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ME/CFS Gifts – Pace Yourself

12/11/2012

2 Comments

 
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© 2012 TSM
I’ve been thinking a lot about pacing - for myself, for my family, for the seemingly swirling world around me.  Are we goal driven or just driven?  Are we actually going anywhere?  Do we arrive?  Are we missing the whole point of the journey itself by never slowing down?  When I was struggling with ME/CFS, I was forced to slow down.  For a time, I was forced to completely stop.

It wasn’t until I began to recover, slowly but surely, that I also began to understand the ‘gift’ of being forced to slow down.  Not that I recommend ME/CFS as a good path to gaining perspective on pacing your life but it was how I got the message.  Making choices and pacing have become part of my new way of being.  I do smell the roses now.


If you worry about what you’re missing as you struggle with ME/CFS, this quote will make you smile.

"Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you."
     John De Paola

It reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon where a dog is chasing a cat around in a circle.  The cat steps off to the side and just watches the dog who continues to run around the circle.  I can remember the road runner doing this to wile e coyote too.

The holidays are a wonderful time of lights, kindness and family.  But we can allow this time to be twisted into a crazed pace that can drive us into a push/crash cycle.  Although ME/CFS is not the preferred method for receiving the ‘gift’ of pacing, it is the way we’ve received it.  Open it up and appreciate the message.  How are you pacing your holidays?  What are your strategies?  Please COMMENT or Send in your thoughts and I’ll post them.  You can use the Contact Form or send an email to Martha at DefeatCFS dot net.

Look for a weekly posting on Tuesdays.  And consider being part of the conversation.

Be Well Again,

Martha

2 Comments
Tim Boland
12/11/2012 10:31:47 am

Happy Holidays to you Martha and all of your readers,

Your stories reminded me a Buddhist story, where a man on a horse which seemed uncontrolled was asked by a passerby … ‘where are you going!?’ and the man answered ‘I don’t know! Ask the horse!’

This was interpreted to mean that this is like us with our ‘habit energies’, the things we’re accustomed to doing, sometimes frantically running from one place to another, but if someone asks why we are doing it, we may not have a good answer.

I have noticed as I’ve gotten older that what used to feel exciting, having lots to do and almost testing myself to see if I get them all done … in a perfectionist way of course … that now, I’m happy to slow down and enjoy things more. And especially with this illness, it’s a lot more stressful when I do try to push myself too hard.

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Martha
12/11/2012 04:46:12 pm

Thanks for your horse story, Tim :) I too must admit that before I struggled with ME/CFS, I used to get a kind of high conquering my life in a frenzy. But my emotional and physical self suffered. Now that I'm well, I understand that letting go of a lot of that is great. It's not losing, it's winning.

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    Hello,  I'm
    Martha Kilcoyne

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    After struggling with CFS for four years I am fortunate now to be fully well and making choices about how I want to live my healthy life.  One choice is to be an active part of the CFS community and to offer one voice from the fully recoverd to the dialogue.  I'm glad you're here!   For more about me, here's my Bio.

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