What can you do to achieve a better physical balance in life? How do you restore your own balance?
Previous blogs have shown two patterns that don't help pain, cross your boundaries or avoid too much. You could also compare these patterns with exertion and relaxation. When crossing boundaries the effort is too great, when avoiding it there can be too much relaxation. The balance is disturbed as it were. If the alarm system in our brain works well, most people seek relaxation at the right moment or make a physical effort. This often happens automatically, because we feel that it is better to stand up and move, or just take a break.
The disturbed physical balance
With chronic pain this can be a lot more difficult. One time you may be in pain when you are doing housework, another time you are not. Sometimes you may just want to have done something and go on, while another time you don't succeed. The physical balance between in and relaxation can be disturbed and no longer be automatic. Your brain has to learn a new balance, as it were.
Learning a new physical balance often works best by first following a fixed rule for a while. In the next blog you will read which rule you can apply for this.
To become well aware of your current daily pattern, it helps to keep track of your daily activities and how much time you have spent on them for a while, for example in a diary or diary. You can do this for about three days to become well aware of your activities.
Exercise
Make an overview for the next few days:
- Which activity you are doing
- At which time of the day
- Whether this was an in- or relaxing activity
