Happy Mondays
Leading life and happiness coach
THERE is a lot of talk about energy at the moment. Switching providers without paperwork and fuss is a must. The fact we have three supermoons coming before the end of the year, the astrologers tell us, is going to create some weird energy and then there is that slump that comes at 4pm and has you reaching for the biscuit tin and a cuppa.
We seek it here, we seek it there, energy is everywhere. It is the difference between progress and wearing sweatpants on the sofa. It can make us punch the air and tear into the future or sigh and hide under the duvet. Some days we can zip through our to-do lists ticking off the tasks with infinite smugness and other times it is as if our pilot light has gone out and the repair engineers have gone ex-directory.
In short, we often run out of spoons. Yes, spoons. It is a smart theory about energy designed by brilliant blogger Christine Miserandino. A sufferer from lupus – an incurable auto-immune condition that can cause skin rashes, extreme fatigue and joint pain – she used spoons to explain to a friend what it was like to live with this debilitating disease.
You only have a handful of spoons to get through some days. One spoon to open our eyes and wake up, another to get out of bed, three or four on showering, dressing and coming down the stairs. Some days you have used up your spoon quota before 10am yet there is so much to do.
You know your energy is so low you could use up your spoon quota in the first hour. It perfectly sums up the choices people with auto-immune diseases have to make by the minute to get the simplest things done before deep exhaustion has them spent and, well, spoonless.
When your energy is low you have to consider deeply how to manage your day one spoon at a time. What will help most? What will the consequences be? What’s a priority? Can I forfeit a spoon?
Even pop singer Robbie Williams (inset) will be looking at his spoon collection more often now, as last week he announced he is suffering from an arthritic back.
What is really weird and kind of cool about spoon theory is what removes spoons for some people forges them for others. For example, the words “spreadsheet” and “accounts” bring me out in spoonremoving hives. However, for another person, having detailed and methodical mathematical order forges spoons in abundance.
Often when we think about the things we should or ought to do – like going to the gym or viewing a bank statement – these are real energy drainers which take up a lot of spoons. But going to the pub or chatting to a pal makes you spoon-rich.
Think of books, people, food and activities which lift your spirits and give you energy – then you have access to your spoon factory.
Some days will be better than others but once you know who or what robs you of spoons and what gives you a huge soup ladle, you can use your silverware to support and nourish your
daily lives.