From Burnout to Balance: Navigating the Continuous Journey of Diabetes Management
Avid traveler, aesthetic doctor, and proud Omnipod® Ambassador, Temi shares her personal journey and an inspiring message about managing diabetes burnout and living a fulfilling life. Join Temi as she reflects on her experiences and provides insights that can help others navigate their own diabetes journey.
Temi O.
*Temi has been compensated for creating this content.
The Never-Ending Job
Imagine you have a job you started many years ago—maybe 5 years ago, maybe 35. You work this job seven days a week, 365 days a year. There’s no annual leave, no half-days. You can work from home, but you can and must work from anywhere. Location doesn’t matter for this job. Even when you’re abroad, you’re still on company time. Christmas, birthdays, and any moment meant for joy, those are the times when the job somehow gets even busier.
Your role is ever-changing. Every day is different, and just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, everything shifts. You can’t quit, no matter how you feel or how exhausted you are. When you sleep, you receive calls at all hours of the night, and you are constantly tired.
You didn’t choose this job. You didn’t sign up for it all those years ago. It was given to you, and you’ve had no say in the working conditions. For all the work you’ve done and will continue to do, you’re paid absolutely nothing. Still, you’re regularly reminded that this job keeps you alive, and that should be reward enough.
The Reality of Diabetes Burnout
It sounds ridiculous, of course. But for many of us living with diabetes, this is our reality. Diabetes is the never-ending, all-consuming job we didn’t apply for and cannot resign from. We can’t hand in a notice or ask our pancreas to start producing insulin again.
Because of the relentlessness of diabetes, many of us find ourselves in a state called diabetes burnout. This happens when the toll of the condition leads to mental and emotional exhaustion, which can also take a physical toll.
Personal Experiences and Moving Forward
I’ve been there many times—both before I knew what diabetes burnout was and after. Each time, for different reasons. For example, during a phase when I was firmly in denial about having diabetes, I’d pretend it wasn’t real. I wouldn’t bolus for snacks and would eat anything just to make myself feel better. Unsurprisingly, this led to constant high glucose levels, and with them came a deep sense of failure. That’s when burnout would hit. Years later, the situation flipped. I became so focused on keeping my continuous glucose monitor (CGM) graph as close to 100% in range as possible that the pressure became overwhelming. I was left completely mentally drained. Talk about damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Add in the hundreds of extra decisions a person with diabetes makes every day, and it’s no surprise burnout happens. Eventually, I came to a slow but necessary conclusion: diabetes is something I’ll live with for the rest of my life, but I still want that life to be long and fulfilling. So, I took small but powerful steps to help prevent burnout. I started talking more openly about life with diabetes—including the hard parts—so I could get support from those around me. That’s helped me focus more on both my physical and mental health. I remind myself that I was never meant to play the role of a pancreas. The work I do is hard, and I should be proud of it. Giving myself grace has made a huge difference mentally.
It doesn’t always work. I still experience burnout, but far less often than I used to. Anyone living with this all-consuming condition should feel incredibly proud of everything they’re managing to do, despite the challenges. My hope is that by sharing more of this message, we can support others who feel overwhelmed, hopeless, or frustrated.
This blog post is not a substitute for medical advice and/or services from a healthcare provider. This blog post is not to be relied upon in any way in connection with your personal health care related decisions and treatment.