Low Energy and Chronic Fatigue: Using “The Spoon Theory” to moderate your energy level.

 This blog post references Tip #1 on the PDF for 5 Tips for Dealing with Chronic Pain which you can click here to download: 

*If you have an autoimmune disease, or any health condition (diagnosed or not) that causes your to feel fatigued, this post is for you. 

Western culture suggests that we “go, go, go” all the time (though that has slowed for some with COVID), but living with chronic fatigue will tell you “no, no, no” whether you like it or not. Over-doing it when you have chronic fatigue, can lead you having a flair up of symptoms or may just leave you with a fatigue hang-over for days after.

Christine Miserandino, who lives with lupus, developed “The Spoon Theory” as a way to explain the amount of energy she has/ or looses throughout the day. Spoons, in this context, qualify as a unit of measurement where each spoon represents a specific task that you may have to do in a day. This could include, cooking a meal, cleaning the dishes, or driving to a friend’s house. Miserandino talks about how people who have chronic fatigue conditions start out the day with less spoons already (than the general population) and therefore, need to carefully plan out how many spoons will be used (and what tasks will be done vs. not done). 

How can you apply spoon theory to yourself? Think about how often you overextend yourself, doing too much, perhaps to please others or because you feel the need to stay ‘extra busy’. How do you feel at the end of the day? Are you exhausted? Do your symptoms flare up when you do too much? If this is the case, try to be mindful of how many tasks you can really get done- what absolutely has to get done today versus what can wait? 

Some tasks/ questions that you may look at include:

-Do I really have the energy to drive to the other side of town to see that friend? Or could they come to see me? Could we video chat instead this time?

-Do I really have the energy to spend on that family member who crosses my boundaries and doesn’t respect my needs? Can I let that phone call go to voicemail this time?

These are ways to save some spoons for yourself. Of course, much of this can include speaking up for yourself and setting boundaries with others- which can be very hard! Seeing a therapist can help you work through how to set these much needed boundaries for yourself and can also help you to become more in tune to your body to predict how many spoons in a day you have. 

To learn more about Christine Miserandino and Spoon Theory go to: https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

Be well,

Brooke

P.S. Did you download all 5 tips for dealing with chronic pain? Click below to download for free.