After this post we’ll follow up with the actual Homekeeping Lists and Ideas for keeping your home running well.If you’ve never had to pace yourself at home while you were working, you may not understand this concept. I used to run full-throttle, wide open all the time until I finally collapsed in exhaustion at night. I was younger then and I didn’t have to deal with a disability. I’m thankful for those days when I had two energetic little boys and needed to have lots of energy. It was a regular habit of mine to get up at 6 and work all day, then stay up til 12 or 1 in the morning sewing and cleaning in the quiet. I could never do that today.
Everyone slows down at least a as the years go by. Women with chronic illness can often find themselves slowed down beyond their years. Or they find that they are slow some days and almost normal on others. But there is always that undercurrent of concern that today will be the last day this week (or month) that she can function and keep the household together.
A women with a chronic illness must learn to pace herself and to schedule work days, rest days and to implement unscheduled rest days. She must also learn how to recognize a day where she has energy and strength and use it but not over tax her body.
In essence, she must learn to know her body. This is not as easy as you might think, some women are very slow to learn the way their bodies act and react. Lots of paying attention to the body in many different situations is the way to go about learning this.
Not everyone is going to understand.
If you don’t look sick, and you don’t sound sick, you must not be sick, right? Wrong. You can look like a million bucks and know that today you need to rest. So, others may not understand your reasoning. It is up to you to not abuse your illness by demanding rest when you can go, but by patiently explaining that when you feel thus and thus… it is time to rest.
Is there a day of the week when you feel especially bad? If so, then look at it closely and try to figure out why. Do you do too much the day before? Was there a lot of emotional stress in the previous days? Can you adjust your week to lessen the physical fallout on the “Bad” day?
Look at your week. Is it out of control? Can you schedule your week so that it is under control?
Unlike most women, you are probably not going to want to do ALL of your out of the house errands in one day. Can you spread them out through the week? Give the responsibility to others? Let it go altogether? Think about all of these things and make your week work for you. Don’t lock yourself into a schedule and feel that you can’t change it. A woman with a chronic illness or disability has to be able to adjust and change her schedule to work for her.
One of the things I remembered from my days as a young, nursing mother, was the fatigue and anxiety over the house. Face it, there are a thousand things that women at home do every day and no one sees the result. Traci and I were talking about this just a few days ago. We realized that this is the reason why women who work outside the home often say to stay at home mothers, “What do you DO all day?”.
The BEST thing I learned while I was young and nursing those babies was how to multi-task. Not enough to stress my body, but enough to make a difference in my peace of mind and my house. So, I will be including some of those multi-tasking tips in the Homekeeping Lists in the next post. The philosophy you must adopt is “How many things can I do in this room before I leave?” And lists are great to post on the doors of each room to remind us of what can be done when we are in a brain fog.Plan your days of rest
Know that certain days of the week are your rest days. Or that certain hours of the day are your rest hours. Work a little then, lay it down and rest. When you rest, do what provides the maximum amount of rest for your body. For me it is quiet instrumental music, hot earl grey tea and a blanket, a nice view out the back picture window and peace in my household. I sit the tea where it can be made quickly and I don’t have to search for it. My blanket stays on my chair and my children know when its Mom’s rest time, they go to their rooms and read or play quietly nearby. It took a lot of training to get that last one right
You can divide your days into hours or your weeks into days, but however you do it, you need to PLAN for rest. When you are rested you will be more able to pick up where you left off and work.
Work in short time spans, whatever you can do without taxing yourself. Work a bit, then sit down to do something like read, write, make grocery lists, listen to books on tape or scripture on tape or cd. Then, after a period of rest, get back up and do some more work. If your work is spelled out for you on a list, you will have less trouble figuring out what exactly to do next.
When your home is uncluttered and organized, you will be rewarded with quick, effective work. We will work on making our lists and including rest days in the next post. © 2007 Sylvia Britton of Christian HomeKeeper: used with permission
"And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat" Mark 6:31
A women with a chronic illness must learn to pace herself and to schedule work days, rest days and to implement unscheduled rest days. She must also learn how to recognize a day where she has energy and strength and use it but not over tax her body.
In essence, she must learn to know her body. This is not as easy as you might think, some women are very slow to learn the way their bodies act and react. Lots of paying attention to the body in many different situations is the way to go about learning this.
Not everyone is going to understand.
If you don’t look sick, and you don’t sound sick, you must not be sick, right? Wrong. You can look like a million bucks and know that today you need to rest. So, others may not understand your reasoning. It is up to you to not abuse your illness by demanding rest when you can go, but by patiently explaining that when you feel thus and thus… it is time to rest.
Is there a day of the week when you feel especially bad? If so, then look at it closely and try to figure out why. Do you do too much the day before? Was there a lot of emotional stress in the previous days? Can you adjust your week to lessen the physical fallout on the “Bad” day?
Look at your week. Is it out of control? Can you schedule your week so that it is under control?
Unlike most women, you are probably not going to want to do ALL of your out of the house errands in one day. Can you spread them out through the week? Give the responsibility to others? Let it go altogether? Think about all of these things and make your week work for you. Don’t lock yourself into a schedule and feel that you can’t change it. A woman with a chronic illness or disability has to be able to adjust and change her schedule to work for her.
One of the things I remembered from my days as a young, nursing mother, was the fatigue and anxiety over the house. Face it, there are a thousand things that women at home do every day and no one sees the result. Traci and I were talking about this just a few days ago. We realized that this is the reason why women who work outside the home often say to stay at home mothers, “What do you DO all day?”.
The BEST thing I learned while I was young and nursing those babies was how to multi-task. Not enough to stress my body, but enough to make a difference in my peace of mind and my house. So, I will be including some of those multi-tasking tips in the Homekeeping Lists in the next post. The philosophy you must adopt is “How many things can I do in this room before I leave?” And lists are great to post on the doors of each room to remind us of what can be done when we are in a brain fog.Plan your days of rest
Know that certain days of the week are your rest days. Or that certain hours of the day are your rest hours. Work a little then, lay it down and rest. When you rest, do what provides the maximum amount of rest for your body. For me it is quiet instrumental music, hot earl grey tea and a blanket, a nice view out the back picture window and peace in my household. I sit the tea where it can be made quickly and I don’t have to search for it. My blanket stays on my chair and my children know when its Mom’s rest time, they go to their rooms and read or play quietly nearby. It took a lot of training to get that last one right
You can divide your days into hours or your weeks into days, but however you do it, you need to PLAN for rest. When you are rested you will be more able to pick up where you left off and work.
Work in short time spans, whatever you can do without taxing yourself. Work a bit, then sit down to do something like read, write, make grocery lists, listen to books on tape or scripture on tape or cd. Then, after a period of rest, get back up and do some more work. If your work is spelled out for you on a list, you will have less trouble figuring out what exactly to do next.
When your home is uncluttered and organized, you will be rewarded with quick, effective work. We will work on making our lists and including rest days in the next post. © 2007 Sylvia Britton of Christian HomeKeeper: used with permission
"And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat" Mark 6:31
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Thank you for visiting with me today. I love to hear from you. I may not always be able to reply right away, but I will respond to every comment you leave. Blessings and comfort, Glenys