Learning to Pace Yourself to Help with a Chronic Illness
Learning to pace yourself is hard, it is frustrating and to be honest pacing yourself is rubbish. I don’t mean it doesn’t work, it does. I mean the whole fact you have to is annoying.
Pacing yourself is in many ways about changing your mindset, which is difficult for everyone. However, I completely admit I found it stupidly hard.
After all, for many years I had been told, get up and out Sarah. It’s just your mental health and it will do you good and help you feel better. I found I was suddenly being told to do the complete opposite.
Of course, many mental health issues do make you lethargic and fatigued. So when it comes to pacing for a chronic illness such as ME or Fibro, your first step is trying to work out which is which.
For me, these two different types of fatigue have many similarities. However, they also have differences as well.
For instance, the heavy feeling comes only with the fatigue related to my ME or Fibro. While the want to just hide under the covers and pretend the whole world doesn’t exist, comes with the lethargic nature of my mental health.
Of course, for everyone, it will be different but I suggest looking for those little tell-tale signs that might just point to it being one or the other.
Set yourself Tasks
Setting yourself tasks for each day of the week will help you keep on top of many things that need doing, for instance:
Monday – Washing
Tuesday – Dusting
Wednesday – Bathroom
Also don’t be afraid to ask for help.
I cannot iron anymore as I know that it would be too dangerous for me. While I also have someone in to give the bungalow a good clean. This means that even if I’ve had a bad time the cleaning never gets too out of hand.
Pacing can be done in many ways. For me, I set myself jobs and do them little by little through the day taking breaks in between. While some may find it better to get things over and done with then rest. The main thing is though, do not do more than you should.
There will be days when you get up and feel good and you want to get everything done while you feel amazing. However, it will tire you out and it will likely put you into a relapse. So keep to your schedule and you should find that overall you have a more steady flow of energy.
Pacing is not fun, but it can help. So if you are being told to try it, then give it a whirl.
Do you have to pace yourself, how do you cope with it?
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Although not a chronic illness, I’ve been going through a lot lately, both mentally and physically – so can relate to so much of this. Having little tasks set for the next few days is really helping me x
I think people forget how tired mental illness can make you feel. My mum has fibro too so sometimes we’re both just the pair of us completely exhausted at the same time. We need more spoons!
Such a great tips and I think this would be perfect for anyone, sometimes its so hard to pace myself,
Setting goals and working on them is extremely important. Great post.
I love this post- especially the part about setting different tasks to different days. I have bad anxiety and I actually do that to help me to feel successful each day xxx
These are such great tips for how to manage things in life that you simply can’t ignore. Having a clear plan so you don’t get overwhelmed can help you tackle things one thing at a time.
I have to pace myself with my bad back – I’m learning to deal with the pain and I know my limits now.
Interesting articke, thank you 🙂
Yes I do, as having multiple debilitating chronic conditions means I burn out fast. And some days I can’t get out of bed. I can’t do washing up anymore. My fiance does a lot.
It is horrid isn’t it 🙁 I often think why me (though I try not to) x
Such an informative post Sarah. A few of my mum’s friends have chronic pain 🙁
I have a chronic shoulder issue which makes things like ironing hard and painful. I pace myself though, doing the important stuff first and worrying about the rest later. I think it is all too easy to get caught up in trying to do everything in one go, resulting in pain and upset.
I am going to try and pace myself more! xxx
Good luck with trying to pace yourself more, it is hard to get it right x
I keep on reminding my mother to pace herself. I don’t know why she does what she does! She attends aerobics class, does her own grocery shopping, cleans the house, does the laundry, etc. I mean, it is good she is active but she has a chronic illness and her heart is not that good anymore. She thinks she’s still in her 20s!
Oh wow! Go her, hopefully it isn’t being too detrinmental to her being so busy.
I do try to pace myself, but it seems it is not possible! I have a full schedule during weekdays and my weekends are cramped with housework and laundry which I should have done during the weekdays. I wake up and its Monday again. Never get any rest. I am just thankful that my body can still cope.
It is really hard isn’t it, there is so much that always needs doing!
Great tips, and applicable to everyone but I imagine so important when you have a chronic illness.
It’s literally one day at a time and that’s how you should deal with it. You can’t pressure yourself to keep up at a fast pace and it’s always better to take things slow.
Most definitely it is hard to get yourself into a place where you can do it, but it is worth it.
I know when my days are slower .. everything is better. My thinking especially is far clearer and my mind doesn’t go a million miles an hour
It is hard, my mind gets really confused so easily as well.
Setting daily tasks is such a great idea when it comes to pacing yourself. I’m so bad about overextending myself.
It is so easy to do especially on good day when you think you can take on the world.