Struggling with Chronic Pain and Daily Tasks

Absolutely. With my chronic pain being in my jaws, face and neck; I tend to struggle with eating, talking and brushing my teeth. There are times my neck hurts so bad that I struggle to brush my hair and style it. Forget about trying to wash it. Here recently, I tried to do some yard work thinking I would be fine and it hurt me so bad.

Yep! I feel like that’s a perfect explanation of the spoon theory! I think it’s important to celebrate what you are able to do. Getting out of bed is hard, and I’m proud of you for being able to do it! Able to take a shower? That’s amazing! And if you somehow feel okay enough to do the dishes, that’s worth a celebration. Things are hard! Celebrate the “small” stuff because for us, it’s actually huge.

Been there. Yes. Chronic pain is such a difficult thing to live with! Difficult doesn’t even cover it. Have you heard of the Spoon Theory? I would search it on google and take a look. You may like it. The most important thing is self care. If you aren’t ok, nothing else is going to get done or function. Only do what you can for as long as you can and that needs to be ok. If you don’t, you will get into this cycle of pushing too hard, paying for it the next day, not doing a lot and feeling like a failure because you pushed too hard the day before so you can’t do a lot today, so then the next day when you feel better you push hard, then the next day you pay for it again, and on and on. I hope that makes sense. Try to think of the future and do only what you can when you can (if that’s possible).

All the time. I force myself and reward myself for any small accomplishments. Laundry started, I become blanket burrito for an hour. Dinner cooked, I play a game I enjoy. Sometimes I gotta be content with just getting out of bed. Reward is coffee lol.

Yes it does.