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Clap On…Clap Off…

By Janis Roszler, RD, CDE, LD/N

What do you do when people offer unsolicited and uneducated comments about your health? Wouldn’t you love to “clap them off” like they do in that famous lighting commercial? Clap on…clap off. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to clap them on and enjoy a nice conversation then clap them off when they say things that you don’t wish to hear? You can’t do this in real life, but you can change how you react to the negativity that they throw out at you.

A few weeks ago, my daughter observed someone who changed the course of her day by clapping off a person who bothered her. While shopping in a local bookstore, my daughter spotted a customer who was giving the cashier a very hard time. Tense words were thrown back and forth between them then the customer stomped out in a huff. My daughter stepped up to the counter, caught the eye of the clerk and tried to give her one of those “sorry you had to go through that” looks. But before handling my daughter’s merchandise, the clerk put up her hand and signaled my daughter to wait a moment. She then proceeded to clap her hands rapidly in the air. She clapped to the right then to the left. When done, she turned to my daughter and said, “I just cleared the air of that negative energy. Now I can get back to work.”

What an interesting way to deal with negative comments! So many people around us fill our airspace with criticism and thoughts that can bring us down. Unfortunately, many of us permit these negative comments to stay with us and ruin our day. They may even ruin the next several days if we permit them to linger in our thoughts. Clap on…clap off. Don’t let these words affect how you care for your health. Stay focused on what you know is right and do what is best for you.

When you live with diabetes, you may receive unsolicited medical advice from other people. Some may tell you that you can’t eat the food that you hold in your hand. Others may share a story of a diabetes complication that happened to a friend or relative that is upsetting and brings you down. How do you handle those around you who say these things?

• First, learn all you can about how to care for your diabetes.
• Know what is right for you.
• Collect good and reliable diabetes information from qualified experts, good books, dLifeTV and dLife.com.
• Then stand tall and clap on…clap off. Yep, just like the silly commercial.
  

Take the bad and clap it away from you. Get back on with your day and pick up where you left off. Walk away with your head held high and know that you are doing what is right for you.

www.DearJanis.com

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