Something I realised this week, is how much energy is taxed from you when you do things out of your routine. So much so that if there’s anything not in your routine, your body won’t even provide you the motivation to do it, because it likely hasn’t prepared the energy to do it. If you force yourself, you then enter a damaged state where your body re-routes energy from critical systems such as your immune system, which then leaves you vulnerable to infections.
Out of routine actions are a fact of life, and it’s not like your whole life can work in a clockwork manner. Appointments are scattered into your life, emergencies or sudden situations that require your effort. Being chronically ill makes these situations much harder to manage. It is normal to want to try to seek comfort all the time due to the limitations of chronic illness. This is entirely normal, to seek comfort when they are suffering constantly, but in seeking comfort and avoiding changing your routine, I’ve noticed that life starts to get shaved away more and more. You stay inside more and more, and more things get slashed off your routine in the effort to maintain energy. This again is entirely normal, when we’re ill, we do less so that we can recover. The issue is that doing less and less long term, is no solution. Illness is supposed to be short term for most of our lives, living with a long term illness presents this unnatural problem of needing to rest but also needing to do something to improve.
It’s extremely frustrating, the desire to want to get better, but the lack of resources to do it. The lack of energy is the main culprit, but pain and other symptoms are very interfering in routines also. If you have lots of pain in the morning, it’s not likely that your morning is going to be very productive, the same as if you wake up not feeling rested and having no energy to do anything.
I guess the main thing we need to do, is take a detailed look at our lives, and analyse exactly what is going on each day with us. Where do we spend our energy, and where do we get any rest, if at all. Can we pinpoint the worst parts of the day and the best parts. If we can do that, there’s the strategy to plan as much of the non-routine things in life into the times we feel better. If an emergency happens, we should potentially plan for even routine actions we need to cancel now. All this thinking and planning, is also draining, and we might not even have the concentration or memory to deal with it. It should ideally be done when we’re feeling better.
People who feel terrible at all times, will struggle more with planning and finding opportune moments. Because there simply are no good moments to take advantage of. In this situation, I do think, people can still be doing too much, pushing themselves or holding tension. If you’re bed-bound and severely limited, then your only option is rest and support from someone. That someone will have to do the analysis, planning and organisation for you instead.
The main thing on this topic, is that routine is key for people, and even more so with chronic illness. Our body thrives on pre-knowledge of a situation. Digestion is better if you eat on set times. Sleep is better if you sleep and wake on set times. The ability to do exercise is more effective when made a routine. We are mentally must stronger when we’re prepared for a situation versus when we’re thrust into it suddenly. Not to say some people can still thrive when thrown in the deep end, but in most endeavours planning and preparation are the keys to success.
its like climbing a mountain