Image via WikipediaPacing... it seems so easy when you read it and it still seems easy when you write down your good intentions. But how do you stick to these good intensions?
Pacing is incredible important for both highly sensitive people and those with chronic pain that is why I am adding this blog entry on the subject.
Without good pacing and knowning when to stop you will make the same mistakes over and over again which will lead to stress, frustration and often extra pain or lack of energy.
Let me share with you what works for me:
- Prioritise what you have to do. First between what is absolutely essential and what you would like to do. Make sure that you drop what you don't have to do and that you focus on necessary and fun. [organizing will be a topic for another entry]
- Make another chart [I do this very easily by printing a weekly chart in outlook every week] If you do this during the weekend or monday morning you can pencil in your appointments and get a view of the week. If some days seem too busy, try to switch something around, or say no to something. Having it on paper helps to keep the clutter from your mind.
- Know your body and your limits. Keep a diary of activities for a while and in this diary note daily activities and how much energy they cost you, or how much pain.
- When you know your limits don't try to stretch them too far. You can always try to play around with the limits a little but don't go from a 16 hour work week to 30 in one go. Gently does it.
- Take outside influence into account. If damp weather affects your pain, take into acccount that you will be able to get less done on those days. If you are highly sensitive and have to be in a crowded room for a few hours, chances are that will affect you as well. Be smart and use this knowledge instead of fighting against it.
- Take breaks to do meditation or breathing excersises during a long day. Select something that suits you. For me short grounding excersises work best. They only take up to 5 minutes and make a huge difference. If I need a longer break guided meditation works for me as well.
- If you lose track of time easily, use a timer. With my RSI, the first couple of years I could hardly type. And since I did not get punished with pain on the spot but a day later, I used a timer to make sure I stayed within my boundaries. Select one that makes enough noise to be really irritating. :)
- Reward yourself for a job done well, but don't get angry if the pacing fails. Nobody is perfect and it might take some tries to find the right rythm for you. Stay positive and look at everything that went right!
Image by msmail via FlickrI would love to hear from you what works for you to pace yourself and make sure that you don't work too hard.
This is also the first blog on which I used a nifty tool called Zemanta that pickes out media, related articles and in-text links for you to add in your blog without having to search for it.
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