Energy Smarts

I had my monthly Larry appointment today.  At my April appointment, Larry graded my Apollo 13 homework assignment he had given me after I spent my March appointment with him in serious meltdown mode tears about life in general.  After I received my A++, Larry gave me another assignment, which was due today.  My assignment was to show some kind of scale that represented things I COULD do on a 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% energy day. 

This assignment was meant to help me reframe my thoughts.  So instead of getting upset and saying something like, "Oh my goodness, it's a 25% energy day and I can't dust the house," I could instead look at it as, "It may be a 25% energy day but I CAN do a load of laundry, some floor exercises, and post on my blog." 

Thankfully, Larry is always there to help me refocus my energy into positive energy, which just so happens to be the premise of this whole exercise.  

For the assignment, I decided I wanted to do an energy meter to represent my energy levels throughout a given day.  As I showed it to him, I explained that the energy levels and fatigue I experience often fluctuate throughout the day.  For example, today I started off at the 50-75% level.  Then I went to therapy, and after an hour and a half, I was in the 0-25% range so I knew I had to rest and recover to combat the fatigue, so I could replenish some energy and function to do "the basics" in the afternoon and evening.  Again, we talked a lot about goals, and that one of my main goals is to find strategies that help keep me in the 50-100% range the majority of the time.  As I type, I am not sure if this is making sense to anyone reading this, but since I am living it, it makes a lot of sense to me. 

So, this is what I came up with...

I put a "brad" in the arrow so I could move it around to show what energy zone I am in for the moment.  I found two quotes, which I thought were very fitting for the assignment and for my day to day life, which I added to the bottom of the poster. 

"You've done it before, and you can do it now.  See the positive possibilities.  Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination."
~Marston

and...

"Goals provide the energy source that powers our lives.  One of the best ways we can get the most from the energy we have is to focus it.  That is what goals can do for us; concentrate our energy.
~Waitley

For the rest of my appointment we went over everything else; my new meds, my progress the last month, my upcoming appointments, therapy...Larry also put my mischievous bottom left two ribs back into place and wrote me a prescription for waist-high (instead of thigh-high) compression stockings.  Oh, joy. (Note sarcasm)...In Toledo, Dr. Karabin, said that waist-high stockings would be more effective because when the blood pools, a lot of it pools in the abdomen. 

As always, it was a very productive and meaningful appointment; both for my mental state and my physical state.  And yes, I have another assignment that is due in June :)