1. Pick and Choose- Every day of your life is a "choose your own adventure book." You get up in the morning and decide where you will spend your limited energy, choose wisely. If you know your child has a soccer match at 4PM- you may need to make an easy day of it, so you have energy left to move at 4 to get to that game. Give yourself permission to skip other things you would like to do, so you can do what is most important. The laundry, the vacuum, the long to-do list, can wait a day.
2. Make things easy on yourself. There are lots of different ways to do the same things, try to make choices that expend less of your limited energy. Sit down while you prep dinner, or at least keep a chair in your kitchen, so you can sit between tasks for short rest breaks. Instead of getting one item from the dryer at a time and standing there to fold it or hang it up- take all the laundry to a space where you can get comfortable and be as still as possible. I, personally, sit in bed to match socks- socks all over the bed, so I can see them. I also love when warm weather comes, and the kids can all wear sandals and no socks. If you give it some thought, you can find an easier way to do almost anything- from sitting down while you get dressed, to using "drive thru" options for your errands.
3. Keep a food diary. Most of us have a mix of good days, bad days, and OK days. Bad days might mean a migraine, more pain, less energy or something else to you. Try keeping a record of what foods you eat, and how you feel each day, to see if there is a pattern to which foods can help you have a better or worse day. Many people have undiagnosed food allergies to foods like soy, milk, wheat, or eggs- eating those foods, for them, means a bad day, or even a few bad days. If you are uncertain whether food is an issue for you, try doing an elimination diet, take out the most common food allergen foods for a few weeks, then try adding them back in- if you feel sick after eating them (and this can be in MANY different ways), cut them out of your diet.
4. Eat a diet rich in whole foods. Wether you have food allergies or not, your body can't make good energy out of sunshine, we aren't plants. A diet based on eating fruits, vegetables, and meats, means more nutrients to give your body more energy. Personally, I have found that adding fermented pickles and the natural probiotics in them, seem to have helped my digestion and led to more energy in my life.
5. Pace yourself. Everyone has high energy tasks to do, and ones that take less out of us. Make a plan for your day that allows you to do something that takes more energy- like doing the dishes or cooking dinner, and alternate it with tasks like answering email or paying bills- that allow you to sit. Making a plan for the day that alternates between tasks can help you get more done, because you won't fatigue as quickly. Pacing yourself can also apply to vacations, balance active days, like a trip to the zoo, with a day of rest at the beach before and after. If you have a job that lets you create your own schedule, keep in mind the tasks that are more draining and balance them with easier ones.
6. Doing a little here and there DOES add up. A few years ago, I tried a home cleaning program called Fly Lady. It didn't work for me, I just couldn't follow someone else's schedule. However, I did learn that doing a little house work here and there, instead of cleaning every single thing all at once, did lead to a cleaner house. So, now I take a rather random approach to housework. I take 5 minutes to clean a toilet, or a sink at random when I have some energy. I put in a load of laundry to wash when I sit down to read Facebook (our laundry room is beside the computer). I take 10 minutes to sweep the floor or wipe off the stove top, but I don't make myself clean the whole room. Cleaning in 5 minute intervals a few times a day, does chip away at the mess. My house isn't clean- I have 3 kids. The house will get good and cleaned when they move out, but for now, this seems to be keeping us alive.
7. Make other people help you. My mother in law was a martyr, she had many health problems, but she pushed herself every day, to do everything. And the truth is, she wasn't appreciated for making herself sick each day, and she didn't enjoy her life as much as she could have. Ask other people to help you with the house work, the kids, making dinner, whatever it is you need help with. Your family and friends would rather help you, than have you too tired to talk to them. The weight of the world does not rest on your shoulders, it rests evenly on all of us, and it is easier when we lean on each other to make a triangle, that makes the strongest frame- it is why the roof of your house comes up to a point. So lean on your spouse, let him/her know how to help, what you need, so you can have a wonderful life together.
This post is dedicated to my mother-in-law, Pam Sowdon, whom we miss dearly.
This post is dedicated to my mother-in-law, Pam Sowdon, whom we miss dearly.
