Me: I’m going to clean the house in One day!
Body: Hell no, you’re not.
Me: Yep, getting started now.
*Does one thing*
Body: Here is some fatigue and pain for you. Price of that one thing. You’re welcome.
Me: Damn it!
Fact is, everything has a price and cost
And you have a couple of bucks in your body’s account to spend on what you want to do in the day. But even getting up has a cost. Doing routine things has a cost. Anything extra? More cost. So we have to spend carefully. And budget our time and energy. It doesn’t mean doing nothing at all, but it does mean carefully considering what we do and how we go about it.
- Consider breaking up large tasks. Want to clean the kitchen? Great! But maybe do it in sections over the course of a few days.
- Want to go out and socialize? Awesome! This is important to our well-being. But consider what you will be doing. The amount of rest you will need before and the recovery you will need after. The distance to get to the event or activity. The duration of event or activity. Choose wisely for the amount of energy you have.
- Want to start exercising? A fine goal! But start slowly to see where your limit is and increase at a slow steady pace to not exceed your limit.
Pacing isn’t just for Bad Days
If we pace only on the bad days and forget about the good days it leads to a boom and bust cycle. Where we push ourselves too much on good days by doing too much and flare for several days after, and then repeat the cycle. So pacing is for every day. The main problem when our lifestyle impedes the capacity to do that- like full-time work making it difficult or impossible to adequately pace. In which case, you have to do as many tips and tricks as you can and if they work sufficiently for you to maintain balance then that is good. If not you may end up in a bust-bust survival mode cycle- which is where I was at before I reduced to part time.
See:
Do not exceed limits by doing things in moderation
Our limits are a tricky thing in that one day we are capable of more than another day. And knowing where that limit is, is very difficult. The idea is to moderate all the time to never really exceed that limit. You can nudge it, but not exceed it.
No cleaning the house in one day. But you can plan to do a certain amount of house cleaning every day, good or bad. Breaking tasks up and spreading them out is very effective for me. I am still productive and things still get done, but at a pace I can actually manage.
Any fatigue or pain that is over baseline is an indication you may be exceeding your limits. Be conscious of that fact. Sometimes it is just awareness some things cause muscle aches. Like exercise. But there is an alarm zone of fatigue and pain that warns you you are at your limit. You never want to go past that zone as it generally leads to a flare of symptoms. Spreading activities over the week into smaller more moderate tasks is a way to pace and to not exceed those limits.
The wee tricky part is that our limits change every single day. Some days I can walk for 10 minutes without pain. Some days a good half an hour, no pain. Some days not at all due to fatigue. Some days ten minutes with heavy fatigue. I just do not know what sort of day it is until I start walking so hard to plan on doing an activity when I cannot know what they limit is that day. We have to sort of gauge it based on our baseline fatigue and pain in the morning and go from there. I also gauge it based on my morning exercise, if I can exercise that day, because that tells me right there if I am able to walk any real distances that day.
Fatigue management is as important as pain management
Often we pace according to levels of pain but push through fatigue. And this can lead to excessive amounts of fatigue where we cannot do anything at all. Chronic illness is also about fatigue management. It is about taking breaks to rest during times of activity. It is about napping to give you a boost before an activity you know you will need energy for. And it is about pacing to manage fatigue as well. Activities have a cost in energy for chronic illness and we have to be aware that we have a limited amount of energy even if we are having a good pain day. This is one reason pacing every day is vital.
When I was working I helped manage my fatigue by going home for lunch to nap- it just helped get me through the day. Until I moved locations and could no longer do that. Car napping might have helped. An afternoon nap goes a long way for me.
Try not to multi-task
With fatigue and brain-fog multi-tasking increases stress and anxiety. It fatigues us physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is better to focus on one task at a time. Take a break, even a small one to gather ourselves and then start a new task. I like to switch up things from a physical task to then a mental task. And so forth.
Pacing doesn’t mean lack of activity
On really bad pain days, yeah, self-care is far more important than activity. But doing things; exercising, socializing, general chores… all matter in their own way. I find when I lack the motivation to do things, generally due to depression, I feel guilty for my lack of productivity which feeds the depression. For my well-being, I had to establish a Basic Routine for the day. Get up. Get dressed. My ten minutes of cleaning. Work on writing. My exercise (which may just be some small basic stretches on that day). And cook dinner. On good days I’d do more, but I’d stick to my basic routine to keep up some general activity.
That basic routine may be basic and simple but it gives me a feeling of productivity every day as a baseline. A simple baseline. Maybe all I can do that day. And that is fine too. Maybe I can do more. And that is also fine. Pacing means a slower pace but it doesn’t mean we do not get things done- just that we do things in consideration of our level that day. And that we consider moderation on our good days in order to avoid a flare cycle.
Pacing means not feeling guilty for lack of productivity on bad days
We all have bad days. I sure do. I get nothing done and that is fine. High pain is something we have to carefully manage with self-care, all the techniques of coping, and pain management strategies we have. That itself is hard work. Just trying to not get into a mood funk is hard work for me. High pain is something my depression loves. So I have to be careful. There is no room for guilt. This is just a fact of life. It is also the same for high fatigue days. Problematic symptom days and flares. It is a time of coping.
The art of pacing
- Pace on the good days and the bad to prevent Boom and Bust flares
- A basic routine is actually good for well-being
- Stop feeling guilty for bad days. Those are the days you are working damn hard to cope.
- Napping is one way to manage fatigue (just not Too much)
- Resting breaks during the day help with fatigue management, pacing, and pain management of the activities you are doing.
- Pacing to manage fatigue is just as important as pacing to manage pain
- Spreading your necessary activities through the week helps you pace
- Moderate activities to not exceed your limits
The most ignored but valuable chronic illness law we have. We break it, we pay for it. But so fundamental in coping with chronic illness.
Tricky Pickle
Just remember it is difficult to pace when our limits fluctuate, our pain and fatigue fluctuate. Flare-ups happen. And we will have to take it easy for days then. Pacing is tricky- we just do our best.
reprint from brainlessblogger.net
Chronically Nikki 