This was a tough Christmas for me! I tried to pace myself through the holidays, but it didn't seem to work. Then, I tried to push through the holidays, and that didn't seem to work any better! I'm not sure what lessons I learned. I don't know what I would do differently, and yet this didn't work out very well. That encapsulates my feelings about this whole CFS thing. If I'm going to live with this, then something has to change. I just don't know what or how.
Abundance
“Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend." - Sarah Ban Breathnach
Friday, December 26, 2008
Bah! Humbug!
Posted by Shelli at 4:46 PM
Labels: CFS, chronic fatigue, coping, living with CFS, pacing
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1 comments:
Shelli -
I'm sorry Christmas was so rough for you this year! It definitely takes a few years to adjust to holidays with CFS (mostly by adjusting your expectations). Your list is the right approach - thinking about what is really important and what isn't worth it. One critical thing to think about is that standing or sitting upright for long periods of time causes bad crashes due to OI (do you know about OI?), so things like caroling and standing in line shopping (which got me on Tuesday) are no-nos. Sometimes you can find ways to preserve your favorite traditions while cutting some corners. One of our favorites is a cookie decorating party with friends. After CFS, I gradually made changes, though (it took several years to learn!)...we don't invite 4 families like we used to, just one family who are our closest and oldest friends (and who don't mind if the house is a mess!). And since the kids mostly like cutting out cookies and decorating them, we now buy Pillsbury cookie dough and just roll it out, cut it, and bake it. This was a tough one for me, as I love to cook and bake, but baking is another of those standing activities. So, you learn more each year and make adjustments. I hope you're enjoying some down time now and resting up for a bright new year!
Sue
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