THIS right here is gold that I wish I would have learned earlier in my chronic illness journey… I often pushed and pushed myself beyond my means trying to keep up with my friends and family and the traditions we had set in place for holiday gatherings, birthdays etc. Now after over a decade of practice, I have learned how to put up flea set boundaries for myself and what my abilities actually are so that I can truly enjoy myself on holidays again and not be feeling exhausted, in pain and sick and miserable the entire time, or the next days after when the crash hits.
My holidays now require everyone to come to me, as time in the car and traveling and extra energy needing to pack my special foods, supplements, meds is just too draining for me. It is kept very short 1-2 hours max and we do very simple activities like sometimes just having a little picnic on the lawn if the weather is nice. It is has been an incredibly hard journey for me to adjust to - especially being the extroverted person I am, and not everyone can come to me either so that sometimes means holidays spent alone for parts of the day, but I do my best to make special fun quiet activities for myself on those days, listen to music, call a friend or family member, play with my pets, anything I can to keep my spirits up, and be gentle with myself that it is hard, but it also is all okay.
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