Mindful ways in busy days

I will see your head nodding in understanding and agreement. You will have felt the same, you will have done the same. But this is fibromyalgia.... Not fibroyouralgia. So whilst sympathy, patience and understanding is greatly appreciated by anyone with this condition.... It is quite unique and has a very bizarre pathway. Epstein Barr, that's who I'm initially 'blaming'. In 1989 I got glandular fever as we Brits call it... Or mononucleosis. I was in my second year at uni studying French and PE in Chester. I was 19 or 20. I couldn't move, my lovely dad drive to Chester from Nottingham one evening and scored me up from my student accommodation and drive me home. My head was propped on the seat belt as I slumped in the seat for the couple of hours drive home. My lovely mum (the White Witch with all of her old wives tremendous and knowledge of medicine and healing) got me from not being able to climb the stairs, not even being able to tolerate an ice cube to cool my bur...

Previously as a secondary school teacher of PE and French my life would be full of routine, patterns, rhythms. The rules of language, the rhythm of sounds, the patterns and tactics in games and sports, the daily, weekly monthly, termly annual routine.  I would know exactly who would be sitting where in which room on the first week in September and the last day of term in summer. And since starting school aged 4 this had been my routine, my pattern, my structure. Someone else's timetable. For 40 years I followed that pattern more or less. Currently with working for a charity and working from home it is now me who puts my patterns and rhythms into my day. It's not easy is it? What time should you wake up? Is it OK to chat to other members of your family while 'at work', what do you do for lunch? How do you manage the umpteen video calls? But it is possible to find some really lovely moments when maybe you hear birds in your garden, when your husband pops out of his '...

Are you BRASSED off?   B -Brain fog, you can't remember the last sentence you said, what you were about to do next, how to spell simple words, why your car keys are in the fridge! R -Restlessness, you may find it difficult to pace and are boom or bust, always on the go trying to do everything but totally and utterly exhausted. Almost unable to stop, fidgety and uncomfortable.  A -Anxious. You may feel anxious with or without any reason. You might have heart flutters, breathing is shallow or you may find it difficult to switch off and relax  S -Sensory issues, you may be very sensitive to light, sound or touch. You might be left feeling exhausted by listening to the TV or family members chatting. The slightest thing might cause great pain or an accumulation of movements (eg vacuuming the floors) might result in muscle pain and joint stiffness for days after.  S -Sleep. You may get 10 hours yet wake feeling exhausted and totally unrefreshed. You may snatch and fig...