Like anyone with ME/CFS, I have a harder limit on my daily activities than most people do. Not only do I have little capacity at each moment, but exceeding an unknown threshold will result in ‘post-exertional malaise‘ (PEM: a significant worsening of my condition) a couple of days later. To describe these limits on our energy, many people with chronic diseases like to call themselves spoonies. This term refers to energy depletion through the odd metaphor of a spoon supply being used up. I think we can find a better term.
One of the problems I have with the metaphor of spoons is that I’m simply not concerned about using up actual spoons on a daily basis. In fact, I reuse spoons all the time (generally, after washing them). And the real-world penalty for running out of spoons doesn’t seem so onerous.
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