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Balance is Overrated: Choosing Fun Despite Knowing Vengeful Migraine Imminent
By Kerrie | March 19, 2008
I mentioned to a friend who has migraine how tempting it is to overindulge whenever I feel OK. I say I won’t but always do it anyway. Her perspective? Go ahead and push it during a good period. The migraine will return sometime whether you take it easy or not. There’s no reason to hold back.
She gave me that was brilliant advice while we were at Green Lake yesterday. We did the 2.8 mile walk after coffee and before a late lunch. Five hours flew by and we both enjoyed every minute of it. We parted knowing that each of us would spend the rest of yesterday and probably today on the couch. And neither of us cared.
I gave myself permission to enjoy feeling good, no matter what the “consequences” were. I feel horrible today, but yesterday was excellent. I’m not berating myself for choosing to enjoy my day. Knowing it was my choice somehow makes it better. Now I’m going back to the couch.
Related posts:
- Balance & Illness (and Always Overdoing Pushing Myself Over the Edge)
- A Banner Day
- Walking the Tightrope
- The Spoon Theory of Illness
- Balance? Yeah, Right
Topics: Coping |
March 19th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Sounds kinda like my approach to it. Even though I do tend to be more careful as I’m getting older…
March 20th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hi Kerrie -
That sounds like part of the “pacing yourself” that we with chronic headache are always being advised to do.
I used to think of “pacing myself” as: keeping a pace that’s slow and measured enough so as to cause as little trouble as possible with this illness.
BUT - What I have found is that, in order to keep any sense of spirit or passion in my life and my personality, “pacing” has to sometimes include, as you did, doing something fun and energetic when able, with the plan of allowing a day or two in bed to recover.
I figure, the days in bed are going to happen anyway, with this illness. I’m ALWAYS so tired and low-energy. So if there’s a day, or a moment, when I feel like “hey - I think I could LIVE a little right now, have a little FUN…”, then I HAVE to do it for my long term sanity.
I’m glad you had a good day yesterday, and that you’re giving in to the rest you need today.
-Kate
March 20th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Hi Kerrie,
Good for you for letting yourself enjoy how you were feeling yesterday and not blaming yourself today. That is what living in the moment is all about. I try to do that whenever I can. I no longer try to be “safe” on my good days because I’ve found that no matter how careful I am, I might end up feeling lousy the next day. Instead, I trust that the benefit of enjoying myself in the moment will outweigh any later consequences. Keep enjoying yourself when you can.
All the best,
Kelly
March 21st, 2008 at 9:23 am
HA, that’s one you’ve got to wash up to, “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” theory. Been there many a time. I suppose the hindsight in this one is, at least you were able to have some fun in the prodrome. this time around.
migraine, what a disease!
March 21st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Hey, it wasn’t a night of heavy smoking and drinking at a rock club! It was good healthy wholesome type fun. I agree with you, sometimes you’ve got to live and take the consequences.
March 29th, 2008 at 2:25 am
Fantastic post. Learning that others have to cope in similar ways to mine helps me to lower my daily dose of self-guilt. Thanks, Kerrie!
April 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I was searching for migraine blogs to see if anyone had had experience with ACAI and headaches. I, personally, have had no occurances since Nov 2007 when I started taking a form of ACAI. I was looking for other testimonials to share with a friend experiencing the dreaded migraines….