To Recognize Accomplishments

Sometimes reading through posts on social media is difficult - especially as someone who lives with chronic pain and chronic illness. 

Posts about people traveling, going back to school to further their education, accomplishing a milestone at work, training for a race, and the like are sometimes hard to read because I can't even dream of those types of things at this point. But sometimes even posts about everyday things like a dinner out or a busy day full of errand running feel discouraging because my illnesses are eating up our finances as well as my ability to accomplish more than one or two things in a day. 

It's not that I think people shouldn't post these things - I post similar when that's what's going on with me. It's not that I don't celebrate with others when they accomplish something or move toward a dream, because I do. It's the frame of mind coping with chronic pain and illness puts me in at times.

Some days it's an accomplishment for me to simply get out of bed and manage to feed myself and my children. Other days I feel I'm almost on par with others, and then I need a few days off to recover from the day of activity...even if the "day of activity" is simply a trip to Costco and Aldi in the same day. 

I often find it helpful to make a list - not a to do list, but a done list. On days I feel as if I've accomplished nothing, I realize in the making of the "done list" that I have accomplished plenty. For example, as I was eating dinner the other night - in bed because my energy is gone and my pain levels high - I sighed and thought that, besides bringing Alia to the doctor for a follow-up appointment after her ED visit for her back, I'd done next to nothing. But when I really thought about it, I realized that I did dishes; put in a load of laundry; folded a couple loads of laundry; ran a couple errands; answered emails; did class planning for homeschool co-op; updated a schedule for Tuesday Night Sunday School helpers and emailed it out; printed out documents my husband needs; made dinner (ok, put frozen homemade chili in the crockpot); supervised Alia's physical therapy; scheduled medical appointments; set up a food/pain/activity journal for Alia; and I'm sure a few other things I can't think of. That I did most of these from the comfort of by bed doesn't matter - that I accomplished things does. And I think the most important thing I accomplished was recognizing my need to balance activity and rest.

Today, I intend...
... to recognize my accomplishments in relation to my health, not in relation to the healthy.
... to be as understanding of others when they're not feeling well as I'd like them to be of me.
... to show better appreciation for those who help make my day go more smoothly.