How my day began: No pacing
Today, I woke up in a flare. My last words to my husband as he left for work were “I can’t do today!” He kissed me and hugged me and said “yes you can.” I lay on the sofa for a while after he was gone, with my cup of tea whilst my little boy watched Bing and felt extremely sorry for myself. Then, I remembered we had a house inspection today and panic mode took over. I raced around all morning tidying and rearranging furniture whilst playing with my boy, getting lunch ready and breastfeeding (not all at the same time; I’m good but not that good :D) In the hustle and bustle, I forgot that I should be pacing!
When the dreaded time arrived for the inspection, I opened the door, apologised for the mess and the guy kindly said “it’s called having kids!” How long was he here for I hear you asking? 4 minutes at the most…all that stress and energy exerted for nothing.
Pacing
Now in every appointment I’ve had in regards to my fibro, the one word branded about continuously is pacing. When someone says pace yourself to me, I do a slight eye roll and go yeah of course I can pace with a 19 month old. Even before becoming a mummy, pacing was an alien concept for me. I just don’t understand it. How can I pace with a baby? How can I pace with anxiety forcing me to do things? How can I pace when I have things I really want to do (like rearranging my entire living room like I did today?)
However, the question I should be asking myself is: why do I need to pace?
Pacing: My why
Parenting is a full time job even more so if you are a stay at home parent, breastfeeding, up in the night and have a chronic condition like yours truly. Housework is never ending and anxiety is difficult to quash. Hobbies and interest are exciting and fun and bring me joy, as discussed in my first post, but If I do not pace I will end up like today on the sofa at 3pm barely able to keep my eyes open knowing I still have 2 and a half hours until my husband is home and I still have tea to cook and parent. Pass me the chocolate and Pepsi Max, please!
So in other words, what I am trying to say is that this fibro warrior is trying to pace but finds it incredibly challenging. This fibro warrior still has training wheels on when it comes to pacing and needs to improve on using it.
Mummy the Fibro Warrior Top Tip:
- I hate hearing it but it needs to be said- PACE! Be that using the spoon theory or just an old fashioned timer system (e.g. 1 minute of tidying increased each week by a minute). Whatever method works for you. Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t pace that day but just learn from it. Think about why you have to pace.
If there is one takeaway I would like you to all remember today is that no matter how much eye rolling I do, pacing really is the key to becoming a fibro warrior! Listen to what your body is telling you and rest. The tidying can wait until later. No ones cares what your house looks like and if they do they aren’t the sort of people you should be socialising with anyway. I need you to know you are doing the best you can. your child/children love you just as you are and you are Mummy the Fibro Warrior.
Until next time
x
p.s. How do you pace yourself? What tips and tricks could you share with me? Please let me know in the comments below!
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