The man was tired.
Tired of fighting.
Tired of trying to manage the diagnosis that had shaped his life and was now stealing his sight, one blurry corner at a time.
Diabetes wasn’t just a disease to him—it felt like a curse passed down from his mother.
She died young because of diabetes, and he believed he’d face the same fate.
His doctor sent him to therapy, worried that his negative mental habits were hurting his health more than he realized.
When he came to see Amy Morin for therapy, he already knew all the steps to manage his blood sugar.
He just didn’t think any of it mattered anymore—he had given up, convinced his efforts wouldn’t make a difference.
But he reluctantly agreed to make one small change:
Giving up his two-liter-a-day Pepsi habit and switching to Diet Pepsi.
He didn’t expect a miracle. Yet he stuck with it.
And then, something surprising happened—his blood sugar numbers started to improve.
It wasn’t dramatic, just a small shift, like a faint crack of light breaking through darkness. But it was enough.
Enough to remind him that his actions could still make a difference.
Slowly, he started making more changes.
He swapped out his nightly bowl of ice cream for a snack with less sugar.
One day, while at a thrift store with some friends, he found an old, beat-up exercise bike.
He bought it for a few bucks, brought it home, and parked it in front of his TV.
Every night, he pedaled while watching his favorite shows.
He wasn’t trying to change his entire life overnight.
He was just trying, in his quiet, steady way, to feel a little better.
Then one day, while pedaling, he noticed something.
The TV looked just a little clearer.
It was a small difference, but enough to make him wonder—maybe the damage to his eyesight wasn’t permanent after all.
That’s when he set a new goal for himself—to get his driver’s license back.
By the time he walked into Amy’s office for their final session, there was something different about him.
He had discovered a quiet, unshakable strength within himself.
It wasn’t about fighting fate anymore.
It was about realizing that small changes, done consistently, could lead him somewhere better.
Here’s the takeaway:
Small actions can open the door to big changes.
That man’s story?
It’s proof that one small habit, one choice to stick with it, can be the start of everything shifting.
When he stopped asking, “Is this worth it?” and simply tried, his world began to open up—little by little, day by day.
So, think about it:
What’s one small thing you could change today?
Don’t worry about the big picture—just take that first step.
Because real strength doesn’t come from giant leaps.
It starts with small moves.
This post was inspired by Amy Morin’s TED Talk, The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong.