When someone tells me they cannot do something because they lack motivation, I wonder what they mean. Do they truly lack motivation or is some other psychological force interfering? Let's take the example of a diabetic who claims to be unmotivated to follow a blood sugar controlling diet. There really are people who do not care what their blood sugar is doing. They are genuinely unmotivated for many aspects of their health care. There are people who want to control their blood sugar, but refuse to do it with diet. They rely entirely on medications to keep their blood sugar in safe ranges. They, too, are genuinely unmotivated to follow their diet. Then, there are the people who want to follow their diet, but cannot make themselves do it. They call themselves unmotivated. They have the desire and their desire cannot be actualized. They are inhibited and mistake their inhibition for lack of motivation.
The Truly Unmotivated Person
The first example, a truly unmotivated person, has little desire. Mostly, they are indifferent. With diabetes, indifference is a dangerous attitude. The consequences are cardiovascular problems leading to stroke and heart attacks; kidney damage resulting in years of dialysis; nerve damage that impairs balance, muscle tone, processing waste through the intestines, and sensations in the feet; circulation blockages the require amputations beginning with a toe and ending with a leg. None of the consequences impact the truly unmotivated. Do they fear them? No, they feel nothing. They are indifferent.
If you are reading this blog, you are not indifferent. You have concern. You have curiosity. You want health.
You may have a diabetic loved one who is indifferent. They are hard to understand, and they are impossible to motivate. If you try to control them, they will find a way around your efforts. They may even react with a backlash of outrageous, contrary actions to tell you to leave them to their own ways. You cannot make someone care about something when they are indifferent. To shut you up, they may act as if they care while doing what they want to do when you can't stop them. They have their secret stash of sweets. When they're out and about, they hit the fast food restaurants, the ice cream parlor, the pastry shop. They order pizza and Chinese delivery, getting what they want without regard for what it will do to their blood sugar. They take their medicine carelessly.
Brenda was such a person. She died at age 46, leaving a devastated 14 year old son and a bewildered husband. Brenda's obesity from childhood factored into her developing diabetes in her late thirties. Her doctor advised her to loose weight. She refused. Oral medications quickly became useless in controlling her blood sugar, making insulin her only option early in the progression of her diabetes. Her solution to blood sugar spikes from indulging in the foods she loved in the quantities she wanted was to give herself more insulin. Worst of all, Brenda loved sweet cocktails. Brenda insisted on having a pina colada or margarita or daquiri when she wanted one. Fortunately, she imbibed in moderation, but, for a diabetic, sugary cocktails are poison. Brenda wanted to have what she wanted.
Brenda's husband and son tried everything they could think of to help her curb her behavior. Nothing got her to change. Brenda's attitude was, "I want to enjoy life while I have it." Fortunately, she spent only one year suffering from diabetic complications before succumbing to kidney failure.
See the next blogs for more on motivation.
The Truly Unmotivated Person
The first example, a truly unmotivated person, has little desire. Mostly, they are indifferent. With diabetes, indifference is a dangerous attitude. The consequences are cardiovascular problems leading to stroke and heart attacks; kidney damage resulting in years of dialysis; nerve damage that impairs balance, muscle tone, processing waste through the intestines, and sensations in the feet; circulation blockages the require amputations beginning with a toe and ending with a leg. None of the consequences impact the truly unmotivated. Do they fear them? No, they feel nothing. They are indifferent.
If you are reading this blog, you are not indifferent. You have concern. You have curiosity. You want health.
You may have a diabetic loved one who is indifferent. They are hard to understand, and they are impossible to motivate. If you try to control them, they will find a way around your efforts. They may even react with a backlash of outrageous, contrary actions to tell you to leave them to their own ways. You cannot make someone care about something when they are indifferent. To shut you up, they may act as if they care while doing what they want to do when you can't stop them. They have their secret stash of sweets. When they're out and about, they hit the fast food restaurants, the ice cream parlor, the pastry shop. They order pizza and Chinese delivery, getting what they want without regard for what it will do to their blood sugar. They take their medicine carelessly.
Brenda was such a person. She died at age 46, leaving a devastated 14 year old son and a bewildered husband. Brenda's obesity from childhood factored into her developing diabetes in her late thirties. Her doctor advised her to loose weight. She refused. Oral medications quickly became useless in controlling her blood sugar, making insulin her only option early in the progression of her diabetes. Her solution to blood sugar spikes from indulging in the foods she loved in the quantities she wanted was to give herself more insulin. Worst of all, Brenda loved sweet cocktails. Brenda insisted on having a pina colada or margarita or daquiri when she wanted one. Fortunately, she imbibed in moderation, but, for a diabetic, sugary cocktails are poison. Brenda wanted to have what she wanted.
Brenda's husband and son tried everything they could think of to help her curb her behavior. Nothing got her to change. Brenda's attitude was, "I want to enjoy life while I have it." Fortunately, she spent only one year suffering from diabetic complications before succumbing to kidney failure.
See the next blogs for more on motivation.