Managing Energy Levels-My Version of the Spoon Theory

I've purchased a dress, shown below. As I mentioned on FB, the picture is not the best. The dress obviously needs shoes (a teeny bit long) good jewelry and a matching and real uplifting bra (sorry guys). I'm not sure it's my final dress, but so many were just at the knee or below and I wanted longer. And the lace jacket mother of the bride type thing on wedding sites is so very not my style. This is actually not my style either and I waver as to whether it is  too much a Little House on the Prairie type thing. But I have a dress, it's blush and yes, it will work!! I hope.

Lately I've been having some energy and tiredness issues.  I'm finding myself out of energy before dinner and sometimes earlier. My blood work is fine. I'm sleeping seven to eight hours even with my restless sleep. But I am still having to manage energy as well as pain all of a sudden, even though I am "healthy".

Some of this tiredness is caused by pain. I don't have fibro and would not claim to know whet that kind of pain is. I do often have muscle pain that I imagine might be what fibro is if it was not so intense and in the muscles instead of the nerves. They don't hurt when I sit silently too often, but boy can they hurt as I move around, let me tell you. I developed this late in life, and it's not a result of lupus, nor is it in my mind. It could be simple aging. It could be side effects of the statins I've just had to go on in the last couple of years (in spite of my weight I avoided both blood pressure meds and statins until fairly late in life). Either way I am in this place.

In order to stave off  the medical advice type of comments, I need to say here that I  have had a physical. My thyroid levels are where they should be. I do take vitamins and supplements for energy. I eat protein at virtually every meal. I should lose more weight, obviously, but my concentration right now is on strength and endurance. As far as I know my blood sugar is where it should be.

Also I feel that this is beyond normal aging.

I also have recently increased my physical activity in that I am, on most days, doing  a mile and three quarters on a modified cross trainer, and yes, I know that increased activity can wear you out. But that, and my weights are a necessity of life.

The problem, as we all know,  is that I like to "do". Not nearly as much as I used to, but I am unwilling to not go out, socialize, craft, travel, or whatever. I am however at the point where I am willing to accept moderate limitations on many of those. And trust me, you have no idea how much I hate, hate hate, saying that. I am also VERY bad at limiting myself. I tend to live a feast or famine kind of existence if you will. But these things are requirements of life in my world.

Even knitting on the patio while watching the dogs uses up energy these days. Ask me how I know!

So for now, my solutions are two. In the short term I want to commit to my daily hour of exercise, a half an hour to an hour housework time (including dinner prep), my morning and evening routines and one project or outing or social thing a day. Obviously I will do more than this on many days. For now this is just me getting to my lowest level.

And because I am bad at self regulation I am also creating my own version of the spoon theory for the long term. Again, because I tend to over do it in terms of both pain an energy some days and end of crawling the next. For my chronically ill friends, I hesitated to appropriate this one-but I have chronic pain, severe arthritis and other issues that I am afraid put me in the pot of folks who need to think about this. I need to learn some long term self regulation.

For now, I'm starting with 20 spoons, and will adjust it as I go, until I get what is for me on an even keel. I'm sure I will still have uneven days and days when I pay for those afterward. And while those spoons include some daily things, how on earth will I figure out how many spoons I use when driving cross country alone, mainly on cruise control, to see my family.

We learn as we go!