I have been of work since July. My doctor has me seeing a ent doctor tomorrow and my rheumy has set up several test that I have done. I am also doing aqua therapy 3 days a week. My daughter lives next door and fixes supper every night for my mom and me. I can not get in a routine my house is a mess and I just can not seem to get things together. What do you do to have some kind of schedule?
I agree with Carolyn, just concentrate on one thing first. I wanted to start going to the gym everyday so I could start walking and using the pool. I put it on my calendar so it was a reminder to me. It does take some time, and you can't be hard on yourself if you have to give yourself some time to rest. Pick a cleaning task that you can get done in 10 minutes, don't concentrate on the whole house. Don't be afraid to ask for help getting started....
May I suggest you assign yourself one task a day other than the "normal" So Wednesday may be a load of washing, and add perhaps sweeping the front steps? Thursday may be sweeping and mopping the bathroom and perhaps add the ironing from the day before?
I have a fav saying......."how do you eat this whale"??? "piece, by piece"
And that is about all you can do I suspect, maybe others with more experience can give some better impute. BUT the no 1 thing I would say is....."be very very kind to yourself"
Take care and don't let yourself get frustrated, things will come together......piece by piece
Amanda
Keep a list of things to be done...even if you only mark off one small thing you carry the list to the next day....You start to see some progress... I like the eating a whale analogy. One piece at a time! All the best, LupanCatwoman
Thank you it is very frustrating been home after working for so many years. I like the whale analogy to and think I will borrow it.
purplebutterfly, I'm sure with life changes happening recently, you feel a bit out of sync, but you will find your own stride as time goes by. I struggle with this too. The most important part to get set into a routine I feel is taking care of you. Regular mealtimes and med times, when you can exercise, pet care if you have any furbabies to brighten your day, times to do relaxation and stress busting. If you have a cell phone, see if it will allow you to set multiple alarms, and use it to help keep you on track.
I have found though that sleeping or resting when I need to and doing something that brings me joy are crucial to each day. When raising our children, I was up before dawn each day, and asleep after midnight. Now I have the freedom to not be on a schedule and it is good for me! I more go with the flow, but do concentrate on dejunking our home, and becoming more organized. It's far easier to keep clean, and makes my life less physically demanding.
Let us know how this goes or you please? I think a lot of uswrestle with this, especially since times of flares and non flares mean living in totally different ways, with different priorities. hugs, Perplexed
Amanda - love the whale saying! It does so often feel like everything is huge, and too much to handle.
Noahandme said:
May I suggest you assign yourself one task a day other than the "normal" So Wednesday may be a load of washing, and add perhaps sweeping the front steps? Thursday may be sweeping and mopping the bathroom and perhaps add the ironing from the day before?
I have a fav saying......."how do you eat this whale"??? "piece, by piece"
And that is about all you can do I suspect, maybe others with more experience can give some better impute. BUT the no 1 thing I would say is....."be very very kind to yourself"
Take care and don't let yourself get frustrated, things will come together......piece by piece
Amanda
Carolyn? ship the dust balls to my house, my dust bunny herd would enjoy playing with them.
Carolyn Hall said:
Give yourself some time - July was not that long ago. You sound a lot like I did - I was always busy and wanted to get back to a life of feeling "normal" again. I eventually fell into a routine but it took a while. I was exhausted for a long time and now I am starting to know my limits and when it is time to just take it easy. The aqua therapy 3 days a week is a great starting block and you can build from that point. Don't be hard on yourself. I ended up picking one thing I wanted to do for the next day - I would plan around it and get it done and then move to the next thing. Eventually it worked into a routine. Not the same routine I had before but it is a new routine and dust balls don't bother me as much anymore. It will all come together - just give yourself time and try not to worry about the small stuff - worry about you and how you are feeling first and things will eventually fall into place.
I have success with using my timer to help me stay in a routine. Bad days I set it for 5 minutes and spend that time on whatever room I am gonna work on. Then I rest, or read a book for a bit. Then back for another 5 minutes. It seems like you can't get much done in 5 minutes, but it is surprising. On good day I set it for 15 minutes. It helps me stay focused and also keeps me from overdoing on good days by building in rest periods. I have a list for stuff i try to do every day so I don't forget on brain fog days. So like my first 5 minutes in the morning I may unload diswahser, or clean up my bathroom. Hope this helps. ((HUGS))
What routine? If I don’t have an appointment, I figure out a flexible, routine for that day only. Rest breaks are figured in.
On days I can tackle my never-ending to-do list, I try to be careful to set a specific task but give it a time limit before I must take a break. I find it helps if I choose the one task that needs to be done on a certain day, rather than doing ten, none of which had the importance of the first priority task. If I get a bad spin of the roulette wheel on other days, my focus is to look after my health. Anything else is a bonus on those days. At least I get an opportunity to read or watch tv (taped in case I fall asleep – yay, rewind).
I also try, as much as possible, to schedule easier days before and after a day which will require a lot from me. Recovery days may make the difference between going into a flare or not.
It is so difficult, on ‘good’ days, to resist the urge to “catch up”. I have discovered the hard way, that it IS important to do something every day that gives you joy in some form.
I’m happy to hear you have good support. Hang in there. Routines of some sort will eventually take shape. Just remember to be flexible when necessary.
Take care.