Living with Diabetes: The Key is to “Not To Give Up!”

Dealing with diabetes can be a challenging experience. It takes time, patience and positive thinking to weather through a disease. For businesswoman Aisha Becker Burrowes, dealing with diabetes is something she’s lived with her whole life.

Unfortunately, the chronic disease is most common in the Black community. Even worse, Black patients are more likely to die from diabetes due to misconceptions about diabetes and a lack of access to better healthcare practices.

Though, Burrowes is choosing to change her fortune by advocating for herself and others. The businesswoman decided to take control of her life and not let her life-long diagnosis rule her existence.

Instead, Burrowes lives by a set of life lessons that have helped her to accept living with diabetes. Now the businesswoman is passing on her knowledge to other women, in hopes of helping them through their diagnosis. More importantly, she believes the key to living with diabetes is to not give up.

Living With A Life-Long Disease

Aisha Becker Burrowes has lived with Type 1 Diabetes since she was 10 years old. She was first diagnosed with the chronic disease after eating sweetheart candies during lunchtime.

Burrowes was rushed to the hospital soon after. The young woman told ESSENCE in an essay that “it felt like years had gone by” since being in the hospital.

Burrowes, however, would soon learn that she’d have to spend her life in and out of doctor’s appointments, taking insulin injections and constantly monitoring her blood sugar levels.

Last year, Burrowes expressed to ESSENCE that living with diabetes isn’t just a one-time deal, it’s life-long. Unfortunately, she can’t afford to take a day off from managing her chronic disease.

Eating the wrong thing or even a lack of sleep could throw off her blood sugar levels and lead to harmful side effects, such as a heart attack and a stroke. It could potentially send her to the hospital again.

Fortunately, Insulin pumps and glucose monitors have made Burrowes’ diabetes management easier than before. However, she expressed her frustration that there’s no magic cure for the chronic disease.

“While I’m hopeful for a cure in my lifetime, for the foreseeable future, this is my reality,” she told ESSENCE. Burrowes says that the misconceptions about diabetes also frustrate her.

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One of the biggest misunderstandings is that diabetes manifests when we make unhealthy lifestyle choices, like eating too many burgers or milkshakes.

Burrowes has had to live with diabetes her entire life. These stigmas and a lack of representation surrounding diabetes kept her isolated. Burrowes refused to believe in the stereotypes and misinformation. Instead, she allowed the disease to empower her.

“I embraced my diabetes like a badge of honor, masking my invisible illness with ease, working to achieve everything everyone else could. Nothing could stop me, even on my worst days, including my disease,” Burrowes told ESSENCE last fall. At that point, Burrowes was working on her self-acceptance.

How COVID-19 Changed Her Life Again

Just when it seemed as though Burrowes had put the worst of times behind her, she was dealt with another health challenge. The novel pandemic hit, which left the businesswoman in a state of constant fear and depression. Burrowes admitted feeling more vulnerable than ever.

Making matters worse, those with existing health problems like diabetes were at a greater risk of contracting the virus. It was at that time she started losing hope in achieving a normal existence. In addition to managing her diabetes, Burrowes had to juggle her work and social life, trying to maintain a social life. Fortunately, Burrowes was able to ground herself again. She realized that practicing self-care was more important than ever.

The businesswoman learned a few life lessons along the way and is imparting her wisdom to those living with diabetes. Burrowes knows that while you can’t take a break from managing your diabetes, she does believe that taking time for ourselves is important. Making a visit to the spa or even reading a book, can allow us to make time for ourselves.

Additionally, finding others like us who suffer from the disease can help give us a sense of community and belonging. Even setting small, obtainable goals like exercising for 30 minutes a day can help with maintaining a sense of normalcy and stability in our lives. Burrowes has even traveled to all the places she’s yearned to visit. These goals have especially helped Burrowes manage her mental and physical well-being.

All in all, Burrowes has refused to give in to defeat. Instead, she encourages others, especially Black women, to not give up on themselves.