The Spoon Theory is a metaphor used to describe the amount of energy that a person has available each day. One spoon = one unit of energy. People with chronic illness have fewer spoons than a healthy person, and so 'spoonies' (chronically ill people) have adopted this concept worldwide as a means of scheduling their days, and as a method of communicating their limited energy to those around them (e.g. 2 spoons = getting up, 1 spoon = travelling to work etc). Running out of spoons means exhaustion or collapse.
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Daily life with a chronic illness can be tough – from making difficult decisions about how to manage your energy to the isolation that comes from finding ‘easy’ tasks (such as taking a shower) nearly impossible. Moreover, modifying our lives to our illness is not something that comes naturally to any of us - it has to be learnt. Previously healthy people become chronically ill all the time, people with existing conditions experience changes in their symptoms, and those with longterm illness may have a bad day and need extra, practical support.
Many of us spoonies would like tips on how to manage life better but few of us have the energy to sift through the vast amount of confusing, and often misleading, articles online. Jodie K Ranu understands this and has created The Spoonie Survival Guide as a one-stop resource for the most important and accurate advice to help you achieve the best quality of life possible.
Organised into four clear sections - physical, mental, financial and lifestyle - Jodie breaks down how each area of our life can change with chronic illness, and provides practical advice on how to move forward despite things being different. Specific topics include: pacing yourself throughout the day, coping with medical gaslighting, how to access work/study and coping with everyday living, such as cooking and running errands. This kind and reassuring guide is a reminder that you're not alone.
This is a non-judgemental and handy toolkit written for spoonies by a spoonie. Includes vox pops, illustrations, conversation starters (to use with other spoonies or carers/loved ones living without illness), plus a glossary and symptom tracker template. An accessible design will be used (bullet lists, chapter summarises, short chapters, key phrases in bold) to accommodate readers with a variety of symptoms, such as fatigue and brain fog. It can be skimmed or read thoroughly depending on energy levels.
