One of the first things you hear about when looking into the chronic illness community is "spoonie". This may confuse a lot of people. You might be thinking,"What do spoons have to do with chronic illness?" This all stems from The Spoon Theory, first written by Christine Miserandino. What is The Spoon Theory? It's a disability metaphor. When people struggle with chronic illness, their energy is often limited and simple tasks like preparing a meal, taking a shower, or doing homework can take a lot more energy than for healthy people. The idea behind the spoon theory is to help people visualize their energy: the spoons represent their energy. Each spoonie wakes up with a certain amount of spoons (the amount of spoons can vary day to day) and each task they accomplish will cost them a certain amount of said spoons, which can vary from task to task. For example, I can wake up one day with ten spoons. I get out of bed and might need to give up one spoon. I make myself breakfast and give up another spoon. I get ready for the day and give up three spoons, and so on. The amount of spoons required for each task depends on both the person and the day.
Continuing my example, waking up with ten spoons and already losing five spoons so early in the day can make it easy to run out of spoons without the day being over. That's why spoonies need to prioritize their tasks and why we may not always be able to participate in social activities. Just getting through a normal day is difficult enough. A great example of the sSpoon Theory is the video game Robin. In this game, the player has to accomplish certain tasks each day with only a certain amount of energy. It is impossible to finish all of these tasks in a single day with the little energy the player is given, so he or she needs to prioritize the different tasks. For example, feeding your animal is a high priority task because a living being is depending on you. However, a spoonie might not shower everyday or do the dishes everyday.
Another important aspect of living your life as a spoonie is moderation. If you do too much one day, your body could need days or even weeks to recover. That's why, to be able to function relatively well each day, you need to moderate your activity. Listen to your body and see what it needs. If it needs a rest day, then rest, but if you're feeling up to it, try to do some activity, whether that be walking outside for a few minutes or playing with your dog. But don't do too much. Don't have a full day of cleaning the house nonstop otherwise you'll pay for it the next day.
Life with chronic illness is not easy. And it's not easy for the people around us to understand it. But spoon theory is a way for chronic illness warriors to connect with each other and for their loved ones to understand what each of us is going through. I explained spoon theory as best as I could but if you want the original post, go check out Chrictine Miserandino's website butyoudontlooksick.com. Also check out the video game Robin since playing it truly helps you understand the difficulties a spoonie faces. Jacksepticeye made a video playing this game so even if you don't want to play the game, I suggest you go watch his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmkc8DcGTy