Often when we run our online programs we get comments from people who are afraid of falling behind.
Especially those people with a chronic illness.
It depends how I’m feeling that day as to whether I can complete the task
I can’t always complete the task so I’ll have to come back to it later
I tried but couldn’t do it today, I’ll try again tomorrow
They may sound like excuses to some, but to those with a chronic illness this is reality, not procrastination.
According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine,
- “More than half of Americans live with chronic or recurrent pain.
- Leading causes of recurrent or persistent pain affecting Americans are headache pain, back pain, and neck pain.
- About four in 10 Americans say pain interferes with their mood, activities, sleep, ability to do work or enjoyment of life. Two-thirds report interference with any one of these.”
So, to our chronic pain sufferers, I want you to know… we get it. We can’t imagine how hard it must be for you, but we understand that we will hear from you when you are well.
To help you stay focused and productive when you are feeling well, we suggest the following tips.
Tips To Help You Stay Focused When You’re Not Feeling 100%
1. Checklists
Write checklists. Buy yourself a lovely journal and pen, and write down everything you need to do or remember. Then when you are feeling well, you know exactly where to start.
2. Prioritize
Rank your checklist in skill order. For example, highlight all the easy tasks in yellow, moderate tasks in green and hard tasks in orange. This will serve as a quick visual for you.
So if you are having a bad day but think you could manage an easy task, look for the yellow tasks on the list. This will help you feel less overwhelmed as you’re working your way through your checklist.
3. Forget Perfection
Perfection is not allowed. Ever! Whether you have a chronic illness or not. You can find a quick tip on short-circuiting perfectionism and procrastination here.
4. Rally The Troops
Ask for help!
When someone takes the time to ask, “can I help you with anything?” Or, “I’m going to the store, can I get you something?”. Say yes! Yes, yes, yes! This wonderful person has offered to help you, and while your pride may be injured, it would more-than-likely be in your best interest if they did help you.
Remember, you are not a burden to those who genuinely care about you and want to help.
5. Be Kind, Understanding & Patient … With Yourself
Yes, it’s frustrating. At times you’ll feel inadequate or useless. Your thoughts become negative and you want to retreat.
Be kind, understanding and patient with yourself.
Be as independent as physically possible but accept your limitations.
Your self-esteem and mental well-being are just as important as your physical self, so surround yourself with people and things that make you happy.
Anyone suffering with a chronic illness knows there are good days and bad days. Accept that today might be a bad day and remember a good day is coming!
And when you are having a good day, log in and tell us what you’ve been up to!
Added Resources
Due to the popularity of this blog, we are adding some links to resources that might help ease your daily struggle.
Australian readers: Australian Department of Human Services: Chronic Medical Condition Assistance
US readers: How To Cope When Diagnosed with Chronic Illness
UK readers: Living With A Long Term Condition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published June 2014 and has been updated to provide useful links for readers.
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!
i have numerous chronic health issues. anything you can help me wih, i’d be very appreceiative.
Know your illnesses but live your life to the fullest. Follow your doctors treatment plan including taking your prescription medications as prescribed. For people with medical implants be aware of the do’s and donts’ but do not let it stop you from living a meaning life.
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I actually split tasks up into manageable chunks, that could be the time I allocate to it before fatigue is known to set in (say 15mins), or putting objects in the next closest location to where I have to work with it next, eg. take the laundry basket with clothes in it and sit it next to the door of the laundry, or next to the washing machine, next time I’m there could be the time I take the job to its next step, and so on. I may not get the job done that day, but I’m making the job easier just by taking a small step toward it today.
I think there’s a lot of OT (occupational therapy) strategies in this way of thinking, such as when sitting at a desk working, have the printer nearby, and in fact all objects that you use regularly within arms reach. For me at the moment cleaning out my office, and doing tax, setting up 5 plastic tubs for each of the years, pick up one piece of paper and throw it into its appropriate year, I can do this from a sitting position, as long as the box of papers is in front of me and the tubs are nearby that I’m sorting them into.
Either way, each strategy is all about breaking the jobs down into manageable chunks, and for me less physical mobility used/less fatigue. Less overwhelm (from “I can’t do all of this” thinking), and consequently a greater chance of success!
I have a long list of medical problems. This is a great article. I had to put on a dust mask and goggles to clean a toilet and put a new loilet seat on it. I have a problem with odors making me nauseated. We do what we have to do in order to get the job done.
I love the idea of highlighting tasks or “to do’s” by difficulty instead of priority. Some days I don’t get anything done because I start with my #1 priority and wear myself out before I can even complete it, therefore, nothing gets completed at all, so for me this sounds like a great idea to try. I do however have a pet peeve when it comes to food, diet, healthy eating, whatever it is being called on a particular day of the week. Only a medical professional is qualified to give dietary/nutritional advice/dietary suggestions to others. Every day a new “plan” that is healthier than the next is popping up as are buzz words. The Scarsdale diet, The Atkins diet, South Beach diet, Bloodtype diet, Zone diet, Gluten allergies, Gluten sensitivities, Celiacs disease, Paleo diet, Primal diet, etc. Yes, some individuals do have allergies to gluten or sensitivities, but if you don’t, going gluten free isn’t necessarily going to help. I have discussed all of the above with my PCP, my Pain Management Dr., my Gastroenterologist, and my Physical Therapist. They have basically all said the same thing. Unless you are allergic to something, there is no reason to stop eating it. Everything in moderation is the healthiest way to go – FOR ME. Please please please check with your medical professional before jumping on any bandwagons that could potentially do more harm than good after getting advice from somebody who thinks what they are doing is the ‘correct’ thing to do.
Very timely. I would add as a tip, because i struggle with it all the time, don’t try to “catch up” on 5 days worth of organizing (or any) tasks on the 6th day when you finally feel good. Pace yourself.
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Thank you for a great post! I suffer from chronic pain. All my tasks get done on 15 minute intervals then I have to rest. I just love the organization posts.
Thank you for posting this! I don’t suffer from a chronic painful illness, but I do have Narcolepsy. The constant fatigue I feel ands my excessive sleepiness can be quite debilitating. I have good days and bad days. These are great ideas, especially the lists labeled by colors. I fall so far behind and finding a place to start can be so overwhelming. I’m going to try it out and see if it helps! Thank you again!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! There are so many factors affecting those of us living with chronic illness and pain and when someone writes about it shedding light for those who don’t, its always a good thing!. I agree with many of the comments here and use many of the strategies including checklists but never thought of actually colour coding them instead of mentally prioritizing them. Love being a member here!
Great article and comments. Thank you!!
Thank you Chris and Julie. I’m so glad the article hit a nerve. I was actually worried about the “what would she know” factor, but after to chatting to so many of our members and watching a close friend suffer, I thought I’d be brave & put it out there. I know I’ve only skimmed the surface of such a big issue, and I agree with you Julie, I think we should look into it further for our members. Thank you both for the feedback. 🙂
Thank you Chris and Julie. I’m so glad the article hit a nerve. I was actually worried about the “what would she know” factor, but after to chatting to so many of our members and watching a close friend suffer, I thought I’d be brave & put it out there. I know I’ve only skimmed the surface of such a big issue, and I agree with you Julie, I think we should look into it further for our members. Thank you both for the feedback. 🙂
Usually inflammation is associated with pain and one way to help get some relief from the chronic pain is to change your diet in order to reduce the amount of inflammation in your body. Thus resulting in less pain. By eating like our ancestors did during the Paleolithic era we can restart our bodies and heal our selves. We were hunters and gatherers far longer than anything else. If we choose to only eat foods that we can hunt or fish, pick off a tree shrub or vine, pick up off the ground and nothing from beneath the ground ie no white potatoes or carrots or root vegetables ie turnips, no processes foods ie wheat, rice, bread, pasta, no legumes ie. kidney beans, or peanuts, no processed sugar, artificial sweetners, no Splenda, or stevia . No carbonated beverages, if a Caveman didn’t eat it then you shouldn’t bc our bodies can’t process wheat gluten, potatoes or peanuts, or roots . Sweet potatoes can be eaten from a vine after the first 30 days after all the addictions to sugar and unhealthy foods subside! Make sure to read Robb Wolfe’s website on The Paleo Diet!! Oh and if you suffer from arthritis and inflammation stay away from the nightshade vegetables!!!! Ie. Eggplant, bell pepper, tomatoes!!!
this is a great article for those suffering with pain as well as illness. Pain is exhausting and this gives helpful advice to help you cope. I also find pushing myself to do some sort of exercise daily helps lift my mood and get me motivated to do more. Also something i learnt from the organising part of this site and i have used it with helping me manage my pain is to set the timer to 15 minute blocks to do as much as you can in that time. it makes it easier to get started and i re set it as many times as i can which really helps keep on top of things when i am having a worse day than usual. keeping off the computer at night also helps with the sleep and getting sleep helps cope with pain. i use some great natural remedies to help me sleep and a sleepy tea.
One last comment, I would pay any price for tips that you and other people can share about ideas for getting organized, what works for others, what they have tried and either failed or achieved. Feeling alone is part of what overwhelms chronic illness sufferers, and books targeted toward those chronically sick never mention how to feel better through being organized or what small cleaning tasks that are most likely to make a big difference on our emotional well-being. If you ever write a supplement that is geared toward chronic illness organization, I think people would come out in droves to heed the help!
Thank you so much for writing this. It is hard to find anything on websites about coping with chronic illness! And, after 11 years of suffering from chronic illness, I want to say that being organized helps me feel better; no it won’t take away the pain and suffering, but an organized home helps with coping throughout chronic illness. Thank you very much for “getting it,” that on any given minute on any given day we who have chronic illness may have all our plans thwarted and have to just go to bed no matter what time of day or what we hoped to achieve. I LOVE the idea of a task list with highlighted tasks according to difficulty! I am starting my special notebook today. There are days when a five minute task can make me feel great about my accomplishment, and there are a few days I can spend 30-45 minutes on something, but the larger tasks do take their toll since afterward we may be chronically fatigued or have other symptoms flare. I consider this trade off worth it when I have the energy to tackle a big task though, so I just plan on resting on the days I tackle something large. It helps to schedule in rest, so i do not procrastinate on days when I feel up to a big task.