What Are Spoons? So, if you’ve heard the term “Spoons” used by people who have chronic illnesses, but you don’t know what that means, you’ve come to the right place! I’d heard it before, too, but I didn’t understand what it meant until I was diagnosed with a debilitatingly painful and exhausting condition called Fibromyalgia to go along with my autoimmune disease. Chronic illness and spoons relates to the amount of energy you have. Most people, including me before my diagnoses, don’t give any thought about using energy on things like taking a shower, brushing their teeth, or even just putting socks on. But once you develop a chronic illness, all of that changes. Chronic Illness and spoons describe units of energy Chronic illness spoons was originally coined by a lady named Christine Miserandino, who suffers from Lupus, to describe to one of her friends what it’s like living with a chronic illness. She started by grabbing 12 spoons and explained that each spoon represents one unit of energy. Then, she took away one spoon for each activity that a person typically does in one day: showering, getting dressed, fixing hair, putting on makeup, standing… getting less sleep costs extra spoons as does skipping meals. Spoons’ energy can change depending on activity or time of day On some days, those same activities could cost less spoons- others, more. And when those spoons are gone, you crash. There’s no more energy left to do anything else. And the only way to regain some of that energy is to sleep. But get this- sleeping does not refresh you! I wake up tired. It’s like I can sleep for 12 hours a day and still not feel rejuvenated. Chronic Illness changes everyone, especially your energy levels Everything changes when you develop a chronic illness, so that’s why I will help you know ahead of time about how many spoons each craft will use because I get it. So hang out with me and let’s do some crafts. Even if you can only do 5 minutes at a time, each day, that’s ok! Slow and steady wins the race when you have a chronic illness. It’s definitely a marathon! And I know how important it is to keep track of your chronic illness spoons. So, what exactly do my spoon icons mean? I’ll tell you! One Spoon 1 Spoon – Minimum energy required. You can probably create this project fairly quickly without much pain. Two Spoons 2 Spoons – A little more time and energy required. You may need to pace yourself or take a couple breaks. Three Spoons 3 Spoons – Consider resting a little before beginning these projects. You may want to consider gathering most of your supplies the night before, that way you don’t have to use additional spoons the day you want to create the craft. Four Spoons 4 Spoons – This is even more time and energy intensive. Definitely consider gathering all your supplies the night before, and resting before you even get started might help. Pace yourself, and take a few breaks for as long as needed. Five Spoons 5 Spoons – This is very time and energy intensive. You’ll want to prepare for these crafts ahead of time, and you may want to space this craft out over the span of a few days to prevent additional pain or flares. When I do a craft that’s five spoons, it will often take me a few days. But that’s ok because slow and steady wins the race!
So, a little more about me. I’m a wife, a mom of two amazing little boys, and a graphic designer. I have had a truly amazing career for over 12 years- from award winning advertising agencies to billion dollar corporations. Chronic illnesses seem to make everything tougher. So what is there to do when it comes to hobbies and chronic illness? Graphic design is definitely my heart. Well, anything creative really! I just love being creative and making things. I also love animals, especially cats and dogs. We have a sweet dog named Pepper, and we lost our precious 18 year old kitty last year. It’s so hard to lose a fur baby. They are such a special part of the family. I have a few chronic illnesses including Fibromyalgia and Psoriasis. Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis and Raynaud’s Phenomenon. I’ve really been struggling with pain and fatigue. So, I get it. I understand what you’re going through. Having an autoimmune disease is life-changing. The pain with Fibro and Psoriatic Arthritis can be absolutely debilitating, and no matter how much you sleep, you never feel rested. I actually have to rest after taking a shower. So tired, all the time. The constant pain and exhaustion with chronic illness makes it hard to be able to have a hobby. It can really seem like hobbies and chronic illness just don’t go together sometimes. How can you possibly have a hobby when you feel sick and tired all the time? You either hurt too much to keep going, or you just run out of energy half way through, or many times, before even getting started! I really needed something that I could enjoy that wouldn’t make me even more tired, so I started to dip my toes back into crafting. Crafting like people who don’t have chronic illnesses is still a bit out of reach for me, though. However, I’ve learned how to compensate for the pain and exhaustion, and I want to teach you my techniques so hopefully you can craft with me! It feels so good making beautiful things, and I hope you can, too. I love to teach, and I really love to help and inspire people. I want you to know that I see you, and I can empathize with you. And I believe in you. To show you this, and to hopefully help you feel like you can do this, I’m giving you all of my design files that I use in my tutorials here for FREE. Just sign up for my newsletters and I will give you full access to my resource library, where I store all my FREE design and cut files that go with my tutorials here. You’ll be chronically crafting with me in no time! I’m no expert by any means, but if I can inspire just one person to get excited about crafting, that makes it all worth it! Let me know what you struggle with when it comes to crafting. Shoot me an email at hello@chronicallycrafting.com, and I’ll do my best to come up with a solution. Together, we can do this! Stay crafty!
What Are Spoons? So, if you’ve heard the term “Spoons” used by people who have chronic illnesses, but you don’t know what that means, you’ve come to the right place! I’d heard it before, too, but I didn’t understand what it meant until I was diagnosed with a debilitatingly painful and exhausting condition called Fibromyalgia to go along with my autoimmune disease. Chronic illness and spoons relates to the amount of energy you have. Most people, including me before my diagnoses, don’t give any thought about using energy on things like taking a shower, brushing their teeth, or even just putting socks on. But once you develop a chronic illness, all of that changes. Chronic Illness and spoons describe units of energy Chronic illness spoons was originally coined by a lady named Christine Miserandino, who suffers from Lupus, to describe to one of her friends what it’s like living with a chronic illness. She started by grabbing 12 spoons and explained that each spoon represents one unit of energy. Then, she took away one spoon for each activity that a person typically does in one day: showering, getting dressed, fixing hair, putting on makeup, standing… getting less sleep costs extra spoons as does skipping meals. Spoons’ energy can change depending on activity or time of day On some days, those same activities could cost less spoons- others, more. And when those spoons are gone, you crash. There’s no more energy left to do anything else. And the only way to regain some of that energy is to sleep. But get this- sleeping does not refresh you! I wake up tired. It’s like I can sleep for 12 hours a day and still not feel rejuvenated. Chronic Illness changes everyone, especially your energy levels Everything changes when you develop a chronic illness, so that’s why I will help you know ahead of time about how many spoons each craft will use because I get it. So hang out with me and let’s do some crafts. Even if you can only do 5 minutes at a time, each day, that’s ok! Slow and steady wins the race when you have a chronic illness. It’s definitely a marathon! And I know how important it is to keep track of your chronic illness spoons. So, what exactly do my spoon icons mean? I’ll tell you! One Spoon 1 Spoon – Minimum energy required. You can probably create this project fairly quickly without much pain. Two Spoons 2 Spoons – A little more time and energy required. You may need to pace yourself or take a couple breaks. Three Spoons 3 Spoons – Consider resting a little before beginning these projects. You may want to consider gathering most of your supplies the night before, that way you don’t have to use additional spoons the day you want to create the craft. Four Spoons 4 Spoons – This is even more time and energy intensive. Definitely consider gathering all your supplies the night before, and resting before you even get started might help. Pace yourself, and take a few breaks for as long as needed. Five Spoons 5 Spoons – This is very time and energy intensive. You’ll want to prepare for these crafts ahead of time, and you may want to space this craft out over the span of a few days to prevent additional pain or flares. When I do a craft that’s five spoons, it will often take me a few days. But that’s ok because slow and steady wins the race!