You better work b**ch

Britney gives us life's no.1 rule. (click for video)

This week, I'm channeling a blend of Britney Spears and RuPaul.

I've been hardcore binge watching RuPaul's drag race for the last few weeks, from season 2 onwards. (Why no season 1 Netflix?!)

There is so much incredible talent on that show, and people who have overcome all kinds of life challenges. (Prison, childhood abandonment, family rejection, illness and disability to name a few).

It's been a while since I did any serious exercise. Extreme cake eating is not considered a sport, and neither is marathon sleeping. However, I made a promise to my therapist that I would start up some kind of exercise routine.

It's nerve-wracking to walk into a gym for a lot of people. There's a common fear that it will be wall to wall Gods and Goddesses, wearing practically nothing as they effortlessly work out without sweating.

In my experience, people of all body types go to the gym, and very few people are paying attention to those around them. If anyone did look at me, I had decided that it was because I looked fierce and sickening, and they were jealous of my boogie (and booty). By today's pop culture standards I have a rather small bottom, but I'm very pleased with it. Work what you have!

I stepped on to that treadmill, and I started my journey back to getting into shape. And it was hard. I could only manage half the distance that I used to do, and with a lot of walking in between jogging. I sweated. I struggled to breathe. But I had some good songs playing on my iPod, and I kept going. 

And then two days later, I went back again, and it was already so much easier to talk myself into it. Tomorrow, I'll be going again.

No, it's not my favourite way to spend an hour. In all honesty, it ranks somewhere with being set on fire, and having to eat a bowl of carrots. But, if you want to be healthy, happy, and delay that hip replacement for as long as possible, you better work b**ch.

Much love.
Lisa

Spoon Theory

About two years ago, I first came across Spoons.

A Spoon is a unit of energy commonly used by people dealing with chronic illness. Below is an example of how spoons are used in day to day life. It's not an exhaustive list by any means, but it's a good starting point to figure out your own energy use.

So why am I talking about spoons today? Well, having chronic pain, physical disability, and mental illness uses a lot of spoons. So many, that other things often have to go by the wayside. As much as I love writing this blog, and hate to see how long passes between posts, I simply run out of spoons too often to manage it. So this is both an apology for lack of posts, and an explanation.

Let's say I start the day with 20 spoons. Before I get to work, 3 are gone. During the course of the working day, another 15 are gone. Now I have only 2 spoons left to cover everything I might want to do in the evening. A meal out or a trip to the cinema puts me into the minus spoons.

Every day, I am using more spoons then I have, and so by the weekend, there's a massive imbalance to correct. Having the energy to write, to see friends, to even get out of bed, can become impossible.

This is the situation faced by people world over. Struggling to get by, having to choose between doing something they would enjoy, that will wipe them out for the rest of the week, or staying home and playing it safe.

Recently I started seeing a great therapist. We talked about my lack of energy, and how I can recharge. We agreed that it's perfectly OK to put time aside just for sleep. So now every weekend, I'm putting aside a sleep day, where I make no plans at all, and allow myself the time and space to just stay in bed and recharge.

Staying in bed all day has a lot of negative annotations. It's the kind of activity that brings out negative comments. The act of sleep is seen as lazy, wasteful, even bad for your health.

Well f**k all of that. I'm going to do what's right for me. Now fluff my pillows, it's time for bed.

Lisa x