Spoon theory regarding chronic illness

This has been around for a long time but it is definitely helpful for those that haven't seen it before.

We talk in spoons daily thanks to my chronic disease!

Thank you. I have been on/off this board for years and have never heard this before

I don't recall it either. Thank you for sharing op.

This has been used by many to describe their mental health capacity. I think it’s a good tool to help those who don’t have the same challenges a way of understanding, and is easy to communicate without having to go into much detail.

I don't recall seeing it before, but it is a great way to explain having a finite amount of energy.

So what’s your point? 

OP - my son and my closest friend have autoimmune and chronic pain diseases. The article helped me; thanks for sharing. 

My spoons are the sparsest part of my utensil drawer. I would take more energy over the ability to eat normally, any day. The spoon theory describes life with chronic illness and pain, brilliantly.

Tyfs.

Eta: I read scrappyesq's post, again and she is correct. Many chronic health issues aren't as severe and I want to add that caveat. Though, I never play my violin. One of my doctors quoted me this week, "I want empathy, not sympathy". My illness is just part of who I am, but I have much bigger fish to fry.

As someone with Long Covid, I found this theory to be one more helpful tool to manage my own capacity.

This is a nice visual that simplifies and illustrates the theory. Keeping it simple with a direct link vs trying to post and embed image.  
Spoon Theory Visual


Some other really helpful resources on spoons and pacing.  The second two are focused on ME, PEM and Long Covid, but relevant to any chronic illness that has a fatigue/exhaustion element.  I have the PDF printed out and read through it periodically to remind myself that I need to pace myself purposefully.

health.clevelandclinic.org/spoon-theory-chronic-illness/

www.meaction.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Pacing-and-Management-Guide-for-ME_CFS-9.pdf

www.meaction.net/resource/pacing-and-management-guide/

That’s it EXACTLY. Empathy. Not sympathy. I have MS. I am not on my deathbed.

I hope that I don’t sound as if I’m minimizing anyone else’s suffering. Or even my own. It’s hard having a chronic illness because most people don’t want to dig a little deeper and find out how you’re really doing, which can be a disservice whether you’re feeling good or bad. You become the illness as opposed to being a human being with an illness.

I'm one of those people on the border. I have more spoons than many, but less than the average healthy person. So many days, I'm just fine, especially if they are just normal days. But give me a bunch of super active or stressful days, particularly in a row, and I'm just gone. And what's active to me may not be what's active for you.

For example, I just spent the long weekend with my daughter at an out-of-state tournament. This required flying, renting a car, driving another hour to our destination where I'd never been, getting up wayyyy early in a different time zone, spending much of the day in the heat while socializing with strangers or people I barely know, keeping my daughter on an even keel, doing team stuff after hours, getting to bed late, no privacy, etc. etc. etc. Every one of these things is outside my norm (except the even keel part) and stresses me physically, mentally, and emotionally. But you can't really explain this to anyone, because I did have a great time with her. If I try to explain how very drained I am, it makes no sense to anyone. It's because I borrowed the next month's worth of spoons! I did it, but now there are just a few spoons washed and replaced in the drawer every night, not a full drawer.

But people in my circle don't quite understand, because I got to travel and spend time with DD and had fun!

Thanks for sharing. I’ve seen the concept for decades I think and have used it the last few years. Sometimes I just can’t. Be it mental or physical.

I know what you mean exactly, have experienced too many times to count! Just because you were able to do these things and enjoy them doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences. And just because you’ve done it once before doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it again as the number of spoons we have on any given day can fluctuate.

I’ve been using this theory for a while to try and help people who’ve expressed interest to understand. Unfortunately, there are always those who will not acknowledge that some people just don’t get as many spoons, or that it takes them way more spoons to complete a completely ordinary task than it does the next person. 

Yes, I live with arthritis and fibromyalgia and most days are perfectly fine but some are ugh. This is a great explanation how I am. 

Adding it's so hard to explain how I feel to some people when I am feeling awful. I know you just saw me yesterday and I was perfectly fine, but today I'm not.