enjoying being busy

Joining Chantelle for photo a day July. Day Two: Busy

Every morning lately I write a little to do list for the day, and with great satisfaction I tick off the tasks as I finish them. Big deal, you may be thinking. Well, to me it is. For well over two years I have operated at between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of my pre-CFS energy levels. Most of the time I don't leave the house alone, can't manage to do lots of things that for most people are very everyday and easy such as changing a bed, or hoovering, and sometimes even light tasks such as dusting and cooking are not possible. For the past few weeks the Prof and I have been eating differently, partly in an effort to lose weight, partly to regulate his blood sugar, and after the first week or so it has made a remarkable difference to me.  In the last couple of weeks, with frequent rests, I have managed to do several times more than I can usually do. I have been out socially more than usual, done a lot of gardening,  decluttering and organising, as well as housework. I have been trying to take things carefully as I know only too well that when I overdo things it can result in a crash often lasting days or weeks, and at first I was very tentative with what I did...but now it's been two weeks, I still feel really well and there has been no relapsing at all. 

What does this mean? I don't believe my CFS was caused by diet, in my case it seems to have been a combination of respiratory illness/anaemia/ stress (and continuing to ignore all that for months and carry on as usual) that started it off. I am puzzled by such a dramatic change just from changing how and what I eat. However, I have always had spells of going dizzy/feeling odd and knowing I needed to eat something, which I assumed was to do with my blood sugar levels. In recent years this has got more frequent. This eating plan that we are following is based on mostly low glycaemic slow energy release foods, and I have not had any of those funny spells. My energy is fairly constant though of course I am not as strong as I used to be, and I have less stamina, but that is to be expected given my decreased levels of activity in the last few years.  It is just so wonderful to feel 'normal'! I can honestly say I have not even had a whole day of feeling normal in the past two and a half years. At the current count I have felt fantastic for two weeks. I am altogether baffled and amazed, but thoroughly enjoying feeling normal after all this time. I am trying to have a positive attitude and not worry about getting up tomorrow and this feeling of well being having gone, I am trying to make the most of every wonderful day right now. 

Oh, and I need to post the photo for day one of Photo a Day July too - I only came across the challenge today, already day two. I see that the prompt for yesterday was self-portrait. Serendipitously (it's a word if I say it is), I did take a (rather silly) self-portrait yesterday with my phone, so I here it is.