Below is an excerpt from my upcoming book If Diabetes Could Talk.
The 12-Year-Old Who Might Just Give You Your Health Back
Why on earth would anyone want to sit down and try and understand prediabetes and type two diabetes, as if it were a person who could explain itself?
Let me introduce you to Alex, and all will become clear.
Alex is 12. He’s just started secondary school (the approximate equivalent to high school) and is already being bullied by two older kids, Lance and Kay.
Pop quiz: What is the most likely thing that Alex would say to them?
(A) Stop making my life a misery!
(B) I want you to play hooky and come with me on a quest to help defeat evil, because you are the strongest people I know
Yes, you guessed it. The answer is B.
OK, OK…answer B is straight out of a movie. Of course it’s not realistic.
But we can use Alex, Lance and Kay as a springboard for your imagination to change how you see diabetes.
So stick with me here, and you might find that you can actually leverage diabetes in the same way that Alex takes control of his (soon-to-be) ex-bullies.
Alex, Lance and Kay are characters in the 2019 film The Kid Who Would Be King. Imagine the legend of King Arthur being set in 21st century London. And not, by the way, the air brushed touristy London, where children are buying wands in impossibly beautiful shops, about to be whisked off to Hogwarts on a steam train.
No, this is the real city of modern day stress, pollution, overcrowded buses, depressing headlines…and bullies like Lance and Kay, who steal your lunch money then punch you in the stomach for fun.
In the film, Alex does indeed manage to persuade Lance and Kay to join him in his quest. I’ll leave you to watch The Kid Who Would Be King to see how he does so.
My point is this:
The fact is that if you could spend just a short time listening to diabetes or prediabetes, it would – like Lance and Kay – stop being the enemy.
You could not only stop seeing this condition as your internal enemy, but – like Alex does with his ex-bullies – actually use it to your advantage.
Lance and Kay’s potential for good lies in their fearlessness and ability to take the initiative. It just needs redirecting in a positive way.
Diabetes’ potential for good in your life lies in its power to help you alter the future of your health. You just need to be open to seeing this condition differently.
To embrace what I call uncomfortability, a superpower living dormant within you.
To explore different paths to making healthy decisions automatic. Paths where willpower, self-discipline and deprivation are pretty much absent (as you’ll see, there are far more powerful tools at your disposal).
Alex joins forces with his bullies to step into his power, awaken his dormant leadership skills and solve a much bigger problem than being bullied (defeating King Arthur’s half-sister Morgana, who wants to enslave the people of Britain).
This book is an invitation to do something equally liberating for your health. This is your chance to turn diabetes to your advantage and solve a much bigger problem – preventing the health problems that are now on your horizon.
It all starts with listening.
Diabetes is getting the kettle on. Will you sit down, have a cup of something hot and hear what they have to say?
If Diabetes Could Talk will be out in January 2025. Fancy a sneak peek? Email me info (at) theshiftinside.com with the subject line ‘Book’ and I’ll send you a couple more chapters. They are pretty short!
