The Holiday Season can pose a lot of challenges to our patients and our patience. So how do you help yourself while helping others? Our LNG in Eastern North Carolina decided to throw ourselves a little party. We had a few cancelations that day, but got to see people we haven’t seen in ages. Instead of meeting at a restaurant or classroom, one of our members (and possibly our next LNG chair) offered up her home to our little meeting. And we decided that this was our support group.
And in the spirit of lessons learned at the AADE Leadership Conference in Chicago, we took pictures!
Now this is all that were able to make it to the meeting, but we had a great time and enjoyed some food and friendship. We did a little bit of business, including learning how to “Manage the List; Don’t Leave the List” for MyAADE Network and sharing an article on educator burn-out.
And then we had a little festive ornament exchange.
And here is my “ornament”:
Now, mind you this is a Christmas Cactus, but I haven’t managed to kill it yet and it is making my kitchen window very festive.
We looked through our talent and learned that we had a member who would like to become our chair for the next 2 years and others that would be willing to meet and greet at our annual conference. We even have some that are sharing their talents with the next generation of CDEs and participating the in the NCBDE’s mentorship program.
With all the changes coming down the road and all the stress that the holidays can bring, this was a wonderful way to find time to recharge and connect and share that support that we are always giving to our patients, but sometime forget to give to ourselves or our colleagues. So if you are in need of the Diabetes Educator Support Group, we are just down the road and have open ears and minds.
Happy Holidays to all of you in NC (and anyone else checking in on our blog)!
Be safe and healthy and happy!
And as always, thank you for being you, for all you do for our patients, for our organization and for each other.