Tags
ann romney, blood sugar control, chronic illness, diabetes, hilary rosen, living well with diabetes, smart women with diabetes, stay at home moms, women's health, work life balance
I’ve been thinking about all the attention that’s been given to the value of SAHM (stay at home moms) because of the whole Ann Romney/Hilary Rosen debate. In an article by Frank Bruni called “Working and Women” he sticks up for Romney, saying his mother, also a SAHM, worked harder than anyone he knows. While his tone felt a little patronizing to me, after all, he is not a SAHM, I appreciated his attempt to highlight the value of working from home.
I don’t like to call myself a SAHM, and if I have to call myself anything, I’ll say I’m at WAHM (work at home mom.) I’m a writer and a mother and I happen to work from home, unless my kids are home and the babysitter comes and the I’m a work at the library/coffee shop mom.
Working from home has a lot of advantages for me as a woman with diabetes. I’ve figured out a schedule that allows me to run in the morning, get my kids off to school, come home to write and then, when my kids return from school, I do all those other household duties (laundry, homework, cooking, cleaning etc.) Money is tight and we’ve made a lot of sacrifices, but most of the time, we’re pretty satisfied.
The times we’re not satisfied is when I start thinking about getting a “real job,” because after all, being an at home mom doesn’t pay. And unfortunately being a writer doesn’t pay much either. So I get on a kick every few months and start looking through job sites and sending out my resume and mostly, hearing nothing back. And during that time, while I’m on my morning runs, I try to imagine what it would be like to go back to the real working world. I try to imagine dropping my kids off for the entire day (not just the school hours), and not picking them up until 5pm. I try to imagine managing my diabetes and I think back to the days when I was out there “working” and all those rollercoaster blood sugars, and I don’t want to go back to work. But I also don’t want to avoid something out of fear.
I like working from home. I like that I can eat every meal at home, that I can test my blood sugar as often as possible, that I can exercise every day and that if I start to get low or high, I can take care of it immediately. Working from home allows me to put my needs as a woman with diabetes first and I like that. But I don’t like struggling to pay our bills. And I don’t want to feel like I am boxing myself in.
So I’m going to start looking for women who are living successfully with diabetes and managing successful careers. If you are one of those women, come and find me, I want to hear your story.
Stay tuned…..
Articles and Studies on Diabetes and the Workplace:
I’m coming to find you! I was diagnosed with T1 at the age of 39, not quite juvenile! And that was 15 years ago. I was in a stressful university job, had a significant commute, and 2 young boys age 4 and 8… I was holding on, but then diabetes entered my life. After taking a month off to adjust and figure out how in the world to eat and walk and talk AND take insulin, I went back to work. Now THIS was challenging. While I made time to do my work, take care of my kids, my husband, my house… there did not seem to be time in the day to figure out how to take care of myself. So after 2 more years on the job and at the completion of a large project, I decided to step out of the traditional working world. I am so grateful for my husband who carried the financial side of our family while I managed kids, the home and my diabetes. I now made time to check blood sugars more frequently, joined a gym, walked and ran, led a hiking group and a book club, signed up for an exercise and diabetes coaching program, went to diabetes conferences and support groups. Learning everything I could about diabetes and how to live successfully with it became my new avocation.
Long story short, I helped found a diabetes cooking support group for people looking to include more whole foods and low carb approaches to their diet… we called it Suppers for Stable Blood Sugar as part of the http://www.TheSuppersPrograms.org. I was so turned on by helping other people living with diabetes and related chronic diseases learn some of the things I had, that I was inspired to return to school in my 50′s in integrative nutrition for a certification as a health and nutrition coach. Along the way I also delved into yoga and even took a 200 hour teacher training program.
Now, I have a private practice in my home office as a health, nutrition and diabetes coach where I support people struggling with their diabetes, weight and other health concerns to reclaim their control over their blood sugars, their cravings, their health, their energy and yes, their life! I know it may sound a bit corny… but it is true and I see it over and over again with my clients. Health coaching is a combination of cutting edge nutrition combined with action-oriented counseling… one step at a time. This is why I founded Rose Health Coaching. And my coaching comes from a place of deep compassion as I too live the struggles of type 1 diabetes and seek to walk my talk!
I love this work and I love working out of my home! I can schedule clients when it is convenient for me so I can still get to the gym, get out for a walk, have lunch in my kitchen, check blood sugars whenever I need to… and best of all for my clients, I can literally share all my food secrets with them right out of my kitchen, my fridge and my pantry. Is it crazy that I am passionate about finding low carb healthy snacks and foods that support my life with diabetes and sharing them with other PWD? Heck no… it is merely the reality of my life and I feel blessed to be able to pass this along to my clients and members of my Suppers support groups.
When I went to school for a BS in Plant Science at Cornell and then an MS in Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Rutgers, I never could have dreamed that I would find a career I love guiding people in not only WHAT to eat, but HOW to bring supportive foods into their lives… right out of my own home!
In health,
Karen Rose Tank, MS, CHC
http://www.RoseHealthCoaching.com