Fibro defining a person

                          Does Your Fibro Define You?

      Some days it's easy to to let Fibro define you, but as a general rule does it? Do you let people see you as a victim, or as a person who although you have Fibro you are doing the best you can with what you are given each and every day?
     I confess that more often than not I have let my Fibro define me, but as of January 1st this year I will be doing the latter. Take yesterday for example. I had on my list just six things to do. It took twelve hours to accomplish those things due to pain and fatigue, but the best part was that at the end of the day I was able to be proud of myself for doing a job well done.
     However, today I am feeling the effects of having done too much. My first thought was: "What the heck? All I did was six things and I took my time to do everything." My husband's voice from the back of my brain gently reminded me:" But, you are not used to doing so much." It's not like I did laundry for all six of the people this week, ran up and down the stairs, did my spring cleaning, and  worked out. The hardest thing I did was clean my bathroom minus the bathtub because I can not get that low anymore.
      So today I made a to do list where the hardest thing I have to do is grocery shopping. Some people might scoff at that and think:" gee what a lazy bum, I wish that was the hardest thing I had to do all day." However, it's not as it seems below the surface. A trip to the grocery store involves me holding on to a cart for balance more than anything else, having one of my older children with me so they can get things I need on lower shelves, and constantly reading my list over and over to see what I need so I can get things in the order they are in the grocery store, except with Fibro fog I often have to retrace my steps because I didn't see an item on my list, struggling to unload groceries from my cart into my vehicle, driving home where I have to fight to drive correctly, and then struggle to unload. If there are kids home they get to unload van, and then the bags, and put the food where it goes.
         So the important thing to take away from all of this is to not over exert yourself. Take more than one day to do things if you need to, and rest as much as possible.
         Until next time God bless,