Being Tired

After a long break, the show is back up and running (well, sitting!) - a welcome to new listeners, and some brief intro advice to people who may have sought out the podcast because of Long Covid. 

Tap into the wisdom of the ME/CFS community in regards to Exercise: contentiously, perhaps counter intuitively, not recommended. Try restorative rest, and pacing instead - so as not to exacerbate or develop ME/CFS, as it's an established origin story for many ME/CFS sufferers who pushed themselves after a viral illness. 

Helpful ME/CFS information can be found here:
www.actionforme.org.uk 
@actionforme on Twitter
@mecfsnews on Twitter
www.meassociation.org.uk
Twitter tags: #millionsmissing #pwME #MECFS 

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Follow the podcast on Instagram @beingtiredpod
Produced by The Pod Farm
Music by Oliver Blake
Artwork by Gem Davis

After a long break, the show is back up and running (well, sitting!) - a welcome to new listeners, and some brief intro advice to people who may have sought out the podcast because of Long Covid. 

Tap into the wisdom of the ME/CFS community in regards to Exercise: contentiously, perhaps counter intuitively, not recommended. Try restorative rest, and pacing instead - so as not to exacerbate or develop ME/CFS, as it's an established origin story for many ME/CFS sufferers who pushed themselves after a viral illness. 

Helpful ME/CFS information can be found here:
www.actionforme.org.uk 
@actionforme on Twitter
@mecfsnews on Twitter
www.meassociation.org.uk
Twitter tags: #millionsmissing #pwME #MECFS 

---
Follow the podcast on Instagram @beingtiredpod
Produced by The Pod Farm
Music by Oliver Blake
Artwork by Gem Davis

We cannot think our conditions away - we cannot 'positive vibes' or yoga or meditate them away - they are not figments of our imagination, or lifestyle failings. 

This week I talk about acceptance - many of the tips I share in this podcast are for self care / managing mental health / adjustments we can make in lifestyle or mindset etc. This is to support and ease our experience of chronic illness, NOT as a cure, or based on a belief that the origins of the illness are in the mind/lifestyle failings. 

It's important to take care of ourselves in lots of different ways - managing a chronic illness is challenging, and a strain on our mental, emotional and physical health - on TOP of the 'base' symptoms of our conditions. But I want to take today to also pause and remind ourselves that in our quest for easing/managing our fatigue, we can often get caught up and send backhanded messages to ourselves that we aren't good enough as we are.
Some days we need to consciously take the decision to accept how we feel, instead of constantly fight it / tweak it / change it, at the detriment of our actual experience of life. 

We can be sleepy zombie babes, and still do stuff (within reason/not pushing ourselves) - we don't have to wait for "good days" to be whole people.

Also featuring a poem from @rubyetc and a Tweet from @Wheelsofsteer and a call-out for next week's episode: Dating, with a chronic condition.


Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on social media @beingtiredpod ~~

We cannot think our conditions away - we cannot 'positive vibes' or yoga or meditate them away - they are not figments of our imagination, or lifestyle failings. 

This week I talk about acceptance - many of the tips I share in this podcast are for self care / managing mental health / adjustments we can make in lifestyle or mindset etc. This is to support and ease our experience of chronic illness, NOT as a cure, or based on a belief that the origins of the illness are in the mind/lifestyle failings. 

It's important to take care of ourselves in lots of different ways - managing a chronic illness is challenging, and a strain on our mental, emotional and physical health - on TOP of the 'base' symptoms of our conditions. But I want to take today to also pause and remind ourselves that in our quest for easing/managing our fatigue, we can often get caught up and send backhanded messages to ourselves that we aren't good enough as we are.
Some days we need to consciously take the decision to accept how we feel, instead of constantly fight it / tweak it / change it, at the detriment of our actual experience of life. 

We can be sleepy zombie babes, and still do stuff (within reason/not pushing ourselves) - we don't have to wait for "good days" to be whole people.

Also featuring a poem from @rubyetc and a Tweet from @Wheelsofsteer and a call-out for next week's episode: Dating, with a chronic condition.


Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on social media @beingtiredpod ~~

Our society places a lot of pressure on "achievements" in a very limiting way, and the value placed in a limited definition of "productivity" can be alienating and emotionally destructive for those of us with chronic conditions who cannot perform tasks in this way. We need to re-learn how we view "productivity", place the focus on how we *spend our time* whether or not a task gets done. 

In this episode I discuss my own struggles with this "Productivity Myth" this week as I try and 'kondo' my clothes and it takes so much longer than I anticipate, as we can do when we forget to adjust to our limitations, and be kind to ourselves in our thinking. 

Also continuing on my quest for media representation of chronic illness - talking about Dr House on a skateboard, the wonderful Jameela Jamil, and Stacey (Mallory?!) from the Babysitter's Club. Also She-ra again because...it's sublime and I heart it. #TeamCatradora

Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on social media @beingtiredpod ~~

Our society places a lot of pressure on "achievements" in a very limiting way, and the value placed in a limited definition of "productivity" can be alienating and emotionally destructive for those of us with chronic conditions who cannot perform tasks in this way. We need to re-learn how we view "productivity", place the focus on how we *spend our time* whether or not a task gets done. 

In this episode I discuss my own struggles with this "Productivity Myth" this week as I try and 'kondo' my clothes and it takes so much longer than I anticipate, as we can do when we forget to adjust to our limitations, and be kind to ourselves in our thinking. 

Also continuing on my quest for media representation of chronic illness - talking about Dr House on a skateboard, the wonderful Jameela Jamil, and Stacey (Mallory?!) from the Babysitter's Club. Also She-ra again because...it's sublime and I heart it. #TeamCatradora

Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on social media @beingtiredpod ~~

This week I give you an exercise - daily gratitude lists. I explain what they are, why they are invaluable and transformative, and how to do them - following Gillian Anderson & Jennifer Nadel's format taken from their book "We: A Manifesto". This exercise is extremely useful for my fatigue management, because of its' cumulative effect on mental health, it can pull you through on bad days. Fatigue is not only 'pure fatigue', but the things that pile on top of it and affect your overall experience - depression, anxiety, stress etc. Self care of this kind is a useful tool for managing your experience of fatigue on both good and bad days, a holistic approach to both physical and mental health.

Let go of any pre-conceived notions of "hippy dippy nonsense" and do the work to support the complex experience of your health, and life.

Also: how amazing is Gillian Anderson in Sex Education?? *heart eyes*

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Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on Instagram @beingtiredpod ~~

This week I give you an exercise - daily gratitude lists. I explain what they are, why they are invaluable and transformative, and how to do them - following Gillian Anderson & Jennifer Nadel's format taken from their book "We: A Manifesto". This exercise is extremely useful for my fatigue management, because of its' cumulative effect on mental health, it can pull you through on bad days. Fatigue is not only 'pure fatigue', but the things that pile on top of it and affect your overall experience - depression, anxiety, stress etc. Self care of this kind is a useful tool for managing your experience of fatigue on both good and bad days, a holistic approach to both physical and mental health.

Let go of any pre-conceived notions of "hippy dippy nonsense" and do the work to support the complex experience of your health, and life.

Also: how amazing is Gillian Anderson in Sex Education?? *heart eyes*

---
Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on Instagram @beingtiredpod ~~

In this episode, I explain The Spoon Theory, and why you may hear some people refer to themselves as 'spoonies' in the chronic illness/disability community. How the adorable analogy works, where it originated, and how it is used - as well as why I don't use it, in favour of my own analogy about phone battery! 

I also call for any examples of representation in the media in terms of characters with chronic fatigue, citing the new series of She-ra as an example of excellent representation (even though it turns out they didn't do what I thought they did with the character *facepalm*) 

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Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on social media @beingtiredpod ~~

In this episode, I explain The Spoon Theory, and why you may hear some people refer to themselves as 'spoonies' in the chronic illness/disability community. How the adorable analogy works, where it originated, and how it is used - as well as why I don't use it, in favour of my own analogy about phone battery! 

I also call for any examples of representation in the media in terms of characters with chronic fatigue, citing the new series of She-ra as an example of excellent representation (even though it turns out they didn't do what I thought they did with the character *facepalm*) 

---
Artwork by Gem Davis | Music by Oliver Blake | Edited by The Pod Farm
~~ Follow the podcast on social media @beingtiredpod ~~