Spoon Theory: Being Mindful of Your Energy

   The idea of using spoons to measure the energy of people with invisible and chronic illness is not a new concept. You could use any object that you wish. Some people use the change around their house to keep track of their energy levels. Spoons happen to be an excellent visual simply because there is only so much material that can be held in standard tablespoon before the material you gathered with it overflows.

   So how does it work? Think of each spoon as a fixed amount of energy you have to give to tasks. Every day is going to vary in how much energy you have to give. If you wake up feeling like you only have one spoon of energy, save it for yourself. Today, I am guessing that I have about four or five spoons to give. I automatically save one spoon for me. I also know that I have to work tonight and that might require one to two spoons depending on the busyness of the store. There is a threat for severe thunderstorms that may produce severe wind events so I am hoping that I only need one spoon for work. That should leave me with two to three spoons for things I must accomplish before work. I have to make a phone call that makes me anxious so there goes that spoon. I also have to make two deposits at two different banks. Luckily, I know a short route between both of them. That will only count as another spoon. So far, I have accounted for four to five spoons I think I have.

   One thing that I do understand is that the size of my spoon tends to be larger than others. In this case, using coins might work better for me than spoons. For example, within six hours last Friday I emptied four U-boats of freight and completed filling up jewelry within six hours. My boss often comments that he sometimes schedules me because I can do the workload of two people. At the end of my shift last Friday, all my spoons were gone. I came home, ate, and took a nap. By taking the nap, I regained a spoon and went to the grocery store and puttered with some of the backlog of cleaning around the house. But the Friday before last, I was up every hour and felt extremely sick. I knew I had no spoons for work and had to miss six hours of work. I spent the whole day not doing anything at all. That lack of energy carried into the following Saturday and nothing was accomplished. But this past weekend, I worked all my shifts, trimmed the hedges around the yard, fixed the air conditioning (with help), played with the boyfriend’s kids, cleaned the office at the other house, and transferred some items to the house I am house-sitting now. Yep, far more productive.

   If you are keeping a wellness journal, draw egg shapes to represent your spoons. Fill in your spoon as you go and write down what activity used up your spoon and why. Always keep one spoon for yourself! If you are drawing in more spoons, evaluate why you are drawing them in and filling them out later that day. Did you take a nap or do something for yourself that felt energizing? Did you do something for someone else that sapped your energy? Or did you underestimate the amount of energy that you would need for that activity? Asking these question will help create a better time clock and energy tracker for you. Track everything. Be consistent. Be mindful.