{"id":7458,"title":"ENERGY BOOST ANYONE?","description":"One of the most frustrating things about living with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis is just how much you have to micro-manage your day. Before MS, I didn\u2019t give my daily plan a second thought, hell I didn\u2019t even HAVE a plan! I just got up, decided what I wanted to do and cracked on- for example..","content":"

One of the most frustrating things about living with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis is just how much you have to micro-manage your day:\u00a0<\/p>

Before MS, I didn\u2019t give my daily plan a second thought, hell I didn\u2019t even HAVE<\/em> a plan! I just got up, decided what I wanted to do and cracked on. For example when I used to run The Deitychain, if I wanted to start with a shower then clean the house before I dived headlong into making bags\/designing new products\/marketing them and managing my website I just did it.. along with making family meals, going to the gym, doing any shopping that needed to be done and a multitude of other little things that most of us do without even thinking... And i kept on going until my eyes couldn\u2019t stay open, which was usually the early hours of the next morning! That was my average day, pretty normal right?<\/p>

But fast-forward to now, NOW I have to really think<\/em> about what I want to get done each day. Think about the things I want to achieve, and then split them into a list, prioritising the most important one first on an understanding that the rest may or may not get done depending on how much the first task drains my energy. And yes, that even includes taking a shower, which can completely wipe me out for several hours, so definitely not a great one to start with!<\/p>

\"\"It\u2019s interesting that since I became a wheelchair user, I have noticed that the majority of people no longer question my ability - to do anything<\/em> really and so don\u2019t expect anything from me, they don\u2019t expect me to have a job, or even a social life... it seems they assume I just....exist?\ud83e\udd37\ud83c\udffc\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\u00a0<\/p>

-just why IS<\/strong> walking regarded as the be-all and end-all of a person\u2019s value??<\/p>

\"\" The problem is that I also kind of fell into that ableist trap: thinking that as I can no longer walk, I can no longer \u2018do\u2019... and for a good 3 years after losing my mobility, I \u2018accepted\u2019 my redundancy and did well, nothing really.. days and weeks and months and even years (albeit only 3) of absolutely nothing.\u00a0<\/p>

Zilch.\u00a0<\/p>

Nada.<\/p>

Then one day a post came up in my \u2018memory feed\u2019 on Facebook, it was an image of one of the T-shirts I used to do at The Deitychain and it got me thinking, I could STILL do that! I could still design and sell T-shirts at least and so that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing! But this time I\u2019m doing it with a view to help others and to raise money for various charities.<\/p>

\"\"It\u2019s not been easy, trying to juggle starting a new venture, designing the products, marketing them, updating the website and fitting all that into my daily \u2018energy allowance\u2019, but it\u2019s giving me a sense of purpose, something to structure my day around.. and whilst that DOES<\/em> add extra challenges to what I can manage on a daily basis, it also adds a reason for \u2018doing<\/u>\u2019, which gives me a great reason to get up in the morning and organise those spoons i spoke about in my last post!<\/p>

\"\"




<\/p>






<\/p>






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