As you know I am under the care of a new hospital team who appear to be very thorough and have left me feeling more medically supported than I have done in a long time. Not only is it nice to have trust in doctors again, I feel like I can begin to move forward and learn new ways of living. This covers all aspects of my life, my home life, my social life and my work. I feel that I can make little changes now that I have some support behind me so that in the future I can say that I made the most of it without the MCTD stopping me. Along with this, there are things I need to look at with the new diagnosis' that I have been given of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Complex Pain Syndrome. These are going to require a slight change in lifestyle, I am going to have to readdress my priorities again and begin to embrace the person that I am now.
So I am going to be using the phrase a little of what you fancy does you good from now on.....and here is how I am going to set this in motion.
Looking at an average evening.
As I am so fatigued and I now know this isn't just the connective tissue disease and also because I have CFS I need to up my sleeping/resting. Gone are the days of saying up late, I am going to have to start sleeping at any time in the evening that I need to. Some days I can stay up until 10pm and others I may feel I need to go to bed at 7pm. That is what I need and I know this may affect others in my life, but it is time to kick back at the fatigue and do a little more sleeping.
However, this is just a normal night and I don't want this to start being an every day permanent fixture...the girl that sleeps all the time and in the spirit of moderation I want to blend this with good days when I can do things in the evening. As I want to have a social life....and I deserve one...I will make sure that I have specific nights set aside when I can stay up until 11pm for example and get the rest I need the next day. Friday nights are the obvious choice so that I can rest Saturday. o from now on I will be doing all my resting and socialising in moderation so I get everything I need for my health and my mental well being.
Moderate but regular exercise.
As you all know by now, I am somewhat of a gym addict. This is great for my overall health but not great if I take it to extremes, which I have been known to do. I have the power on through mentality....when the pain kicks in I tend to just power on through it and keep going and pay for it later on. Ridiculous I know and over the past few months this has not really been a possibility anyway as I have had some flare ups. Now though, it is never more important to get the balance of moderation right.
My new exercise regime is as much about changing my mental attitude as it is my physical being. I need to stop thinking I can still go to the gym everyday for a long period of time or not go at all out of fear of setting off a flare up. A routine weekly will be the best way to make sure I get some exercise for my health, it will get me into a mental routine of when I am going to exercise and overall it is much easier to control this way. So I plan on using the gym 2-3 times a week, depending on my energy levels...no longer forcing myself to go. I will do 30 minutes and that is it. Along with using the gym, I am going to make sure i walk for 30 minutes or more every day, brisk walking of course not just a stroll. All of the above however will depend on how much rest I have had and how well I am, so I shall not do any exercise on days I cannot, but make sure I don't make up the time other days as that is not moderate exercise.
I shall compartmentalise my stress.
We all get stressed from time to time but with stress being one of the leading causes for flare ups. This is why I need to find ways of limiting stress in my life. How you do this is still something I am working on....the idea of stress being in moderation is not something that generally comes about when you get stressed, but it is something I need to moderate within my life.
I am going to take on some relaxation techniques...I think this is the best approach to start off with. I already use breathing exercises as a basis and will now be meditating before bed every day when I can of course. This way I can get myself into the right frame of mind before I sleep so that stress is not brought into sleepless nights as they seem to have been doing. Meditation can also then be used during the morning as well because I suffer in the mornings with migraines when I have had a stressful period.
Along with this I am going to make sure that I compartmentalise the stress triggers so that I can deal with each one separate. Life sometimes throws us a whole bunch of things to sort through, that can be overpowering for anyone. So I am going to start writing down the things I need to sort out whatever they are and working on them one at a time until I have eliminated every stress. I think doing it like this, in moderation will make everything a lot easier for me to handle.
How do you use moderation to get through your days?
