New Analogy? Might Help Someone

[lgibson2017]

Hey, guys! So I was trying to explain pacing to my father and I came up with a new possible analogy that might help someone else explain ME so I figured I'd put it out there.

So basically think of blowing a bubble. If you blow gently, you'll get a nice bubble. Blow too hard, though, and you'll pop the bubble. Pacing is figuring out how hard you can blow without popping your bubble. Avoiding stressers is like protecting your bubble from something that might pop it. Treatments can help your bubble be more resistant to popping. But all in all your health is still a very delicate bubble that you need to take care not to pop. A pop is a crash, and you lose your bubble and have to start all over again once you clean up the bubble juice that splashed everywhere from the pop.

So, yeah. It might not be perfect but I thought it was easier to visualize/understand than the envelope thing, which I never could quite grasp properly. I hope the bubble analogy helps someone out there explain ME to family/friends/etc.


Cheers!

- Lauren

 

[Skippa]

I like that

And for some reason, folks with ME have a weaker bubble than those that don't.

So it can't ever get as big as a healthy person's.

And strangely enough, you get the odd random day when you can blow a bigger bubble and you run around shouting "look look it's a big bubble today". Cue the situation above where you're back to measely tiny bubbles wishing you never blew that one big one.

Heh I do like that.

 

[lgibson2017]

Precisely! So when someone asks me how I'm feeling, I could say "it's a big bubble day" or "my bubble is weak af today" and the size of your bubble can give others a clue of how you're feeling and how much you can do.