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How Do you Figure Out How Much You Can Do In A Day?

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Freddyt

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So I see a pattern in my behaviour that I need to come to grips with.

I go out. Do stuff. Do too much and whether I react well or not so well I overdo it for the day.
If I get reactive its already too late and things are already wrong. I know I am withdrawing and my world shrinks and I catasrophize the situation, and it's just bad. Autopilot kicks in and I just need to get home. It will be rough the next few days.
If I don't get reactive I go sailing along happily until about 3 am when I realize I'm probably not getting much sleep that night and I overdid it. Again a few days getting settled back down.

When I lost my eye I just wanted to do everything everyone else did, play all the sports, be like everyone else. Now that attitude is wreaking havok as I go charging in when I probably shouldn't.

So how do you know when enough is enough on any given day?
 
I try to use spoon theory. I don't always wake up with the same number of spoons. Also, I find it extremely difficult to be aware of my body and emotional awareness. It takes great effort. So far, it's been trial and error for me.
 
I've been trying to figure out this one for years. I always have more to do than I have time. I often overdue and crash at dinner time. I keep telling myself to complete whatever task I'm working on before I rest. I also do distasteful tasks first. My son will remind me I'm supposed to be resting but it doesn't work, lol. If you come up with something I would love to know.
 
i pretty much just do stuff until i can't. there's nothing else to it. because there's always a wall of some kind in front of me. that i have to just bash through. in order to accomplish basic tasks. either it's pain or meds or my kid needs something or great. this is what i'm f*cking looking at for the next six hours. or my brain is screaming at me because someone cut me off at walmart. 🤷‍♂️
 
Trial and error.

Eventually I kinda sorta get both the feel for it, and what works to mitigate.
Mostly error at the moment. Doesn't matter what I do, life is dynamic and its the unexpected that really gets me.

Its mitigating I have trouble getting to because as I said, by the time I realize I'm in trouble I'm usually in "get home" mode.
 
I struggle very highly with this. The moment I resolve to do something, I do something else. I tried schedules and tasks but I can't anticipated if I'm going to have a good tunnel vision through it or if I'm going to have trouble moving, or something will happen and will drain me out all at once. It's very tiring and irritating not to have this kind of semi certitude about my own stability. If I get in total panic mode which can happen quite easily, all of a sudden everything is done and I find myself exhausted at 4am and I didn't even understand what happened. Or I just keep the fear and boredom and stare away paralysed in dissociation all lights are there but nobody's home. I'd just like to be able to do things normally.

A sign that I should stop is pain, but weirdly enough it's when I don't feel pain that I want to stop. Cuz I'm just too happy I'm not aching somewhere. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Another one is when I'm starting to make mistakes. In my field that can happen pretty quickly because things are technically complicated, physically draining, and messy. Welcome to manual printmaking. There are many boring moments with a few moments of high stress because it's irreversible. Basically the slowest you go the fastest you go... So it's either when I'm trying to rush through something that I know I'm getting way too stressed or if I'm stalling looking at stuff in a blank that I know I should stop, or at least have a break. Then I have zillions of breaks. Ugh. I'm feeling bad just writing this.
 
I was actually thinking about this subject today as I surveyed the weed growth, shaggy dog in 97 degree heat, ect. ad nauseam. And guess what?😁 I knew I would get to ’everything’ as soon as my body allowed. Some things were done and some things still aren’t as of yet.

But my internal dialogue has changed concerning tasking. I allow myself a pace that includes resting, having fun, socializing a little bit and getting really excited about what I do accomplish. I seem to feel happier when I look at myself as a human being, instead of a human doer.

For years, I busted goal sets while living on 4-5 hours sleep. When I look back on all my supposed “accomplishments “ while killing my body- I just shake my head at the absurdity of how busy I thought I had to be. Translation -how many goals I had to reach in order not to waste time. Well, I missed actually living in my skin or just being. I missed out on fun and a lot of joy. So what really matters the most to you?

So my advice… is do what you can do and be kind to yourself as you learn the amount of tasking that is best for holistic balance. Enjoy your life as much as you can as you learn the new you. Btw…thanks for this thread🙌
 
How about writing down what you usually do everyday in a week and then looking at it to try and shift things around so it's more balanced?
Even being careful with how much I do and all that its the stuff beyond my control that usually does me in, in some way. Limiting activity is something I have worked on with "one thing a day". Just like it sounds, plan one thing outside the house per day.

I guess on more reflection its the everyday unexpected things that happen are a big part of this. That seems as much as anything to be a huge piece of the puzzle that has too may variables to calculate. There are so many tripping places where its so easy to slide back to what was normal for 45 years. Then - trouble.

I guess for lack of a better term I need to learn to do habitual pauses to access myself, instrument checks if you will. Sort of like Neil Armstrong, that habitual regular checking the instruments to know where I'm at. I was just watching First Flights on Prime, when Neil was in the cockpit you could sit and count one, two, three, between his instrument checks in all those scenes. Be like that checking so I catch myself better and sooner.
But my internal dialogue has changed concerning tasking. I allow myself a pace that includes resting, having fun, socializing a little bit and getting really excited about what I do accomplish. I seem to feel happier when I look at myself as a human being, instead of a human doer.
I think that's a wonderful positive frame of reference @Recovery4Me. "What I did" sounds and feels a lot better than "I need to do" and there's a sense of accomplishment instead of the opposite......👍
 
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