A big part of my Long COVID recovery consists of balancing my energy levels. And one way to do that is by meticulous planning.
A balancing act and planning
Together with my occupational therapist, I developed a basic week schedule and I’m trying hard to stick to it.
I started by listing and planning the daily things like our morning routine, bringing and fetching Vik to/from school, his sports and scouting etc.
From there I added my work hours and housekeeping things. I try to keep a bit of wiggle room each day for spur of the moment things, extra rest if I’m tired or for things that take a bit longer than expected.
Finding an energy balance between activities and rest
My way of finding balance and not overworking myself, is by taking activities like chores and doing them in 30 minute blocks at a time. This way chores don’t feel like such a huge thing to do beforehand and I can alternate each block with 30 minutes of rest in between.
Keeping some flexibility
Because Vik has his autumn holiday from school this week, my default schedule isn’t going to work. So this forces me to find some extra flexibility in my schedule.
Keeping my basic schedule on hand (mainly so I don’t forget my housekeeping…), I still take the time to plan my days. When planning, my main focus is always on balancing my energy between activities and enough rest.
Getting things done
Oddly enough, for someone who’s never been able to stick to schedules in the past, so far this seems to be working for me. I kind of like looking at my schedules and knowing what’s up next. And I actually get more done in a day than before without it costing me extra energy.
Yay me! ??
