In a short while I am having 2 rooms redecorated and carpeted (not before time, they were last done 25 years ago!) This will be the last 2 in the house, as I’ve had the others done during the time since my recovery.
One room is my ‘office’/come lolling about room, and the other is my bedroom. The office has a large bookshelf/desk structure full of books and also clutter! As well as having chairs, a sofa etc.
So I decided to start clearing the shelves. Moving and dusting stuff off the top 2 required a small step ladder.
Pre Gupta and pre being too ill to think about decorating I would have cleared the whole room in one day, or even both rooms, and done it all the day before the decorator comes.
But now I am aware of pacing, even when fully well. So I did the first 2 shelves, planning to do some more the next day. It wasn’t going to take a few weeks, but life could intervene so I allowed extra time. I took rest days when I did other things like going out with friends.
Whenever I hear the word ‘pacing’ I am aware of the confusion on this topic. In English it has a few meanings:
1: To pace yourself i.e. to take care not to overdo whatever, but to divide tasks/activities into smaller more manageable parts, with gaps to rest or do something completely different, like typing this (!) compared with moving books up and down a step ladder and into a different room, or like taking a complete break and resting properly. People training for a marathon also pace themselves like this in their training and in the actual event (not usually involving the step ladder though.)
This type of pacing can also be for the energy we use for brain activities and also emotional activities and even food digestion (eat slowly and not too much at a time, with breaks between meals!)
2:To pace up and down i.e. to stride purposefully backwards and forwards, with great energy. (Not the sort of pacing we recommend for CFS etc.)
3: To pace someone else i.e. usually in a race or similar where one person walks/runs/whatever alongside the other to keep them to their plan for success in the race/marathon/whatever.
The sort of pacing advised for helping retrain our amygdala is Number 1.
Recovering from a chronic condition like CFS/MCS/EHS/Fibro/etc. takes time and patience and perseverance.
Like clearing my room’s clutter, it isn’t a race.
Going slowly and gently, being kind to yourself and being patient with however long it takes but persisting, taking rests when you feel it’s a good idea and/or in dippy times, that is how best to go about it.
If I decided to move the book case before moving the books, most people would agree I was crazy.
So with retraining your amygdala, I didn’t expect to clear all the amygdala responses in one go, more like layer by layer, with quite a lot of dusting to do!
Patience is one of the keys.
PPP: pacing, patience and perseverance.
