genderjumper: cartoon giraffe, chewing greens, wearing cap & bells (Default)
I endeavor to reject Western, capitalistic paradigms of time moving in one direction and instead see it as an infinitely complex coil, folded in against itself and resonating in moments obvious and obtuse. This year felt a lot like that year, this season resembles that other season, etc. It gives me a vernacular for comparison and may be a core tenet of my magical relationship with time.

Currently, November 2025 feels a lot like 2024 in my body. Not quite as bad (I think), but of a type. Like, my sleep is "ugly"; like there will be a spoon cost for sleeping in the wrong position and the right one doesn't exist. Like, I don't lose my spoons to overwhelm so much as sorting. Like, my bones ache if I do too much and writhe if I do too little -- and the range is very narrow indeed. My energy levels show little correlation with how much or how recently I've eaten, and restful activities only bale water out of a sinking ship. 

Sometimes it feels like my body has no temperature regulation; it feels like I should be hot, or cold, but my nervous system conveys neither. I have to stop myself from overexertion or suffer for it tomorrow, but I have to guess where the line is -- I don't have a sense of "yellow", like I could just keep going until I collapsed. Earlier today, I could smell the dirt on me (I event tasted it by leaving my mouth open at the wrong moment!), which felt novel because my sense of smell is both reduced and irrelevant as I spend most of my time in the same familiar environs. My head feels fuzzy yet loud, creativity flows but not production, even listening to music takes spoons.

Things got real chaotic over the past few weeks and I'm not sure this "storm" has yet passed, but I'm scrambling to remember everything I did that helped last year. It was a long, slow climb out, and I'm just stunned to be back dangling over that particular cliff.
genderjumper: cartoon giraffe, chewing greens, wearing cap & bells (Default)

Back in March, I started a 90-day course of an SSRI as a response to suspected Long COVID. Before I started it, I developed an ordinal chart for tracking my own "spoons" in categories that seemed important to me. I recorded my ranges under a variety of conditions (lows were mostly based on peak burnout last November, highs were mostly based on hypomanic cycles pre-COVID) and promptly forgot about it.

But I think that's a good thing. I am now 30+ days past the SSRI course and nearly a month out from my trip to NYC. And using this chart helps me focus on where things are significantly better, minutely better, or unchanged, so I can report that to my doctor. Here's a summary of the categories and my recent changes:

Push
How well can I accomplish a short but intensive physical activity, like loading a refrigerator on a dolly?
Shows some of the greatest improvement but not consistency. Still room to grow, but I'm no longer terrified that I couldn't respond to an emergency without a severe and immediate crash.

Endurance
How long can I be physically active without needing rest?
Moderate improvement, plenty of room for more.

Focus
How long can I focus on one project without needing rest?
Surprisingly no movement. "Follow-through requires intention" is still my high and "Minor difficulties with everyday tasks" is still my low.

Executive Function
How well can I make decisions and plan ahead?
Moderate improvement, room for more.

Emotional
How intense and manageable are my feelings?
No real change, but probably the one that least needed improvement. (So grateful for all the work I did on this as an adolescent.)

Transitions
How well do I navigate "transition time", i.e. shifting focus to a new activity, with or without warning?
Slight improvement, with lots of room to grow. (This one has been one of the greatest shocks to my way of life over the past year; I never used to have to think about transition time unless it was toward something unpleasant.)

Recovery (Waves)
If I expend a lot of energy, then rest, can I get some back -- i.e. a "second wave"?
Slight improvement, but was and remains my worst category. (What I do now is starting to look more like pacing, but I think there's a lot to learn and practice -- I don't think the doctor needs to hear it, but I should write about it more.)

Nutrition
Do I still need to eat a lot of protein every 3 hours (with snacks in-between) and what happens if I don't?
Moderate improvement from March, but a world better than last November the past 10+ years thanks to introducing a small but steady source of sugar into my diet. (This one probably warrants some backstory as well.)

Sleep
How sensitive am I to getting less than x number of hours (x varies, from less than 8 to 12; if you think that's annoying, before my 40s I could reliably function on 6 hours of sleep without consequences, and before grad school 4).
From one of my worst categories to my best and the primary reason I sometimes wonder if I'm still hypomanic (even though the timing is all wrong). I will never turn away a 10-12 hour sleep if the chance arises, but it's getting harder to fall asleep yet waking up isn't getting commensurately more difficult.

So I guess I'll be talking to the doctor about focus and transition time, as well as reporting that nutritional and sleep adjustments seem to be helping.

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