Day 7 of quitting smoking, updates and learning to say no.

Morning friends

People with CFS have a hard lesson to learn, saying ‘No.’ Most of us want to please and want to be of use to people especially those we love.

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Mohandas Gandhi

This is a very wise quote and one people with chronic illness need to learn to accept. If we keep on saying yes to everyone all the time, we are not giving ourselves time to rest and recuperate, and the more we say yes they more likely we are to keep being asked. We cannot blame the asker, we can only blame ourselves for agreeing to help too often.

A lot of people fear being abandoned by their friends and family. Many people do turn their back on sufferers through lack of understand and not knowing how to cope, we can also push people away by fearing people seeing us so ill, or judging us the way that many do.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
Mother Teresa

It is important to ensure that our friends and family read and understand what it is like living with CFS and how they can help, for example by letting us rest, allowing us to say no, without being excluded in future events. It is a very hard thing to balance.

Today is day 7 of stopping smoking, and all is going really well so far. I am going shopping with my Mum today to buy my father’s birthday present. He is rather ill so we can only get things that he needs really as their home can’t be cluttered with bits and pieces, so usually clothing and chocolate, chocolate is his favourite thing. I have a few things I want to get so will have to make a list. The problem will be ensuring I remember to take my list with me. I might write it when I am done here and put it into my purse that is saying that I don’t for get my purse LOL

The blog is doing well and Kooky has done some wonderful posts for us, and I really enjoyed Ian’s post: I think we can all relate to the feelings of despair when things seem to improve only for us to be flattened again, it is about pacing and resting, and doing more resting if needed.

I intend on getting some After Eights’s from Poundland if they have them, as they are dairy egg and gluten free and I have been buying Morrison’s own which are lovely, but if we can get the real deal for the same price, I am going to have a look. I also want to go and get some bits from Holland and Barrett, I'd like to look at their dairy free cheeses. I haven’t found any I particularly like yet.

I also want to pop to a couple of other shops for a few bits and pieces and then I could do with going to Morrisons with my husband and getting some more coconut milk. I haven’t much left for making my kefir, though I have had to freeze some as it was maturing faster than I could drink it. LOL

I have my patch on and the coffee machine is burping and farting telling me my coffee is nearly ready and the sun is shining. I am going to go and have a shower and write that shopping list, well… I wont write the shopping list in the shower, that would just be silly, wouldn’t it?