Finding yourself having to cope with a fatigue-related health condition is tough. Really tough on some days. I’ve written before about how difficult it can be to accept the lack of answers or defined treatment from medical experts. And for many, this can lead to all sorts of difficult emotions kicking in and some unhelpful mindsets developing.
One such mindset that I often spot in those who come to me for help, is the conflict they’re experiencing in accepting the changes they need to make. These are important changes that can lead to improvements over time, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to accept.
These people know they need to be more careful. But they want to LIVE and enjoy life! And they feel the two are mutually exclusive. So they swing from one extreme to the other:
they’re either being super-focussed on Doing The Right Things, often at the expense of any enjoyment;
or they’re throwing caution to the wind without giving careful approaches a second thought. Particularly when they’re on holiday or have a particularly busy week ahead - or other such justification.
But I’d like to reassure you that being careful and living a semblance of an enjoyable life are not mutually exclusive! And that’s where pacing comes in. Done properly it shows you how you can LIVE CAREFULLY. It’s not about living or being careful. It’s both. It’s about gathering information about what you can do and using that to help you make smart decisions every day. It’s about getting back to a place where you feel you’re living a life that you want to live, while knowing you’re not pushing things too far.
If you’ve been resisting the idea of knuckling down and following a consistent pacing plan because you can’t help thinking it will spoil your fun, please catch that mindset, and start to look at pacing as a way to be able to find that fun again.
Is pacing easy? No. (Sorry.) But it shouldn’t feel impossible either - and it’s worth persevering until you crack it, because the rewards and benefits can be sizeable. The difficulty is that there’s no blueprint anyone can give you to show you exactly what to do each day. That's because we’re all different and we all have different lives we need, or want, to live. But there is help out there.
If you haven’t already, please go to the ‘Pacing Expertise’ page on my website and wait for the pop-up window to appear so that you can download my free guide titled “Four tips to pacing successfully”. This will give you a good start as you begin to figure things out for yourself, and I hope you find it helpful.
And remember, it’s not about choosing between being careful or living an enjoyable life. It’s about living that enjoyable life…carefully!
All the very best,
Pamela
Helping you cope with extreme fatigue to regain a life worth living again
www.pamelarose.co.uk