So here’s my list of things that helped me to get healthy again. If you want to add any items to the list that worked for you then get in touch and I’ll add them. The idea behind this list is that there are no wrong answers. You might find that some things are helpful and others are not, but they are all here as things to try. I was able to overcome my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because I said, ‘what the fuck,’ and allowed myself to be receptive to new idea’s. I no longer cared if they were considered appropriate, and I stopped listening to only the negative comments that were made about them. Instead I researched the topics and made a decision for myself. Hope it helps.
Why I write this blog
Before I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I had a tendency to be quite closed minded to things that fell outside my comfort zone. Idea’s or concepts that didn’t fit in with how I saw the world could either get ignored or attacked as crazy. I had this impression that I knew what I needed to know.
It's OK to be tired
Not only is it ok to be tired, but it’s also normal. That’s right, you’re supposed to get tired after you do an activity. Sure, you’re not supposed to feel like you’ve run a half marathon after emptying the dishwasher, but the activities that fill our dailies lives drain our energy well, and we recharge that well by sleeping.
Yet, when I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I spent a large part of my time trying to conserve my energy. Now that I look back on it I suspect that I spent too much time trying to conserve my energy. So much so that I would often find that when the day came to an end I hadn’t actually done anything.
Pruning
Any good gardener, which is not me, will tell you that the best way to keep a garden healthy and thriving is to prune back the plants. They say you have to remove the older growth so that the young, fresh growth has a chance to thrive.
In my fish tank, the old leaves were taking all the nutrients out of the plant in an attempt to stay healthy, and that was preventing the new growth from establishing itself. It was also unbalancing the health of the tank overall, by disrupting the water quality that everything relies upon to survive, fish and plants both.
Keep on stretching
It’s really easy to justify not moving when you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I would do it all the time. I’d tell myself that it wasn’t worth getting up because I would feel tired after and then I’d just have to lie down again, so why bother getting up in the first place? It seemed like a valid argument to me, but the problem with this mindset was that because I’d remained static for so long my muscles had contracted, because they weren’t being used, and this in turn made it harder to get up and move around, because now it hurt when I tried. My muscles were fighting against me, instead of doing what they naturally wanted to do, which was to move. I found that I’d got myself stuck in a viscous cycle where I didn’t want to move because it was too tiring, and now I couldn’t move because it was too painful, and also tiring.
So what was the solution?
Keep on smiling
I’m a pretty stubborn guy, and in most cases I have to learn something the hard way. So, it’s possible that people tried to give me the following tips early on when I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I ignored them, only to discover their benefit later on. I thought I’d split them up so that if you like what I have to say you can spend the next fortnight working on one, then the other. Remember, small steps are the key to making massive improvements in your life.
Todays post is about smiling, and the benefits it had on my health.
I have to do this.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said this in my life. I have to stay at work late this week so I can meet my deadline. I have to work harder, work faster, so that I can achieve a result that will please others. I have to do a better job than everyone else.
The phrase ‘I have to’ immediately puts pressure on myself. Even writing the words now is increasing my anxiety levels. It’s crazy how much stress it adds to my life, and it’s not just my life that it’s adding stress to.
Are you really committed to change?
I’m adding an extra blog post this month in honour of International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases, of which Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a part of. I thought I would take it as an opportunity to discuss at greater length a topic that I mentioned in my article for news.com.au today. And that’s making your life the life you want it to be.
A few months ago I was offered a job back in the visual effects industry. It was a good job for a small company that was extremely talented, and the role was exactly the type of role that I would want if I were to return to that life.