FATIGUE – an untreatable symptom or a call for significant change in your life?

Hello, my dear readers,

Today, I wish to share my thoughts on fatigue management. So many of you deal with it as part of your neurological condition, e.g.

Stroke
MS
M.E/CFS
Long Covid
Fibromyalgia
Many other illnesses

putting massive strain on your nervous system. I feel it would be very relevant to you what I read and learnt from reading one of my books.

Laughter is the best medicine

As many of you know, Miranda Hart – a brilliant British Comedian who has been entertaining us in sitcoms such as Miranda, and of course our favourite faithful in The Traitors – wrote a book:

‘I haven’t been entirely honest with you’.

As I am very fond of her and miss her on the current comedy stage, I reached out and delved into the content of this piece.

It is a book about fatigue management with a light-hearted approach, as per Miranda’s presence. One of her strong beliefs is that laughter is the best medicine. As she is known for, nothing she presents is serious for long. She has this great gift for cracking us up, even when bringing up pretty grim topics.

Understanding and the search for recovery

She unravelled her journey through recovery from Lyme disease, which was diagnosed approximately 30 years post-exposure. She struggled with ongoing infections, viral illness and debilitating symptoms which stopped her from living her life in the best possible way.

Miranda guided the reader through a gradual deepening understanding of her body and symptoms to reclaim her control through mindfulness, pacing, and a search for play to support her recovery and rest.

Her insights and findings on proverbal treasures from her healing process are accessible and easy to incorporate into small daily actions.

Sensitivity

I found this reading very easy and light despite the difficult subjects, and so relevant to many of us, ranging from fatigue and burnout to post-COVID syndrome, as well as the author’s personal experience of recovery from Lyme disease.

Miranda mentions in her book the term ‘highly sensitive person’ ( HSP), which I resonate with.

It is someone who is very sensitive to external stimuli and easily gets overloaded, as it takes them longer to process and shift the input due to deep processing. They are highly empathetic, with a rich inner life of strong emotions and a deep appreciation for art, music, and nature.

Those traits come with strengths such as high creativity, strong intuition, deep relationships, and great attention to detail, as well as challenges like stress from busy schedules, being easily drained by social interactions, and a need for regular quiet downtime to recharge and recover.

Supporting wellness

The longer I live, the more I learn about my own needs and the actions I need to take proactively to support my wellness, energy levels, and recovery and rest after less favourable actions. It appears that life situations give us options to learn what works for us and what doesn’t. By feeling in our bodies, we can take a fresh look at actions to support our wellbeing and choose again, better next time.

What floats your boat?

Do you know what helps you recover and rest after intensive periods or meetings?

Have you made your own self-inquiries about what would help you feel better today?

Your happiness and wellbeing are YOUR obligation, and people around us will come to learn that each of us has our own time and space. It is our duty to support our health and feeling good, no matter what the day is like.

Get your uplifting tune-up – as per Miranda’s example, sing your heart out with your favourite singer (whatever it is, Michael Buble in ‘FeelingGood ‘) or another great artist to make you feel lighter and more hopeful as you face the day.