I don’t know you or what job you have, but I have to have so many hours of training for my job. One of the training classes we were given this last week covered nutrition. I guess with my high stress and mobile job they want to make sure we are eating more than gas station hot dogs and drive through tacos.
The instructor handed out paper plates and had us draw what we thought a healthy balanced meal should be ideally. On the other side we drew what we usually ate. For most of us, the actual was very different than what the ideal is to be healthy and balanced.
In our lives, what do we put on our plate? This time I am not talking about the correct portions of meat, starch and veggies. What activities, work assignments, family obligations and free time do we put ‘on our plates’? Are we too heavy on one thing, which might be good, but when it displaces other important things it can be a problem. Those of us with a chronically ill spouse, our priorities can get skewed easily. Do we spend too much time at home to serve our family and let the job suffer? Or flip that and have too much time at work, which we might do because of medical bills or saving for family vacation, but missing the time with our family might not be worth it.
Unlike my nutrition class, I cannot give you an answer of what the correct balanced life is. But I will encourage you to find out. We have extra resources called family, trusted coworkers and supervisors, and friends who can see us from the outside and can pass on what they notice about us. Their shared opinions can help us realign our priorities, balence what is on our plates, to help us live balenced and fulfilling lives.
Supporting A CFS Spouse 