When I first explain 'trade-offs' to people they often think that it sounds dreadful. For me though trade-offs work like this: EG I know that if I do 'A' then I am going to spend 'X' amount of time unable to get out of bed - is the trade-off of doing 'A' worth it? If the trade-off is worth it, then I simply go ahead. 

The trade-off of having the bathroom done is worth it. I have not been able to sleep for several days so I am a little hyped at the moment because I am running on exhaustion fumes. I thought that the trade-off of going to see a good friend that I have not spent enough time with recently would also be worth it - and it most definitely is. I know that the combination of these things will have a knock-on effect on me, but so what! It is my choice and it is the right one for me. Okay, so I might not be able to get out of bed for a couple of weeks, but I have a new bathroom and I have had nice afternoon. Now THAT is most definitely worth it!

I also have some gorgeous flowers to show for my afternoon, from A Cottage Garden in Wolverhampton. I always have such beautiful flowers from there and they last well, which makes a big difference. They are currently sitting on my altar at the moment, brightening up the room. 

These are the flowers

People talk about 'pacing' when it comes to chronic illness - and they are right. In theory. It is, however, incredibly difficult to 'pace' your activities when you basically only have bad days. For me on many days the term 'activity' can only be applied to the huge effort involved in getting out of bed and going to the bathroom. Yes, there are days when I can get out of bed and even the rare day when I can make it out the flat. I am lucky. 

I am lucky in more than one way; I have an amazingly supportive husband who does all those things that I cannot. He does the housework, the cooking, the shopping and so on, as well as having always worked full time. The amount of work he does for me would cost over fifty-five thousand pounds per year if care had to be paid for. People like my husband save the tax payer an estimate £118 billion every year. Imagine what would happen if people like him went on strike and the country had to actually look after sick and disabled people like me properly....scary thought, huh? Not least for me. 

Anyway, enough of the politics. I admittedly do rather hate all the 'big' parties, but do not want to talk about them here. 

So, back to pacing. Is it possible to learn to 'pace' properly? You know, although I have heard of a few people that have had success, most of the people I know have struggled with the concept. They have found that the reality of life is that there is no choice other than to try and do as much as you can on the 'better' days otherwise things simply do not get done at all. The theory is that by sticking to a certain level of activity on both 'better' and 'worse' days that overall you will not only find that you start to be able to do more, but that you will get more done overall. But people do not work like that. We, or most of us, find it difficult to leave something that needs doing when we have the energy to do it. 

I think that pacing is brilliant in theory, but I am not sure that I can actually come anywhere near to doing properly in practise.