Every morning, I wake up & do a body inventory. I move from my head to my toes, and assess my pain levels. My pain is never not there, but some days, it's better than others.
After I've done my body check, I slowly get up and make my way into the living room.
After I've fully woken up, drank my protein shake, and tried to figure out what level of 'getting ready,' I'm up to. I no longer can shower, shave my legs, fix my hair & make up, and get dressed in twenty minutes, and oh how I miss those days. Instead, I shower and sit on the bed for 20-30 mins to recover from showering. Then I try to find the softest clothes I can wear, because anything scratchy causes my skin to hurt. Gone are the days of cute, trendy clothes, because cute, trendy clothes hurt. After I've gotten dressed, I have to rest again. By this point, my pain is creeping up & the fatigue that comes from pain means that I no longer have the energy to fix my hair, or even put make up on. Plus, all of the resting means that I don't actually have time to do those things, because I'm about to be late to work.
If it's a work day, I try to get to school early, so that I can park near the building, because at this point, I'm so fatigued from the pain, that there's no way that I can carry my purse and my book bag & walk across campus. And even if I am having a good day, and can handle the morning walk, by the time I'm done with work, I won't be able to walk back across campus to get to my car.
My work shift involves a balance between moving just enough that I don't get stiff and not so much that I anger my body. Such a delicate balance. By the time I'm done with work, I'm usually done for the day, but that's not possible.
From there, it's time to pick up Kali & get home, to figure out dinner and such. By this time, my pain is generally between a 6-8 on the pain scale and all I really want to do is sleep.
Thankfully, Kali does great at helping me out & will cook dinner most nights. But nothing else typically gets done, because I simply can't. Which means Jasen & the girls get the brunt of the cooking and cleaning. (If it's not a work day and I don't waste energy on showering and getting dressed, I'm more likely to accomplish chores.)
Each night, I fall into bed and do a body assessment. There's not been a single night, that my pain level hasn't been an 8 or higher, by this point in my day.
This is my new normal. Everyone with Fibro has a different normal. Some are worse than I am, and some are better. Each Fibro experience is different.
Happy Fibro awareness day! I wish I was blissfully unaware of Fibro.
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