I still don't feel good, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm in danger, like I'm actually still safe. And so I think that, yeah, there's a distinction between between fight or flight mode being helpful and where we're at today, where it's not necessarily helpful all of the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I view, I'm viewing right now, diabetes as the bear, like, like, like you said, how do we handle the situation? Right, because if you're faced with a bear or a lion or a tiger, there's that moment of what am I going to do next? You are likely not going to take charge and run at the bear, you're not going to run at the animal who's threatening your life. So I know it's kind of a weird analogy, but same thing for diabetes and the fridge. There's no need to attack the fridge head on.
Speaker 1:There's no need to to like just go like all in and whatever, like stepping back and taking a beat, is super important, but it's hard because, like you said, there's that stress of the body. Your body is letting you know that there's something wrong and that's it. Like you said, that's a good stress, but I think we need to teach ourselves to know that is a good stress. Just because your heart's racing and you're sweating is not a bad thing when you're low, right, that's just your body telling you it's. It's another alarm, if you will. It's just a natural one that you're born with.
Speaker 2:Wrapping back to your question about, like what is the difference between being like survival mode or fight or flight mode and thriving? Let's use low blood sugar as an example. I, for one, am somebody who used to treat a low by eating until I felt better, because that's what your body wants to do, right? You? You want to eat and eat and eat until you feel better. But by that time I'm like two bowls of lucky charms.
Speaker 2:Deep I down half a detox, I have the hand in the candy like, and then we're fighting that upswing, which we all know that doesn't feel good either, and so I view that is like kind of a fighter flight versus an example of maybe thriving with your low blood sugar. Is being able to take that step back, is being able to take that moment of pause, like you said, and is like okay, I've already treated, am I okay here, or do I really need to attack the fridge, like my body wants me to? And it's being able to create that separation and make a discipline, that that is empowering rather than feeling like you're kind of, kind of a victim to it all, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:No, that does make a lot of sense, and I feel that the term fighter flight has such a negative connotation to it, like people hear that they always are thinking the worst, like like it's a bad thing. And it's not a bad thing, it's like, but I feel like I tell what's viewed and that puts us in a state of fear, like we're just constantly in fear on a daily basis of what can happen. What's the worst case scenario? I mean, I get it. I still have a little PTSD PTSD from my lows.
Speaker 1:It was just a month ago. I was in the hospital for all this, like I, my blood sugar dropped to 35 with arrows down and I fainted and had a seizure. Now, thankfully, I was in the lobby of a hospital. What better place for that to happen? But still, uh, it now like for the first couple weeks after that, because I was admitted for like four days because it just caused so many other it. It caused a lot of other issues. My body started getting stressed from other things and I didn't want to go through that again and I was afraid to give myself insulin. I was afraid to eat because I knew if I ate I had to give myself insulin and if I did, was I going to give myself enough insulin that I needed? I was not going to hold back a little bit because I was afraid to give myself too much and go low again and whatever it may be.
Speaker 1:Um, so I think there's just like this whole thing of fear with like, and I think that all points back to survival mode. All, all again, everything's going to point back to this constant state of surviving.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:With that being said, I think fear leads to. We talked, we talked about stress, but I want to talk about stress a little bit more in how that um affects our demeanor and our attitude and our way of thinking and our processes of thinking, because we, we, we live in fear, we're we're scared, we're thinking about the worst case scenarios, right, and what the what that's doing is taking our stress and our anxiety and just kind of ramping it up, and I think that that, uh, for anybody who has struggled with any form of anxiety or depression or or mental health issues as a whole, you probably know that that affects your cognitive thinking skills. It affects how you analyze things, how you process things, uh, at the end of the day, controlling your behavior, I think.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and we're I mean, that's for any person, even with a functioning pancreas, right. And then you throw diabetes into the mix and it's like we I mean stress hormones can lead to insulin resistance and then we're battling high blood sugars, which, on top of this stress, now we have high blood sugars and we really like extra, don't feel good and you know, there's no, uh, oh, what am I trying to say? It's like there's no, uh, right or wrong? I? I think that right.
Speaker 2:I'm somebody who I would consider myself to to be somewhat of an anxious person, but at the same time, I've I've learned to to kind of harness that in in a way that I've been talking about, of just learning to like deregulate the system and like recognize okay, like, thank you body for warning me that I'm in danger, but I'm actually okay right now and um, so, yeah, you know, I think that stress hormones again, they're important, but at the same time, there can be a point where it gets to be too much and it impacts our day-to-day life.
Speaker 2:It impacts the decisions we make, even even down to like when I, when you're stressed out, you come home from a long day of work, you're stressed out, do you want to make a, in quotes, healthy blood sugar balancing dinner, or do you just want to go through the McDonald's drive-through because you're beat, you're exhausted, you're overstimulated, you're overwhelmed, like the last thing you want to do is is make your dinner right. So then you get this, this high fat content, which in no way am I saying that we shouldn't do that. I, I totally go through the drive-through, but you know, it's just. We're talking about how stress really impacts, like, the decisions that we make in our day-to-day life and it's, it's all a ripple effect if I am guilty of, of the drive-through thing.
Speaker 1:In fact, that happened to our family two nights ago. Um, I was having a, I was having one of the rougher days I've had with blood sugar management a couple days ago and I was just, I was not in the mood. I didn't want to like, you know, I've been struggling. It's in the last week. It's I've been struggling with not only the food management side but the the fitness side, like going to the gym and like just taking care of my body that way, and I'm not again saying that you have to go work out, you have to do all those things. I enjoy it, so I do it. Um, I feel like, if anything else, it helps me with my, my management. But uh, I didn't want to do that, I didn't want to. You know, I didn't want to cook and I was like let's just go get food somewhere else and this food is hard for some diabetics and that is the wonderful food of pizza oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I was like, let's not, let's not just get pizza, let's go to the buffet of pizza.
Speaker 1:And so we went to like a restaurant as a buffet and I, I mean, I just way overdid it and I, I stress, eight yes, I mean, that's a thing too, like, on top of not wanting to prepare a dinner or a meal that's probably going to be beneficial for us at the time.
Speaker 1:Not only do we probably choose to eat something that you know, again, like you said, it's not something we can't have, we can totally eat those foods, but, um, moderation is probably key there. And when we stress, we stress eat, and I don't want to go down this whole rabbit hole, but like that can lead to a whole line of issues of disordered eating and all this stuff too. Like you just, uh, you know, stress eating is is something that can be very dangerous and when we're constantly carrying that amount of weight on our shoulders and that leads to stress eating day in, day out, day in, day out, well, that's not doing us any favors on our blood sugar management either. And, and I think what happens here is you get this vicious circle of just and you can't find your way out, you know like you, just you're.
Speaker 2:You keep going around, you just can't find your way out yes, and touching on that vicious circle, there I again, I'm someone for for a really long time, especially throughout my college years, where I was trying to live this college lifestyle and like fit in with my friends and we can do that, you know, as diabetics we really can live this in quotes, normal life.
Speaker 2:But let's just say I maybe wasn't going about it the right way, but I was stuck in this mindset, in this vicious cycle, as somebody who was when, when I was stressed out, I would stress eat, and then I would have a high blood sugar and I would get into this mindset of like well, I'm already high, so I might as well just eat the extra cookie. Oh, like, there's ice cream, girl, have the ice cream, I'm already high, I'll like, I'll deal with it later, you know. And then it, I didn't really deal with it later. So then here I am a few hours later continuing to coast in the 300s and, like you said, it really is a vicious cycle, because then at that point you know you're in 300s, you take insulin, maybe you start to feel low when you're at 150, and then that creates a whole other set of issues here yeah, that that cycle is something that I think we get caught in this trap and we don't teach ourselves to learn how to react appropriately when we're caught in that vicious cycle.
Speaker 1:And I think that's kind of where I really want to get even a little bit deeper, because it's kind of fascinating the way you explain this. We had a little talk before this recording this episode and the whole idea of fight or fly and moving from surviving to thriving, and I feel like that a big part of that is just how we react. So, like you know, if you know, for those of you who are in a relationship, you know maybe you're dating or you're married or whatever it may be, I'm sure you know you've had a fight or two or a disagreement and you probably know that how you react in that moment is going to dictate how the rest of that fight's probably going to go. Is it going to go downhill or uphill? Or, you know, or do we overreact like when we fight?
Speaker 1:Or you know, kids, my, my, my five year old he gave the tiniest little cut on his toe and you would think his leg is broken and he can't walk. Like that's a big deal for him and he just it's, it's, it's. That's the idea that I get when I'm thinking about this whole idea, because he overreacts, he can't do it, he can't whatever, and he makes it way more harder for himself than it really is. And I know he's five and that's fine, like he's learning right, but don't you think the same like concept applies to our management of our health at all?
Speaker 2:absolutely. You know, I think, as adults, we're all just little children or big children. We're all big children stuck in an adult body is the way that I view it. And like, like your sons, your five year old sons. Response to that, I think, is is something primal, right, it's like, oh, like it's, we're in danger.
Speaker 2:Like this is a huge deal, and throughout our life we can learn how to respond to these things versus react. You know, I've talked a lot about responding, in reacting to to low blood sugars, but the same thing applies, applies to high blood sugars, and we can use these tools. We can gain strategies and practices and and things, but it's exactly that. It's a practice. There's not one size fits all, there's no okay, like, from here on out, I'm deciding not to react to my diabetes, that's just. It's not the case. And so it's a matter of when I react, not if, but when I catch myself reacting, whether that's diabetes management or in a, in a fight with your, with your, with your partner, how can you take a step back and and actually respond rather, rather than just react on a whim. And to me, that's where it it kind of it creates a big difference getting into the thriving mode versus surviving.
Speaker 1:So it do. You have an example. I'm putting you on the spot here. Is there a good example of what would be an optimal way of reacting to, let's say? Let's say you, you had a bad low and you dropped. You're like in the fifties, Okay. Like you overeat, right, you over, correct.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how many times I see in our Facebook groups whatever a screenshot of a CGM graph and then go, oh, I did it again and you see the low and you see the line going straight up, right, and now they're high, and now they're in, like you know, 200s, 300s, Dude, that's the territory where, if you're not careful, keystone keytones start producing and all that stuff and you've got like the headaches and you've got like you just don't feel good, maybe even causes you to throw up, whatever it may be. Now your body is just like you feel like your body is just failing you at this point. So what would be at this point in time? Like you've already over corrected once, you know, now you're high, I feel like it's very easy to over correct again. And then you know, use it. There's the term rage bullets, where people just go back and they're doing this up and down game. What would be a good example of not overreacting at this point to how can I get to from where I am now? I've already made this mistake. Now I'm high, how can I get myself back down to being in range safely, timely, Like what's a good example of what that might look like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for me. You know I'm somebody who uses a lot of self talk in the sense that I kind of gave one example earlier, but in the sense where, in terms of, let's say, a low blood sugar, you have that split second to decide am I going to go for the second bowl of cereal, like, am I going to go for the open juice carton in the fridge, or am I going to choose to pick up the that's it bar, the pre-packaged fruit snack that has a given eight carbs, where you know, okay, I can grab this fruit snack and then step outside of the kitchen and choose to eat this fruit snack and then wait 10 minutes and during that 10 minute period it's like, no, I don't feel good, but I do know that I've treated my low. And that's where my self talk comes in. It's like, okay, kylie, I notice that you've already eaten your fruit snack. I notice that you still don't feel good, I notice that you want to get to the fridge, but you are safe, you know you have to give the carbs time to work.
Speaker 2:And it's a lot of just parenting myself, parenting my inner child, like allowing myself to start to feel safe in my body and using your example of the rebound high, where you do overeat, because, I'm not going to lie, I'm not perfect. There's plenty of times that I continue to over treat my low, and, you know, while maybe now I'm not over treating my low by 40 carbs, I'm still over treating my low, and so then it's a matter of okay, I noticed my blood sugar starting to rise, but I'm going to wait to see where I level out, because I know just as well that rage bolusing is going to send me back down low again, and that doesn't feel good either. And you know we all have different preferences. I, for one, am somebody who feels a little bit more comfortable being high, in the sense that I don't consider myself a rage bolus, or I've never necessarily been a rage bolus, or, but I have.
Speaker 2:I really tried to harness this understanding that insulin does take time to work, and so that's another example of where that self talk comes in. It's like, okay, I over treated my low and you can either wait until you get up into the 200s or the 300s, see where you level out, and then just take a small correction bolus, but like, let me wait and see where I level out, rather than just pumping in the insulin. Or and this is something that you know obviously we I'm sure you talk about this like this is not medical advice here on the podcast, but this is something that works for me at this point, because I do know my body's patterns is, when I notice that I've over treated a low, I will bolus for those excess carbs right then and there. So even let's say I'm at 65, I know and I have no insulin on board, because obviously there's so many other factors that play a play, a role into how many cards we need to treat a low. So let's say I'm at 65 and I have no insulin on board.
Speaker 2:I know that for me in my body, five to seven carbs could bring me back up into range, it could bring me back up into the 80s, it could bring me back up into the 90s, but not all the time do I have one, the patients or the mental capacity to be able to sit there with that low.
Speaker 2:And maybe I'm out with friends or out at a restaurant and I end up treating with 25 carbs, like, let's just say, I pounded a juice box right there in the moment. Then I'm able to say, okay, I've over treated this low by about 15 carbs. I'm going to bolus for let's let's say 10, or maybe I'll bolus for 12 carbs, because that way at least I'm not getting a huge rebound spike. Maybe I'll go a little bit higher, but at least I'm not spiking to the moon. So I do think that and these are things that come with experience, but I really do think that there's different strategies and things that we can put into place to not only not react, but to help ourselves when we react, because it's kind of inevitable that we will, especially when we're talking about our life here.
Speaker 1:I was about to ask you actually I think you just answered my question, that last sentence or two but I was about to ask you are there things that we can do to help us not overreact? For example, preparing your snacks ahead of time? Right, like a lot of people I do. I'm looking at it right now. I have a snack drawer. If you pull it open, there's all kinds of stuff in there and it's very easy to just grab a handful and go. I've tried to choose snacks like the Sun, kiss Gummies, fruit roll-ups, something that everything's prepackaged.
Speaker 1:I made a TikTok video a few weeks ago of me eating a pudding cup. I was chocolate pudding. Now they say don't correct with chocolate, whatever. I love chocolate, so I'm going to do it, but I know at the end of that pudding cup there's no more left. It's done, right. I think the hardest part is throwing it away and walking out of the kitchen, obviously not going to get another pudding cup, but I think some people they'll give it like a bag of Skittles or they'll get a bag of candy, and it's very easy to just grab a handful and keep grabbing a handful.
Speaker 1:Next thing you know, you ate what seems like it would be just a few Skittles, but you probably already ate two. What would be a normal package at this point of Skittles and or maybe it's juice. One of the things I tried recently is I went out and bought two glasses that only I would use in our family and I measured out what would be a cup in there and I took a Sharpie and I drew it on the cup. Where that line is of water she's water, as an example. So I know when I pour juice in there, I pour it to that line and that's what I need, because before that I was I'm the only one that drinks orange juice in my house.
Speaker 1:So before that I was just taking out the jug and just going to town, just tilting it back and just going, and that does not end well at all. So like, yeah, preparing, like is that, is that something that we can do? Or maybe it's the, before you answer that question, like educating ourselves a little bit, right, because if you go to Google and you look up, you know fast acting insulin it's going to say that it starts working in 15 minutes, which, yeah, it does start kind of getting in the body within 15 minutes, but you're not going to see the effects of it in 15 minutes. You know, I think it's what somewhere around. Again, this is not medical advice. I'm not a doctor but, like from what I understanding what I've been taught, you know it takes about an hour to really get going, but doesn't it like peak at like two hours or something like that somewhere in there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so, depending on the type of fast acting that you're using, because I mean, there's even like extra fast acting, such as FIOSP or something like that. But I think that probably a majority of us here are using some sort of homologue or novalog or just a typical fast acting. And I think you're right and you bring up a great point in setting ourselves up for success. I love that you brought up the prepackaged snack idea, because that there is a lesson that I've also learned is like I have no business putting my arm in a bag of chips when my blood sugar is low because I know that I will go until I reach the bottom. But the same thing applies if I grab a little fruit snack I'm going to eat until I reach the bottom of the bag. So I might as well set myself up for success here. And one more point that you brought out brought up was just kind of learning and teaching ourselves and learning these patterns. I think that a common thing going back to what we mentioned at the beginning of the episode with textbook versus real life diabetes I think that we're commonly taught in diagnosis when your blood sugar is low, eat 15 carbs, wait 15 minutes and then, if you're low, eat 15 carbs, wait 15 minutes. So there, for a while that worked. But you know, as we grow and hormones change, our needs change, our bodies needs change.
Speaker 2:As I continued to grow, I started to notice, every time I treat my low with 15 carbs, I'm shooting up to the 200s.
Speaker 2:And there for a while it was like, whatever, that's what Dr Maria tells me to do, so I'm going to do that. And then once I noticed that pattern, I'm like, wait a second, what would happen if I treated a low with 10 carbs? So I did that, and then I only shot up to 170. And I was like, oh, okay, if I only treat with 10 carbs, I can get my blood sugar up and still stay in range. So now I've continued like this is something that's happened over time. But now I'm at a point where it's like, okay, when I'm low, if I treat with seven carbs, I can bounce right up and stick my stick, the landing in the hundreds or, you know, maybe 120. And so therefore, I've treated my low and I feel good and and that's again, that's something that comes with time. But that pattern tracking and getting to learn your body, I think is really, really important for you to feel confident in your diabetes management and take that into your own hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think. I think, when it comes to reacting, that education can play a huge role here, and you just said a minute ago that it takes time. Like we're not, you're not going to go to college or go to a class and instantly become an expert on whatever it is you're learning, right. Like it takes time, and I know patience is not something easy to talk about or to teach, and I could tell you to be patient all day long. When I say that, I'm preaching to myself, because I'm the most impatient person that I know.
Speaker 1:I'm probably the second so yeah, we're the top two in patient people and like, and we're sitting, you're telling, all talking about all this advice, but it's you know, diabetes is like we said a few minutes ago. It's a self-managed disease. And Do you feel like the fact that it's an invisible disease makes it harder to Thrive?
Speaker 2:that's a really good question and I think I can see both ways.
Speaker 2:I think that on One hand, it makes it harder to thrive, because I do think that there's a large percentage of us that are like, well, like it's an invisible disease and other people can't see it and therefore there aren't as many people reaching out to be a helping hand and offers Support, and it can make diabetes feel a little lonely, or, you know, there's not, there's not sure, there's a lot of education and we're two people here trying to raise some awareness, but, like, there's not necessarily a great understanding of diabetes isn't just, oh, give yourself a shot and you'll be fine, like I think a lot of people are like, oh well, you just have to give yourself a shot.
Speaker 2:Or like, oh, just plug in your insulin pump and you're fine, and it's like no, you know, diabetes is just as much a mental game in a mental I don't want to say a mental disability, but it's just as much like a mental game and something that's hard for, like the emotional body as well as the physical body, and so in that sense, I do think that it, being an invisible illness, can can make it a little bit harder to thrive, but then again we have those personalities that are like I'm gonna take this into my own hands, like I'm ready to conquer the world, like diabetes doesn't define me, and so I can see it going either way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I can too. And Again this goes back to the whole point we talked about earlier that when you're going up in school and you're learning about health and in biology and the body, you're not taught to Think like a pancreas. You and I were diagnosed at different times in our lives. You were diagnosed as a child, I was diagnosed as an adult and I think for you know, the one advantage that that maybe people have when they're diagnosed early on in life is you kind of get to grow up learning how to Think that way from an early point in life versus you know you are used to living life one way, for it could be 25, it could be, you know, in my case was 34 years. I've just met someone on our Facebook group that she's in her 50s and she's got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. 50 years of knowing life one way at all of a sudden Snap finger and it's completely different.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned earlier in this episode about the nervous system and it sounds like a big Technic or nervous system like that's something like you might hear in biology class or something like that and how that can play a role into our Management of this and and moving from surviving to thriving. So what does that look like? Like? How can we, how can we regulate that Is? It is regulation, the term, is that the right term be like? You know, when I think of For some reason, I don't know why, but I think of regulation, my brain goes to like cars and mechanics and engines, or something like Regulating so like it doesn't explode, or something I don't know. That's probably not even remotely accurate, but it's showing.
Speaker 2:It shows a little bit of our backgrounds. Because it's funny, I hear the word regulate and I go straight into teacher mode. I'm like how can I regulate these little kids and their crazy behavior? And therefore, how can I regulate my me and my crazy behavior and my crazy thoughts? And it really like coming full circle here to the beginning of the episode where I was talking about how the the key to transforming our stress Lies in the way we perceive it. I think that you know, when we have this negative perception of what stress is like, this leads to to feelings of feeling like powerless and feeling like we have this emotional burden. But when we have a more positive outlook on stress, that can lead to us feeling a bit more empowered and Transforming this like what we view as a threat into maybe an opportunity to learn and grow. And so you're right.
Speaker 2:The term like nervous system regulation sounds really technical, it sounds really like scientific. But just breaking that down like the bare bones of what nervous system regulation is is just teaching your body to to get out of that chronic state of stress, to Allow the adrenaline in the cortisol levels to release, like for those of you listening right here right now Are your shoulders like shrugged up by your ears, like can you? Can you try to like relax your shoulders away from your ears just a little bit, and I bet you don't even notice how much tension you're holding in your body. Or Like how many of you right now, how many of you is your? You're sitting there and you're clenching your jaw and your tongue is like pressed up against the roof of your mouth, like we are so Constantly in this state of tension and there are so many ways to get out of it, and you know this could be a whole episode in itself.
Speaker 2:Yet for me, my, my outlet is is yoga, and it's allowed me to Really develop deeper awareness of my body and, like this introspective practice that has helped me learn to regulate. But it really can be Whatever your outlet is. You know, for some people that's dancing, for some people it's blasting music and singing when you roll down the windows, like I. I think what I'm trying to compare this to is like nervous system regulation is is getting into the present moment. How can you really be present, what with where you're at and with what is going on, and learn to respond rather than taking this life thing, this whole life thing as some threat that you're constantly having to face.
Speaker 1:No, I think that's um, wow, that's really good. And not to uh, you know, like, for me, I'm big on um therapy and I don't think what you're saying is it's. It's therapeutic. Everything we do is therapeutic, like stuff like this is can be therapeutic. Being in the present is therapeutic. Like learning to trust your body and being in tune with your body is therapeutic. Um, hopefully you found this episode therapeutic.
Speaker 2:Uh, I have just, by having this conversation, I feel like we've had our own therapy session here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, like we're just sitting here, like it's just, it's great, because you know, I see things after hearing you talk, I see things now in a different light and you know, like transforming is is very difficult, I think. I think we often see where we want to be and they would. They see the version of ourself that we want us to be and we might even tell ourselves, well, that's too hard or that's impossible. And I don't think it's impossible for anybody. I think it's just you have to be able to tell yourself that you can do it. You are very, very capable of being that person. Like, you are very capable of being the version of yourself that you want to be.
Speaker 1:Um, and it's easy for us to use our diagnosis as a crutch. I think Like, oh well, I want to be that person, but diabetes won't allow me to be that person. Foss completely false, because that ideology you're basically saying this is my story, this is, uh, it sounds a little cliche and I said this, actually said this in my lat in the very last episode. But like, uh, diabetes, having type 1 diabetes, yes, that is a part of your story, it is part of who you are, but it's not you. It is not define you. It is not the book, it's just a chapter or a portion of the. It's just a. It's just a thing about you, right, like, and yeah, it takes up a good bit of our time and thought, and whatever it may be, but the one thing I can encourage anybody to do is to not let that slow you down from being the person you want to be. I think making that decision of hey, I'm going to try, is what Step one of moving into that thrive mode.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I think it's step. It's definitely step one is is recognizing hmm, maybe there's a different possibility for me out there, maybe there's a different reality for me out there and one for me. One of the easiest ways for me to kind of get that motivation and that inspiration is to find people who inspire me, to find people who are doing the things that I want to do. And that's evidence Like, oh my gosh, well, that person has diabetes and they're doing that, and like that's evidence that it can be done. And so, while maybe right now I don't have the tools, strategies and techniques to be doing those things, there's evidence that I could learn them.
Speaker 2:And, like you said, going back to like finding therapy therapeutic that was kind of redundant. Therapy is therapy, you know, like don't be afraid to ask for help, don't be afraid to reach out, join these communities that Sean and I and many other I mean they're actually not too many other diabetic groups out there that I'm aware of. There's obviously some out there and, you know, just finding that support system and those people that you can look up to and ask questions like, hey, how did you do this? Because I, like, I want that for myself and I want to do this, but I'm just I don't know how, and and I think that asking for help and especially with this in quotes, invisible illness is so, so, so important to recognize that we're really not alone in the day to day challenges and struggles of living with type 1 diabetes 100% and the fact that it's invisible is hard because nobody knows what you're going through.
Speaker 1:Nobody can see it. I mean, there are points when they can, obviously when you're having a low or maybe a high, but like they don't know what you're doing on a day to day basis and managing it. They don't know how many times a day you pricked that finger or you've checked your sugar or you had a correct, whatever it may be. It's such a state, it's something that we it's behind a facade right and it's often hidden from the outside world and that's tough. And I'm glad you brought up the support groups, because I've made it a point so far in every episode to talk about that and how important support groups are, because that's the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. It's the reason why Kylie's doing what Kylie is doing and we were just having a little conversation before we started recording this episode and why we were making TikTok videos and this stuff and, like you know, for me it's my outlet. You know Kylie, it's her outlet and we.
Speaker 1:Yet our content is different, which is really cool because everybody's got a different perspective on diabetic management and how we control it. Like you know, some of my content is I want to help, I want to give some education to people, as I have learned it right and some of my other videos. I'm just being dumb and like, just this is me. I have diabetes. This is my life and, like you know, and and I think, even in those videos and those things that other people can relate to.
Speaker 1:So, like you know, there's no, there's no dumb questions out there. There's no like joining a support group is very important. Ask questions, like Kylie said, if you feel like it's, if you feel like it's dumb, that's okay. Like ask us. I mean, you might have less stress asking a friend than you might have asking your doctor and just ask for help and that's okay. Like everything that we do, we're doing it for ourselves and we are again responsible for taking care of ourselves. If talking it out helps reduce that stress load that we've mentioned so much in this episode, then that alone will maybe help you make better decisions when it comes to reacting and and getting out of the constant fear and feel like you just are surviving from day to day to day to day.
Speaker 2:They're, they're absolutely. There's so much power in sharing experiences and and, just like I said, realizing that that you're not alone and it I in my opinion, it does directly relate to getting out of that fight or flight mode and just from back from our ancestors, when we were just people wandering the earth right, like community is everything. It is such a foundation foundation to our health and I'm just so grateful to be able to, like connect with you and all of these other type ones out there, whether they're creators or not, creators and just people living with type 1 diabetes and coming together and sharing our experiences. Like I learn more and more about diabetes every single day from you guys, so yeah, it's same the same here.
Speaker 1:And you mentioned just a few minutes ago about seeing other people with diabetes and and where they are in their walk. And, like Kylie, I told you this and I think I I may have mentioned it in a video, but, like you and a few others, were one of the first few people I found in this whole world on TikTok and I didn't realize that there was such a thing on TikTok when it comes to diabetes. But, like, I'm so glad I found it because, like you are doing this thing, you've created a very fun support group and for those of you who are interested here, in a minute I'm going to let Kylie give you her handle and there's a link there. You can go find it and find all the good stuff that she's got going on. And we have a support group on Facebook for you know, it kind of goes along with this podcast and but it's also just a good support group in general.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, so at the end of the day, taking care of yourself is hard, but letting yourself realize that this is where you are, as far as being in this survival mode and this is where you want to be, and just take it one step forward at a time.
Speaker 1:One step forward at a time. And again, if you, if you still struggle on getting there, you know again, ask us, we'll help you out in any way we can. Like that's what, that's why we're here and that's kind of why we do what we do. That's why we created this podcast, that's why Kylie is doing what she's doing on social media. Like that's creating awareness and education is is super important to us, but we believe, we believe in the power of it and if it helps you transform, it, helps you become empowered to yourself and, uh enable to grow on a personal level and even a mental, uh, fitness level and your physical level, then then I take that as a big win. So, kylie, before we end, is there anything you want to any last minute advice on this whole topic, anything you want to just kind of put the cherry on top, to, to kind of tie it all together?
Speaker 2:I think, man, we've we've hit on so many amazing, amazing topics and just so much wisdom has come from this episode today. Just riffing back and forth, but I really do, just emphasizing again the power of community and, with that, the power of not comparing yourself right, knowing that we all have our own struggles, we all have our own challenges and, as somebody who, like creates online and Sean creates online as well like just knowing that what you see is just glimpses into our lives. That's not the behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:Like you don't sure I've shared some videos where you see that I'm like crying or upset, but you don't see all the times that I'm struggling from a low blood sugar or struggling from a high blood sugar, because, just as much as I love to create this content and share with you guys, I also have to take care of myself, and there's plenty of hard days where I need to focus on myself and it's too much to try to create a video out of it.
Speaker 2:And so if I had to leave you guys with one last thought, it would just be the power of reaching out to community, the power of reaching out to people who inspire you, and and just knowing that what you see online isn't necessarily everything that's going on behind the scenes. And that's exactly why these communities are so important, because Sean and I are in there every day. We're sharing our experiences, we're helping you guys, we're answering questions, we're sharing like oh, the blood sugars are giving me a run for my money right now, even though that's maybe not what you're seeing on like a social media page or something like that. So definitely just take it day by day, stop comparing yourself and know that there are tools, there are strategies and techniques out there that can really help you get out of this state of survival and really feel like you're thriving with your diabetes management.
Speaker 1:Perfect, as if we scripted that ahead of time, which we did not. I don't think I could have said it any better myself. Kali, I do want you to. If you don't mind, I'm going to put this information in the show notes, but can you tell people how they can find you on social media and TikTok and the link and kind of what you got going on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so all of my social media handles are at the the period diabetic yogi. I'm sure if you type in the diabetic yogi or or Kylie Weirich either way it'll, it'll pop up. I'm most active on TikTok in relation to the diabetes community, mostly because when I started this whole thing, I couldn't post longer than 90 second videos on Instagram and so I wasn't posting over there. Um that that said, I do post a lot more about my personal yoga journey and just more of my personal life. You guys want to connect with me on that level. Um, but yeah, I would say TikTok is probably the best way to get in contact with me or just follow along with the journey. And if you're wanting to join the community whether that be mine or Sean's, or preferably both of ours, like he said, there's so much power in joining both.
Speaker 1:Um the Lincoln everything like that is in is in the bio, so yeah, and the community group that uh, kylie started is on a app called discord and it's cool because it's kind of like Slack, if you're if you're familiar with Slack. Uh, you got these different channels of different topics. Uh, for example, I think there's like a general daily chat. There's like, uh, health and fitness and mental um, and you know challenges, like you know just where you're struggling for the day and and people just like just chime in. I love it. Like you, you post something and people just chime in and there's so much love and support there. Same for the Facebook group Um, and you know there's a lot that we have ideas. I got so many ideas.
Speaker 1:Uh, kylie will probably get tired of me of expressing some of these at one point or another, I don't know, but, like somebody of the day mentioned something, she's like, oh, what about? Like this, like live yoga class, I'm like that is gold. That is like there's so much that we want to do, um, in the future. So if, if you're listening to this episode, this is the very first episode you listen to and you haven't kind of jumped on this community, I'm going to encourage you to do so, because we have a lot in store. Uh, we have a lot of great episode ideas and, um, I don't know about you, I didn't use to be in the podcast and then you know now that that's pretty much all I turn on when I'm in the car is listening to a podcast of some nature.
Speaker 1:I find it much more, um, therapeutic than I mean. I do love music and I will listen to music, but sometimes I just want to learn, I want to hear what other people have to say and like, and there's a lot, a lot of power to that. So, uh, kylie, thank you so much for being here. I'm glad you were able to join. We've been working on this making it happen for a few weeks now. And uh, kylie is on the West coast, I'm on the East, we are literally the furthest part from each other. The assumption of me being in Florida, I'm in South Carolina, she's in, you're in Seattle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, seattle area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're like we're on a three hour time difference and just kind of organizing schedules and making it work, um, uh, but I'm glad we got to do so and, man, this has been a really fun episode. I probably one of my favorites so far, uh, because I feel like we just got to have a good conversation and and and break things apart. And so, if you're one of those people out there who, again, is struggling with this, um, the biggest thing I can say is just don't hold yourself hostage and don't get in your own way and don't be your own worst enemy, um, because, again it's, it's possible for you to achieve everything we're talking about.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. I've really enjoyed this collaboration and, like you said, I feel like we have so many ideas flowing. So this will not be the end of of our collaborations and just coming together to not only help ourselves, but to help you guys as well. So thank you.
Speaker 1:Oh no, no, thank you for being here, man. This was so fun and, as Kylie said, this is not the last collaboration. In fact, this podcast is still pretty brand new and we're just at the very beginning of this whole journey and we have a lot of great things in store for you guys. Well, as we end this episode, here's what I want you to remember that as we transition from this reactive state of mind to this proactive state of mind and become responsive with our diabetic management, it's not going to be a quick flip of a switch, but I do promise you it's going to be a transformative one. As you embrace this approach, you will begin to unlock this pathway to not only manage but genuinely thrive in your diabetic journey. I'm so excited for you. Stay inspired, everybody. I love you guys and I will see you on the next episode.