Individuals living with fibro and other chronic conditions may have a hard time practicing self-care. We may find it easier to be hard on ourselves and push past our limits. This can make it difficult to keep going because when we overdo it regularly, we feel more exhausted, anxious and in pain.
I find this to be an all-encompassing problem for me these days. I never feel like i do enough because I always feel tired and unfocused. Brain fog follows me around my day like a mist over my head, blinding my reality, focus and much more. In fact, I usually wake up exhausted and things don’t get any better unless I make time for rest times when I do nothing but breathe and center.
For me, practicing self-care is hard. I walk around on auto-pilot most of my day, disconnected from who I am and what I do. By late evening, I’m exhausted. I want to stop the cycle but I don’t know how to do that. The only way I can see is to schedule in pause breaks into my day as a way to practice self-care.
I’m sure many of you have heard of what PAUSE means. Here’s a refresher:
P – Pause and take a few deep breaths to calm down your nervous system and ground yourself in the present.
A = Ask yourself “Do I want to keep overdoing it?” “Why am I overdoing it?” “Do I feel less than others?”
U = Understand that you have a choice to stops and let go.
S = Say and repeat the mantras,
- Overdoing is the root cause of my suffering.
- I can not overdo it.
- I am more than what I do.
E = Experience what you’re feeling without judgment, resistance or overthinking. Become aware where in your body you feel the emotion. Then let it go.
By using this five-step process, you can start practicing self-care by getting out of unconsciously going from one thing to another. As an added bonus, you may not over do it as often.
Living With Chronic Illness 