Pacing yourself- easier said than done?

I have a 'one hour rule' otherwise I keep going until i'm worn out and good for nothing next day (but I broke my pelvis and fractured a vertebra so it was vital I rested). I used to set a timer and made myself stop working as soon as it rang, even if I was in the middle of something.
OH tries to help but just doesn't see all the little things that need doing, and I cannot bear to sit around doing nothing when I can see jobs to do.
I start again after another hour resting.
Difficult.

I have the opposite to that. I think it means trying not to do too much all at over- but, by whose standards.

I've been in hospital and am continually being told to 'take it day by day'.

What does that mean?

Pacing is dull and soulless. It makes my husband feel like a patient not a person.
It doesn't work for him.
He needs to be his own vibrant self.
We put up with the consequences (if there are any) as better than pacing.

Having watched him struggle with it I feel there is a lot of nonsense talked about it.
This is just my opinion. I am not a medic.

kittylester

I have the opposite to that. I think it means trying not to do too much all at over- but, by whose standards.

I've been in hospital and am continually being told to 'take it day by day'.

What does that mean?

Goodness knows Kittylester, I don’t think they know either. And as ExDancer says, it’s very difficult to sit about when you know there are jobs to be done.

I thought it said “piercing yourself easier said than done!”

These days if I do something a bit energetic I need to sit down for a bit before the next task. The trouble is, I get engrossed in something eg Gransnet and pause longer than intended!

I struggle to look after my garden so set myself the target of weeding until I fill my wheelbarrow then stopping until another day. Sometimes I don’t have the energy to get the wheelbarrow round to the green bin so it has to wait under my porch until the next day!

Sago

I thought it said “piercing yourself easier said than done!”

That's a bit extreme

A friend who at one point had a lot to contend with had a system she called Ten Ten Loaf. It involved ten minutes doing one task (say tidying up), ten minutes doing another task (perhaps cleaning the bathroom) then ten minutes ‘loafing’ eg having a sit down with a cup of tea or reading her book. It worked for her.

It needn’t be ten minutes, you could do 20 or 30, whatever suits you.

I do a maximum of 20 mins gardening. I hate it, but it gets a few bits done

I think it’s very hard to find a balance between overdoing it and not doing enough. It’s important to keep as active as possible within sensible limits and very bad for you to rest all the time. This is what a friend of mine is doing and I can see that she is deteriorating physically and mentally.

I find it difficult and suffer afterwards as do too much (which isn't much at all by the way!) The next day I generally feel sick and hurt more which isn't great ....

Write a list of what needs doing so you don’t get tired then find you have forgotten to do something important.

Tizliz

Write a list of what needs doing so you don’t get tired then find you have forgotten to do something important.

Yes, Tizliz, good advice, that’s something I’m trying to get better at. Am going to try 20 minutes on my feet, 20 minutes on the computer, I’ve got presentations to prepare, and 20 minutes rest this afternoon and see how that works.

Historically this goes way back to caveman days.... Females had to be the ones to notice what was out of place or wrong with the cave and keep it clean and free from debris from the last roast bear dinner etc otherwise everyone would die from 'unclean cave disease' ......! I feel as if I'm like my own LIDAR scanner. I sit trying to relax but my sights flick around the place looking for stuff that's not right or needs 'dojng' it's a blooming curse sometimes!..... While the males? Well they caught the bear innit?!?

teabagwoman

kittylester

I have the opposite to that. I think it means trying not to do too much all at over- but, by whose standards.

I've been in hospital and am continually being told to 'take it day by day'.

What does that mean?

Goodness knows Kittylester, I don’t think they know either. And as ExDancer says, it’s very difficult to sit about when you know there are jobs to be done.

I have to confess that I have no problem with sitting about when there are jobs to be done. But I’ll be reading or knitting - not actually doing nothing - except of course for the feet up on the sofa afternoon zizz - not every day but often enough, when I feel the need.

SueDonim... I love that idea. I am going to give it a try. I don't like cleaning but if I know it will only be ten minutes I might be able to smile through it...hahaha

Recently health means I too get fatigued to the point that I simply can't function. I do small jobs and prep veg for the evening meal in the morning after resting for an hour first. (Getting up and showering is exhausting) Thats the morning gone. Then I have an hour on the bed after lunch and try to have a short stroll in the afternoon. Or we go out for a drive. I have had to learn to accept that when help is offered to take it with good grace and am hopeful that things will get better for me. I hope your situation gets better too. After a lifetime of being busy its hard isnt it trying to find a balence between what must be done, what needs to be done and what we can actually do ourselves. Note to self ..must work harder at accepting that when help is offered its not a critism of what I havn't done. Its a gesture where others helplessness is being addressed so actually I'm doing someone one else a favour !!

I recently had Covid for the first time (I'm 61) and am finding that I get tired very easily. Build into your day a time when you sit and read a book, do a craft or even watch a film. You obviously need to rest so rest & don't feel guilty

Divide your day into three(or whatever sessions) and just be busy for say 2 of them. Rest of sessions yours to relax in, do what you fancy in ?kip.

I'm currently struggling to find a balance. It's just over 5 weeks since I had a total knee replacement and I'm getting frustrated with how much I can't do yet including hoovering. I have physio exercises to do at least 3 times a day. It's difficult to do them enough without overdoing it and then really struggling the next time. Still needing strong painkillers which are also making me tired

My daughter has multiple chronic illnesses and is often confined to bed with pain and fatigue ,She uses this method to explain to her girls what level she's at and how much energy is available to her.On the list I think it says 2 spoons for a bath ,on one of her bad days it will use up almost all the spoons on her chart .Its very helpful for her and those of us who find it all very hard to cope with.

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino

I think which system you use must depend on two things:

what kind of person you are and what your health issues are.

If you have been told to take it easy for a certain length of time after an operation or an illness, I think you just have to ignore the mess around you, unless you either can afford to pay a cleaner, or have a spouse who can and will take over your work for the duration.

If we are talking about a permanent condition, or just the lessening of energy and strength natural at our time of life, obviously we have to find some way of dealing with the fact that we can no longer work eight hours at a stretch or whatever we did when we were younger.

For me it is trial and error - I try to find the amount of work I can do without tiring myself out completely.

I no longer whiz round hoovering all the floors and dusting all the rooms in the course of a morning, but spread it out over a couple of mornings.

I have more or less given up gardening, which I hate, and hope next year when DH at long last qualifies for his pension (long story - the short version is they keep moving the goalposts) that we can afford someone to mow the back lawns and cut the hedges and that we can find the money to turn the front lawn into a paved garden with a couple of tubs of plants.

But I am in the fortunate position of not having anything wrong with me, only the diminishing of vigour that accompanies getting older.

If you do have a serious health issue, try and get your consultant, your G.P. or a nurse to tell you exactly what they mean when they say "take one day at a time" or "pace yourself" two meaningless phrases that everyone understands differently, which is of no use to us who are given the advice.

The cause of your trouble with energy levels? Are there symptoms that come on when your energy is low? Do you have any warning signs? If you have symptoms and intend to improve, you do have to devise a method of getting by with less activity - (does mental exertion affect you more than physical?). Are you doing all the other things a person needs to do to have good energy - good diet, good sleep amount and pattern, suitable physical exercise etc. Think like an athlete... What is good for them may be good for you.