Some of you may know that I studied physics. It’s a vast, fascinating and wonderful subject and I’m very proud to have gone to #imperialcollege in London. Anyway, it makes you think in a perhaps slightly different way and I find myself considering the properties of time in the context of having #parkinsons. Did I mention I have Parkinson’s ?!
The thing is, I have always tried to pack too much into too little time. Overly ambitious to do lists are part of my persona. They predate any diagnosis I have had in my life. In the past however, when I did a list I knew that only time was my limiting factor. When time runs out, that’s it. There is no more. That is a universal truth.
With the Parkinson’s comes another peril. Pre Parkinson’s I could try to compensate by getting up earlier, rushing chores, going to bed later. Adding more time from elsewhere into the equation. Now however, it’s different. My body has become a limiting factor too.
If my meds are ‘off’ then I am severely limited in what I can do. For example, I have set myself a target of three quilts to be made this weekend for my children. This is a tall order - I am halfway thru and I am hopeful. Everyone is away from home, I have two days of guilt free, interruption free sewing available to me. Hurrah! But, I also have to remember that I may well have periods in that time when I cannot sew because my meds won’t be working. I need to make sure I eat proper food and go out for a walk at some point…I can’t just carry on stitching into the night.
So I am lying in bed now and it’s almost 8:30 am, waiting for the meds to kick in, pondering how time effectively runs faster for those of us with Parkinson’s. We get less done in more time. This leads me to the conclusion that we need to be more mindful as to on what we spend our time doing so as to squeeze as much value out as possible. Parkinson’s is really a massive wake up call to remind us how precious time is.
I have come up with some coping mechanisms:
Do not get sad about not being able to do as much. Getting sad makes the Parkinson’s harder to control. And it’s not fun.
Prioritise. Of all the things you have on your list which absolutely HAVE to get done today. Now. Just focus on one of these urgent tasks.
Baby steps. Task by task work thru the list, but don’t look ahead. Overwhelm is a real party pooper. If you force yourself to take a blinkered view you will get further.
Eliminate the unnecessary. Distraction is as damaging to progress as is my lack of dopamine. So I try to eliminate the shiny new ideas I come up with constantly. Well, not eliminate, more park them in to a new list that I can go back to later.
Pace yourself. This is my nemesis but I will prevail eventually. I am doing the quilts throughouthe weekend but I have scheduled in rest periods. I find I can focus but not over a long period of time. So I slice up the hours and make like a tomato with the Pomodoro technique, working in half hour bursts all day.
Don’t punish yourself. My inner voice had, for years, told me I was rubbish when I looked like I was not going to succeed on a project. Nowadays I give this voice a good talking to, reminding myself that most of the worries are automatics and not my real views, they were inherited. Also, being mean to myself will get me precisely nowhere and uses up dopamine.
procrastination is your enemy. Just do it. Now. Don’t make the excuse you need to write an erudite piece of Parkinson’s thinking before you get up. Oh,hang on, that’s me isn’t it?! How meta. Better get up then.
Let me know whether you have the same problems with time that I do. And how do you cope?