Spoons of energy
KarynJ
Member Posts: 193 ✭
Here's an analogy I heard recently. It helps describe to people who aren't living with chronic pain/illness what it's like in a way that's a bit easier to understand.
Every day, I wake up with 20 spoons full of energy. This is my entire allotment of energy for getting through a day. Getting out of bed, some days this takes 2 spoons. Having breakfast, getting ready and driving to work in traffic and walking to the office - well that's 3 spoons if the traffic is bad.
A whole day at work - there's 10 spoons right there. And if I have to go to a meeting which ratchets up my anxiety? Let's add another 4 spoons to get through that. If there's a medical appointment on this day - wow that could be any number of spoons.
Getting home will take another 3 spoons after I have walked to my car with aching feet and burning joints and battled more traffic nightmares.
So by the time I get home, I've gone over to 22 spoons. Where do I get the extra spoons from? How do I find the energy to make dinner, have a shower, prep lunch for the next day? Do I take the energy from tomorrow? What then? I have to start tomorrow with only 18 spoons of energy. How do I ever catch up?
I guess what I am learning through this is that I need to be more careful about giving away those spoons of energy on things that are not useful, not helpful and drain me too quickly. Do you deserve my spoon? Have you earned my spoon? What would I prefer to allocate my spoon to?
Every day, I wake up with 20 spoons full of energy. This is my entire allotment of energy for getting through a day. Getting out of bed, some days this takes 2 spoons. Having breakfast, getting ready and driving to work in traffic and walking to the office - well that's 3 spoons if the traffic is bad.
A whole day at work - there's 10 spoons right there. And if I have to go to a meeting which ratchets up my anxiety? Let's add another 4 spoons to get through that. If there's a medical appointment on this day - wow that could be any number of spoons.
Getting home will take another 3 spoons after I have walked to my car with aching feet and burning joints and battled more traffic nightmares.
So by the time I get home, I've gone over to 22 spoons. Where do I get the extra spoons from? How do I find the energy to make dinner, have a shower, prep lunch for the next day? Do I take the energy from tomorrow? What then? I have to start tomorrow with only 18 spoons of energy. How do I ever catch up?
I guess what I am learning through this is that I need to be more careful about giving away those spoons of energy on things that are not useful, not helpful and drain me too quickly. Do you deserve my spoon? Have you earned my spoon? What would I prefer to allocate my spoon to?
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Comments
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that is a great analogy KarynJ thank you for sharing it with us.
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You're welcome @SoldierCrab. I really like it. You could also think of the spoons as rainbow coloured baubles. They are so pretty that someone or something needs to be worthwhile for me to give one away.1
