I had to go up to the fuel oil tank late morning to put the locks on the gate and tank. At c.1200 litres we should have plenty to get well into the winter. Unfortunately by the time we finished I was exhausted and had to get inside and rest.
Loads of Fieldfare and Redwing were passing through today, they must know Britain is here, if they did not and flew from Scandinavia west they would finish up in the Atlantic if GB was not here! If you see what I mean.
So the trip to the shops was off.
Helen was on zoom later after her time at Scargill house.
She came up with the theory of the spoons to fit my easily exhausted condition.
We all have so many spoons and going up to the tank was physical hard. The first time I expended six, getting up in am I expended two, going up to the tank again I expended another six. I probably only had 12 to start with and used more, the net result was I was exhausted. The question is, how do I get more spoons?
D.
I was told the theory of the spoons many years ago when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia
@lindisfel
I am lucky if I have between 5 to 8 spoons a day. Rarely do I have more. I am maybe on a 5 or 6 today. Yesterday I expended extra effort because I was sick of not having enough energy, and my remaining 3 spoons flew out of the window and deserted me.
I have already expended one spoon today. And I am mentally planning the rest of the day. It doesn't involve much, but I am losing ground overall in getting stuff done.
Even though I know about the spoon theory, and I try to work with it, it frustrates me that it constrains me.
How do you get more spoons? Not easy to do.
Rest in between using up the spoons. Little things, like I spoke awhile ago on here where I sit in the car a few minutes when I get to my destination before I get out of the car. I do the same before I set off in my driveway. And then the return journey, I get back in the car, I just sit for a few minutes before I start the engine, then do the same when I get home, even in my driveway. That makes a difference to getting out of the car to take my shopping in in that I feel lighter, instead of feeling like a lump of lead and I can barely get in.
Years ago I would have treated myself to a piece of dark chocolate when I got home, sit in the car (not gobble it up like people generally do) and savour it for as long as it would last.
I think what I am also saying is stop during the day at various points, and savour the moment (not necessarily with food, and certainly before you are exhausted). In that way you can pull in a bit of extra energy and hopefully an extra spoon, and if I don't do that when I get home in the car I can barely get my shopping in, and then I don't have the energy to put my shopping away not even the chilled or frozen stuff, and I collapse on the couch or bed. But if I have that few minutes in the car in my driveway, after I turn the engine off, and by the way I always have a flask of tea in the car, and I might pour myself a mug full, and sit quietly and sip it for a few minutes or as long as I need. And then when I get out of the car it is with a lighter heart and I can much more easily bring the shopping in, unpack, put away, make a cuppa, and then go on the couch and have a rest.
My insensitive Mr BerlinWallXmasLights neighbour is very puzzled with me when I do that, and he comes out and sits in his car and watches me....
Just read
@dunelm 's advice.
Another thing I do to get the most out of a spoon is repeat a short sentence/phrase over and over in my head, maybe 50/100/ more times to keep me going until I have finished that task. I can't explain why that works...