Everyone tells you to do it tired, and yet, no one tells you how. The older I get the more I’ve learned the hard way that a “good night’s sleep” is more of a life or death necessity than a preference. But even when life is life-ing and my neurons can’t manage to keep up, I’m expected to run a household (yep, a household of one still counts), keep myself alive, and deal with various surprises from the universe that urgently need my attention, like getting rid of cavities or the fiftyleven events to plan when your BFF gets married. Cool, cool, cool. This is where the spoon theory comes in, and as a frequently tired yet to-do-list obsessed girlie pop, I had to learn more. What is the spoon theory? Let me explain (using about half a spoon).
@emmaleendryer♬ original sound – Emmaline 🍉
What is the spoon theory?
The Spoon Theory is a visual metaphor designed to help people with chronic pain, disabilities, and other health challenges that impact their energy “express how health issues impact their ability to complete everyday tasks and activities,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. People with “mental health conditions” like “anxiety, depression,” or anything that has your brain working overtime to keep you afloat, are considered “Spoonies” too, according to the Cleveland Clinic, not just those with the “physical ailments.”
When you are chronically exhausted, for whatever reason, it can be exhausting to get through the to-do list looming over all of our heads, so a genius by the name of Christine Miserandino wrote a story where spoons represented the units of physical and mental energy it took her to complete a task with Lupus. Low-key daily activities, “like showering or getting dressed,” might require one spoon, “while larger tasks, like cooking or vacuuming, may take three or four spoons.”
The system also accounts for the fact that some days are harder than others, so spoon usage can change for the same task from one day or week to the next.
How can you use the spoon theory?
Just having this lingo to explain how they’re feeling to people who don’t experience the same challenges is life-changing stuff, according to Psychology Today. TBH, visualizing bandwidth like this is a helpful tool for anyone trying to balance life’s circus nowadays.
Health experts at Psychology Today, The Cleveland Clinic, and Healthline acknowledge that Spoonies help themselves by keeping in mind that they have a limited number of spoons per day. “For those with limited spoons, the theory is a crucial reminder to slow down and listen to their bodies,” PT shares.
When you use more spoons (AKA push yourself to try to complete everything when your body won’t allow it), you may land in a spoon deficit in the future, setting you further back than intended.
So, for all the Spoonies out there, it’s all about planning out your spoons and pacing your to-do list, instead of trying to get everything done at once, even if it’s “difficult and disheartening to realize that you need to pace yourself,” when productivity might seem effortless for other people.
