Originally, I had planned to do a typical 'Pacing' article by providing the usual litanies, but it occurred to me that we might find it a bit more interesting to wander off the beaten path and look at it from a different perspective, and explore some of the possible reasons behind our seeming resistance to this concept.
I know, I know - I can hear you all groaning now. Pacing is a subject near and dear to all
our hearts is it not? ;-) Due to several Fibro Friends' discussions I've been doing a lot of
thinking about this subject. I have noticed, for some time, a recurring theme in many of
our conversations. Almost daily we're all bemoaning the fact that we've overdone it yet
again and are suffering the results. Do you see where I'm headed with this? We have to
ask ourselves why this is such a recurring theme in many of our conversations? It isn't
that the concept is difficult to grasp. We all know the drill by now: Knowing and doing are two different things. Of course we all
know that pacing is something we should be doing daily, but actually putting
that knowledge into practice is another matter entirely. It requires a concerted effort, and
presence of mind (fibro-fog often makes this most difficult), and more than a bit of
planning, to convert and render the information in our heads into a workable strategy for
daily living. I think often times we are just so busy doing that we haven't actually
stopped to think about how we are doing it, or whether the way we are doing it is to our
advantage or not. Most of us seem to be chronic over-doers who carry on regardless of
the pain until sidelined by a nasty flare. Just as often we may not see the connection
between one incidence and another (cause and effect) until it's too late; hence the flare. Old habits die hard. If it is our nature to rush headlong through life doing
things the way we have always done them, regardless of being diagnosed with a chronic
Prioritize activities, take frequent breaks, know our limits, listen to our bodies, limit activities known to exacerbate symptoms and bring on flares, and all that jazz.
So the question still remains - why is it so difficult for us to actually practice what we all tend to preach? The following are just a few of my thoughts on the subject of pacing, or rather non-pacing I should say:
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