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Living with Chronic Illness and/or Disability

How to survive (and thrive) when you have limitations

Let's consider what it means to live with different levels of energy or ability. Learn about "Spoon Theory" and consider ways to honor your body's needs before your tasks and commitments. This includes a chance to brainstorm with Amanda and each other about things to assist and overcome limitations.

Amanda Elsts knows what it is like to experience life with an assortment of limitations and love helping people identify their core struggles and identify solutions and tools to overcome a tricky situation. In this session let's consider

• Who is a "spoonie"?
• What does it mean to live life with different levels of energy or ability? 
• When do you need support (and when do you need space)?
• How do you share this idea with others? 

This session will include live captions for people who need greater access, and Pike Branch has a Loop system for those who are hard of hearing. If you prefer an ASL interpreter, please alert Pike staff at least 2 weeks prior. 

In Amanda's own words...

Are there times when you struggle to figure out what to do next?

Great!!! Me too! Hi! I’m Amanda, fellow spoonie & CEO of The Copperless Chick, & like you, I struggled to get everyday tasks done with my newfound illness & disability (in essence, a spoonie). I spoke with doctors and other spoonies; I searched for the right planner, thinking this one might help me figure out how to manage both my time and energy. But none were simple enough that I wouldn’t waste my time & energy by just filling in the thing, nor did they address my need for flexible goals depending on my energy level or ability for that day. So, I spoke to some of my fellow spoonies & came up with a new way of looking at productivity, and it eventually turned into a planner called Scheduling Your Spoons & Post-it Notes.

Now you don’t have to buy anything to attend or get a lot out of this talk. In fact, I will give you some tricks to scheduling your spoons:

1. Keep things simple
2. List your tasks & rank your tasks: 1 = doesn’t take much energy or ability to accomplish, to 5 = takes a lot of energy or ability to do.
3. Prayerfully & mindfully assess how you are doing at the beginning & during your day.

If you would like to learn more about how to simplify your tasks list and how to live with an energy-first mentality, join me at this session. I will break down step by step how to plan your day around our energy instead of the other way around and running yourself ragged or crashing.
One last tip! When deciding what everyday tasks to do, consider what other events you may have & time-sensitive items to plan a better-balanced day/week.

You may also find these bibliocommons lists interesting. 

• Remembering Alice Wong
• Visible and Invisible Disability in Manga
• Disability Representation in Fantasy and Science Fiction

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