We can only ever be the best version of ourselves whatever stage of life we are at.
And it requires work - a lot of work. Which is much harder now that we are all older and more infirm.
And to maintain what we have now, let alone improve on it, does require superhuman effort. And it can be near impossible to find time to do all those things, And have a life to do the other things that are part of life.
I gave into pressure from others and finally employed a cleaner some time ago, but I hated it. She was there, and twice a week the day before the day she came, I will be cleaning up to make sure everything was acceptable when she arrived. I tried so hard not to do that but it meant that 4 days a week out of 7, my life was regulated by the cleaner. Oh what a relief when I finally got rid of her.
A tidy clean house is not one of my priorities.
I need to restore a balance which I don't have at the moment. I am very much lacking in doing my creative stuff, and that is important to control pain as well.
I have stopped doing a 'to do' list. For me even choosing one or three items on it, I can't achieve those items and the list gets far too long.
And so I am now doing a 'done' list...
*Fed beasties
*Taken morning meds
*Done Creative
*Checked email
*Had morning cuppa tea
.... And so on, and that makes me realise how much I am doing when I think I'm not doing much at all.
I am currently reassessing everything, to try and get this balance back into my life for when I come back from the cataract operation.
Taking those morning HRV readings on Visible (I still only use the free version), made me realise how much I push myself even on simple things. And it is making me listen to my body much more. I thought I was good at listening to my body signals, but I'm also very good at overriding them.
I have a helper who tells me when I need to stop and rest. And I wasn't listening to him. And he was getting very frustrated with me and trying every which way to make me stop and rest.
Yes, it is cat Midnight. I know my old hearing dog Meg was very intuitive and telling me when to stop and rest and I went along with it without realising what a good job she was doing with that.
I was talking with daughter in Australia on this on Sunday, And she explained all the things I had done for Midnight, and when he was really ill several times, I worked really hard to save him. And consequently we have, would you call it a mutual symbiotic relationship, where he does his best to help me when he realises my body is out of balance, And he senses when I need to rest.
Daughter explained a dog can be trained to do this kind of stuff, but a cat cannot be trained, This is something that a cat develops with the person that takes care of it over time.
Anyway, I am rambling now... Back to sleep in a mo. Night night
You are doing absolutely amazing
@jjraak
It is a lot of hard work, And you are putting a lot of effort in setting things in motion to help you become the best you can be for you x