So What Is A Spoonie?
“Is this woman making similarities between living with a chronic illness and hosting a fucking tea party?”
Daniel Lee
So yesterday when a good friend (and fellow Crohns patient) asked me this in his oh so Daniel Lee way, I realised not everyone will realise what a ‘spoonie’ is. Not even fellow spoonies it appears!
Christine Miserandino came up with the spoon theory when trying to explain to her friend what living with a chronic illness felt like. She grabbed a bunch of spoons and handed them to her friend, asking her to count them up. She explained a healthy person wakes with an unlimited supply of spoons and energy to face the day ahead. A person with an illness or disability will only have a certain number of spoons to face the day with.
Asking her friend about what she did to get ready for work, she reeled off her routine of getting up, showering, breakfast, dressing etc. All the while Christine was pinching her spoons to represent the energy being used up for each of these tasks. Her friend begun to understand what Christine was trying to demonstrate when she hadn’t even left for work but had only 6 spoons left to last the day.
‘Spoonies’ days are meticulously planned based on what NEEDS doing – a hospital appointment or getting the children to school for example. Then everything else will have to fit in around that. There may be no spoons left to eat a meal or shower that day. You could borrow some spoons from the next day but then have to be prepared for that day to be even harder.
This is how we live our lives. It is hard and takes careful organisation. We don’t have the option to be frivolous and waste our spoons, we have to account for them all carefully. Unexpected things can interrupt your planned routine – the weather can affect your joints and leave you with less spoons for the day. You might have a bag leak and need to reallocate your spoons to accommodate a bag change, an unexpected shower and redressing. A bad night’s sleep will lower the amount of spoons you have for the day ahead.
This theory goes some way to trying to explain to a healthy person how the chronically ill live each day with their disabilities and I hope it has been helpful to you! To read the full story of the spoon theory feel free to check out:
https://butyoudontlooksick.com/…/written-…/the-spoon-theory/
The Spoonie Mummy 
Really interesting read – something I hadn’t heard of before
LikeLike
Thankyou! Thought I had better explain my name when I started up as many people haven’t heard the term ‘spoonie’ before! Xx
LikeLike
Wow you have found a way to explain me? Us! Great read thank you 🎃
LikeLike
Thankyou! Glad it helped xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
It must be tough but it’s good that you’re organised to help you get sorted. I imagine it’s probably frustrating when people don’t understand either. Thank you so much for linking up with #oldschoolposts
LikeLike
Thanks for having me! It is hard but I love being a mummy and it keeps me going! Xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s really interesting I’d seen your blog name before but never realised. It’s a great analogy too
LikeLike
Thankyou, now you know what it means! I think it’s a great way of helping people understand a difficult part of chronic illness xx
LikeLike
What an interesting way of explaining living with a chronic illness and makes real sense #honeybeelinky
LikeLike
Clever isn’t it! I remember feeling so relieved when I read this as I finally had a simpler way of explaining this to people! Xx
LikeLike
Ahhh! I’ve heard of the spoon analogy before but I never put two and two together with your blog name! Now it all makes sense! I have a friend with EDS who explained to me about her daily spoon allowance. And, although he hasn’t heard of it, my OH has only a certain amount of spoons as he is chronically ill with a heart condition, so I totally get the concept. Thank you for linking with the #HoneybeeLinky lovely! Hope to have you back for the next one! Xxx
LikeLike
Ha ha, I’m not just some wierdo obsessed with spoons! Thankyou for hosting again and I sure will be xx
LikeLike
I blame it all on Alanis Morrisette and her lyrics in Ironic…”It’s like having 10, 000 spoons, when all you need is a knife” she’s got all the spoons!! Seriously though, I’m a spoonie too and I try so hard to spread them through the day but often use them up to early. It’s a complete nightmare x
LikeLike
Ha ha I love that song and never thought of that! Damn woman! It’s true, it is often worse trying to save them up as by the mid afternoon you are still already exhausted! xx
LikeLike
And there it is… I am a spoonie too! Who knew? Chronic nerve pain. Oy… M’wah to you and may you have an abundance of spoons! ❤ #blogcrush xoxo
LikeLike
Thankyou so much! Sending some spoons your way too xxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
😘
LikeLike
Oh I always wondered what this phrase meant. And apparently, I used to be a spoonie – I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrom (M.E.) for 6 years. It really is horrible to live with a chronic illness and you’re always so scared of using up your spoons on the wrong things or not having enough spoons to do the vital tasks for that day. Thank you for sharing this explanation – it makes so much sense! #blogcrush
LikeLike
Thankyou. I hope you are doing much better now. It’s definitely tough but after living with it since I was a baby I’ve worked out little ways of dealing with it and it’s pretty much become ‘normal’ now! Frustrating more than anything I think xx
LikeLike
Pingback: Top 10 Blog Posts 2017 – The Spoonie Mummy
Well when you put it like that it makes sense! I didn’t even know that this was a thing. For the record, I think you are pretty strong and your attitude is very inspiring.
LikeLike
Thankyou so much. It can be hard and I do have my emotional days but on the whole try to stay pretty positive x
LikeLike
Reblogged this on The Spoonie Mummy and commented:
I have had lots more fantastic followers of late, and many still don’t know what a spoonie is so I thought I would re-blog this post from way back in the early days of the blog to explain
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing, they always say you never know what other people are coping wit so be kind to everyone, abd I think this demonstrates that principle really well
LikeLike
Thankyou and yes! Just always be kind I think is the key. Have a fab weekend x
LikeLike
Very good article. I am going through many of these issues as well..
LikeLike
Hey there 🙂
Your wordpress site is very sleek – hope you don’t mind me asking what
theme you’re using? (and don’t mind if I steal it?
:P)
I just launched my site –also built in wordpress like yours– but the theme slows
(!) the site down quite a bit.
In case you have a minute, you can find it by searching for “royal cbd” on Google (would appreciate any feedback) – it’s still in the works.
Keep up the good work– and hope you all take care of yourself during the coronavirus
scare!
LikeLike
I use Tortuga, thanks
LikeLike
Yay google is my queen aided me to find this outstanding web site!
LikeLike