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The Motto You Should Learn If You Live With Chronic Fatigue

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Let’s talk about fatigue that comes with having a chronic illness and chronic pain.

Living with chronic pain is exhausting, mentally and physically. We have to monitor ourselves all the time. We get distracted easily and we can easily hurt ourselves by standing or sitting the wrong way. We have to think about how we want to hold our bodies when we walk, stand up, and even just sitting. We have to endlessly protect our bodies from the movements of everyday life. And that is exhausting.

Add remembering to take the right medications at the right time. Add all the doctor and specialist appointments. Add the 20 plus messages we have to answer. By the end of the day we are exhausted, and there is usually something that we have managed to forget. Just because our lives look simple to the outside world doesn’t mean it is easy for us. We live in a world where fatigue is normal. And that is exhausting.

Every morning we should recite this motto:

It’s OK to be tired.

It’s OK to be tired sometimes.

It’s OK to be tired all the time.

It’s OK if you’re in a constant battle with being tired.

It’s OK.

I want to remind you that:

You are not lazy – you’ve got an illness and/or pain that constantly exhaust you and make you feel like you just never get enough sleep.

You are not lazy – you have an illness and/or pain that makes doing everyday tasks difficult and tiring.

You are not lazy – you have an illness and/or pain that makes you tire out quickly.

You are not lazy – you have an illness and/or pain that makes you feel like you run on five percent battery life.

You are not lazy – you have an illness and/or pain, take your time doing things because having no energy makes life that much harder.

Getty Image by Good_Studio

Originally published: June 27, 2018
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