I Better Do it Now Before I Can’t

You wake up at a decent time before your alarm goes off (if you even still set one) and you sit up; no pain, not so dizzy, legs are not so tight, no nausea or you didn’t wake up feeling like you have not slept in a week. “Today is going to be agood day” you think, so better make the most of it since these days are far and few between! You get up and start thinking of all the things you want to get done, things that have needed to get done but just been backing up for weeks. Well today is the day you get caught up, you are going to get so much done! It’s almost exciting in a way, the idea of being productive for a change! Sound familiar?

You make coffee, clean the kitchen, throw a load of laundry in the wash, vacuum the house, finally sweep the patio for the first time in like a year and a few other chores and little projects you have been meaning to do but always end upnot doing because… well… MS, that’s why. So you are on a roll, today was such a productive day! You got more done in one day than you typically get done in a week! Maybe you should slow it down just a bit (you think) but what if you physically can’t do this stuff tomorrow? Better do it while you can right? Either way, you feel really good about yourself! Then you wake up the next day; you really don’t feel good. You overdid it… Sound familiar?

So many of us (people with MS) do this (or so I have gathered from talking to people) and I am so guilty of it myself. On a day that I feel good (by which I mean not as horrible) I tend to want to get as much done as possible because “what if tomorrow I lose the ability to do it? Then I will wish I had” but this starts a vicious circle; you want to get all this stuff done because you are worried that “tomorrow” you won’t be able to and then because you overdid it you pushed yourself into a flare and now you actually can’t do those things! But it’s ok, because when you are feeling better you are going to get so much done! Oh… wait… circle…