Practicing Self-Care with a Spoonie Progress Report

Via The Good Vibe on Bloglovin'

At the end of every month, I have to compile a progress report for my job. It's a little tedious, but oddly rewarding.

To complete the report, I go through my worklogs and note every project I worked on for the last 30-ish days. It's arranged so that my boss and my boss's boss can see what a badass I am at a glance. But you know what? It also helps me see what a badass I am.

As a Spoonie, I need to take note of the things I accomplish on any given day. It's so easy (but so futile) to obsess over all of the things I can't do or can't do as well as I used to since my fibromyalgia diagnosis.

For the record, that includes putting a sticker on my Chart of Life™ any time I:

• Take a shower
• Make a meal
• Put on real pants
• Fold a basket of laundry
• Change the sheets on my bed
• Leave the house
• Put an entry in my food diary
• Make time to soak up some sun

You get the idea.

I'm lucky to have a full-time job with benefits, but there have been too many days in the past couple of years where I've been riddled with anxiety, fretting that I would lose my position due to chronic illness.

If I don't work, there is no money to pay the mortgage or get groceries. And being sick all the time is catastrophic enough.

But I'm not going to worry about those things today. I'm going to take another glance at my progress report for work and give myself a hellzyeah! (or two) for a job well done, despite life's mentally and physically crippling challenges.

Even if you don't work, I encourage you to keep track of all the little but important things you do. For a few minutes a day, you can shift your focus. That's empowering.

So grab a journal or open a new draft in your blog and start your Spoonie Progress Report for May!