Spoon Theory -- The Pots Whisperer

You might have heard about the spoon

theory in the chronic illness community,

but don't really know what it is. So,

I'm going to explain it to you.

Everybody wakes up with a different

amount of spoons each morning, depending

on your health. These spoons represent

all of your energy that you have to get

through the day. And each task you

complete is going to cost one spoon. A

healthy person wakes up with more spoons

than a person who is chronically ill,

for example. So this person is a healthy

person and they have six spoons to start

their day. So for example, waking up in

the morning and getting dressed is going

to cost a spoon. Going to work for the

day is going to cost another spoon.

Grocery shopping and running errands is

going to take another spoon. going home,

cooking supper, and doing laundry is

going to cost another spoon. Well, this

person has completed their day and

they still have two spoons left. So,

with these two spoons, this person

decides to meet up with a friend and

have drinks and save the other spoon for

a little extra rest for the next day.

This person had plenty of spoons to get

through their day. Me, for example, or

someone who is chronically ill, only

started the day off with three spoons.

And my spoons are even smaller than the

healthy person's spoons.

Totally not fair.

Just saying. So, since I only have three

small spoons to get me through this

whole day, I have to use them wisely. I

have to use my three spoons for the most

important things in my life. So, getting

up, getting dressed, and bringing my

kids to school in the morning, it's

going to cost me a spoon.

Running errands, and doing housework

is going to cost me a spoon.

I have one spoon left. My daughter has

softball practice, so I'm going to have

to use my last spoon to bring her to

softball practice. But, I need to cook

supper. and I don't have any spoons

left. So, we can either eat takeout

again or cereal and milk or

I can borrow a spoon from the next day.

That way, I'll have a little bit of

energy to cook supper for my family. But

if I borrow this spoon from the next

day, that means when I wake up the next

morning, I'm going to be that much more

tired. I'm gonna be exhausted because

now

I only have two spoons to get me through

the whole entire day. So that's what the

spoon theory is all about. Healthy

people have more than enough spoons than

they need and have enough spoons to do

the extra things like hanging out with

friends or enjoying their hobbies. While

people who are chronically ill only have

a set number of spoons and most of the

time it's not enough spoons to even get

through and do the important things in

their day. So we don't have extra spoons

a lot of times to hang out with friends

or enjoy hobbies. So this was just

developed as a way to explain how people

who are chronically ill live their daily

lives on an energy budget. So when we

say we can't do something, it's not that

we don't want to. We just don't have the

energy. We physically don't have

anything else left to give.