Friday, August 29, 2014

Getting To Know Yourself Beyond Illness - Part 3 - Personal Interests


It’s easy to lose ourselves in our various illnesses.  So it’s important to be reminded from time to time that you are a person, not an illness.  You have a personality, interests, likes, dislikes, opinions, obligations, and responsibilities.  So every now and then I plan to provide some questions that are designed to help us get reacquainted with ourselves gradually.  (You can see part one – for the external basics and part 2 for your food preferences and abilities.)  

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Energy Economy - How to Get Organized while Chronically Ill



How to Get Organized While Ill
If you have been following this 5 part series you already know that organizing, de-cluttering, and simplifying are three different things.  And, it is actually pretty important to understand their differences.  Otherwise things just get confusing.  See this post Coping with Chronic Illness – The difference between simplifying, decluttering, and organizing.


Confessions


OK, I’m just going to say it.  This is my least favorite subject in this series.  De-cluttering, I love.  Simplifying, I love even more.  But talking about organizing just brings things to a halt for me.

And this is why:  I literally have nothing new to say.  This topic is covered SO much – it is actually overwhelming to try to think of a new way to approach this.  However, there are one or two things which it is important to know.


Definition and Benefits of Organizing


To organize means to channel our stuff into orderly lines.  It does not require getting rid of anything per-se, it just requires setting up systems to juggle everything.


Being a little more organized can help us, the chronically ill, in various ways.  It can help us find things easily, even on bad brain fog days.  It can help us keep things clean with a minimum of effort.  It can give us a feeling of peace.  And that leaves your brain open for other activities.  

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Living With Chronic Illness - The Interesting Life Plan

The Interesting Life Plan
A few years ago, let’s say seven or eight, I decided that what with one thing and another (in other words, debilitating illness) my life was not interesting enough.

Now, it’s not that I wasn’t busy.  But something was lacking.  I wanted to be engaged.  I wanted to look forward to something.  I wanted some variety and color.  I wanted a little less predictability and a little more of the unexpected.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Energy Economy - How To Declutter While Chronically Ill - Part 2


Ok.  We’ve made a plan (see here).  We’ve armed ourselves with six questions that will focus our decluttering energy so that we can achieve the desired results.  We have made a Keep vs Throw list.  And we have got some basic principles to keep us grounded (in case we were getting too heady with all this romantic tidying up talk).  
 
Now it’s time to implement the plan, use the questions, and actually do some work.  I know, I know.  This is the hard part.  But I do believe there are ways to make it easier so that even we, the chronically ill people of the world, can make a noticeable difference in this direction.

Declutter around your bed first.
Last week we discussed the first five steps.  Today we discuss the remaining 10.

Six:  Declutter the area around your bed.  Or wherever you spend the most time (couch, desk, kitchen counter, whatever).  This is a good place to start.  We are not talking about the room itself.  We are talking about the specific area you inhabit most frequently and the two (or four) areas that abut to it (i.e. the tables, floor, and other things right beside your bed).  You can often do this in a relatively short period of time, maybe even without having to vacate your spot.  (However - don't get rid of things you really need right there - like meds and books, etc... That doesn't make life easier. )

Seven:  Try clearing out one shelf or drawer.   You can even just do half of the shelf or drawer.  Sit down while you work.  Try not to exceed more than 20-30 minutes on this project.  Then try to maintain it.  Every now and then do a quick tidy up of that area (2 minutes).  Trust me, this leads to bigger things. 

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Getting To Know Yourself Beyond Illness - Part 4 - Entertainment



It’s easy to lose ourselves in our various illnesses.  So it’s important to be reminded from time to time that you are a person, not an illness.  You have a personality, interests, likes, dislikes, opinions, obligations, and responsibilities.  So every now and then I plan to provide some questions that are designed to help us get reacquainted with ourselves gradually.  (You can see part one – for the external basics and part 2 for your food preferences and abilities.)  
 
Keep in mind:
Periodically you may want to change your answers as you know yourself better or your tastes change.  That is a good thing.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Energy Economy - How To Declutter While Chronically Ill - Part 1



Energy Economy - How to Declutter While Chronically Ill - Part 1
The last Coping With Chronic Illness post was about the difference between de-cluttering, organizing, and simplifying and why the difference matters.  If you didn’t read that post you might want to.  
 
In the meantime we are going to be talking about clutter today.  To de-clutter means to get rid of excess stuff.  And for the purposes of this post we are thinking primarily of tangible stuff –things, possessions.  

So here are the first five suggestions.  You can do these even while bedridden.