Boom vs Bust | Learning to Pace yourself
Hi Everyone,
Sorry it has been so long, however the past few weeks have been quite difficult for me trying to implement everything I learnt in Stanmore into my everyday schedule. It has been a total lifestyle change, but most definitely for the better.
The biggest thing I learnt whilst at Stanmore was how to Pace yourself doing things and when is the 'Boom' worth the 'Bust'?
I found this the most helpful and it has really changed things for me at home and managing my day-day life and I think it is something that is definitely worth sharing with you guys.
I won't lie, it is difficult and takes a lot of practice and self-disipline, but the rewards are worth the wait!
What is Boom & Bust?
Boom & Bust is our good and bad days and what we do on these days.
On our Boom days, we may be having an exceptionally good day and we decide to do everything we possibly can in that one day, over exerting ourselves and then pushing our bodies into 'bust', where we spend the next few days recovering from all the hard work we did that day. Our bust recovery times will all vary and be different depending on what tasks we are doing, but it is really important to understand when the Boom is worth the Bust and what we can do daily to prevent this.
What is Pacing?
Pacing is about organising and splitting up hard to manage tasks, into smaller more manageable tasks. It is understanding how much of certain tasks you can manage in one go without straining yourself or putting any pressure on yourself.
How do I Pace?
In order to start pacing exercises you need to establish was your 'baselines' are (tolerance) to certain tasks. For example, my maximum tolerance for sitting in a good posture is 20 seconds before I start feeling the pain and it becomes uncomfortable. So understanding this I would shave off a few seconds of this time to establish my baseline (15 seconds). The whole point of setting your baseline is to be able to manage a certain task and stopping it BEFORE the pain or discomfort sets in. So now I know that I can practice sitting in a good posture for 15 seconds before I need to change my position, posture or have a stretch.
It is really important to stop what you are doing before the aggravations set in, as then it is too late to do anything about it.
How to set baselines
Setting baselines is far simpler than it sounds and can be done for all tasks in the same ways.
The first example I will use to set baselines is a timer, now this can be a proper timer or one on a phone. All you need to do is set the timer/stopwatch at the same time as you start a task. You must make sure you stop the timer as soon as you start feeling any kind of pain or aggravation. Do not let it become unbearable discomfort, it must be as soon as you can feel the slightest discomfort. Now say you was timing doing the washing up standing and you have done your timer, you shave a few seconds off of this time (5-10 seconds) and there you have your baseline for that task.
So you now know that your baseline for standing and doing the washing up is 40 seconds. Every 40 seconds it would be a good idea to either do some stretches or take a small break (sit down). It would be a good idea to have a chair/stool when doing the washing up so that you can alternate being standing and sitting, whilst sticking to your baselines. This means that you can now manage that task without being in all that discomfort you would have been before, just ploughing on through the pain.
If tasks are big tasks, for example you may have a large amount of washing up to do at one time, it would be advisable to split this task up into smaller more manageable tasks, e.g., Organising what order you want to wash things, Letting them first lot soak, coming back to wash that up, soaking the next lot, coming back later to wash etc.
As you start using these baselines, you may notice that your overall tolerance to tasks may increase and therefore you can start to slightly increase your baselines, allowing you to do certain things for longer.
Why we benefit from pacing
So what I just explained above may seem like such a lengthy process, however if you are splitting all these tasks over 5 days, you may affectively get more done than trying to cram in a weeks worth of tasks into one day and spending the next four recovering for it.
We aren't putting our body under half as much stress, nor our minds as we know we have set times for doing certain tasks, and being in less pain/discomfort takes a huge weight off our shoulders.
I now have a routine that I will stick to over the week, using my baselines and pacing myself and I am so much happier for it! I can have a productive week of doing small household tasks instead of trying to do everything on my 'good' days. Effectively now I also have more 'good' days as I am not over exerting myself to that level of discomfort.
Don't get me wrong, I am not whizzing around the house like Mary Poppins all of a sudden with dinner on the table at 5pm, but I now know that everyday, I can get up, make some breakfast/tea, rest, start soaking the washing up, rest, go back to the washing up, rest, shower, get dressed, rest, start preparing dinner, rest, starting cooking dinner, etc. I have such a better structured day as apposed to what I used to have.
We will still have our bad days, but that is where we can go back to our minimum baselines and really take it easy with our pacing.
Other good ways of pacing and using our baselines
1) Using advert breaks on TV to do tasks in that time or to do some stretches etc.
2) (This is one I use a lot!) Every time you check your phone, check your posture of how you are sitting and practice sitting for your baseline time.
3) Having a cup of tea/drink and rest between tasks. So between the washing up you may want to have a sit down and a drink before you finish it off.
4) Pages/Chapters from books. If you like reading then between tasks you may want to set a limit of how many pages/chapters you will read before continuing the rest of the task.
When the Boom is worth the Bust
There are certain things where pacing is just going to be near on impossible and we need to identify if those things would be worth the bust.
Really this is all self preference, however usually the Boom thing would have to be something rewarding to be worth the Bust.
Washing up/Tidying/Shopping can all be paced and is not worth the bust. However, a family party, going out with friends, a night out, that glass of champagne out for dinner, concerts, events and so on, are all worth the bust. It is something you don't do that often and you are 'treating/rewarding' yourself for all your hard working you put into your pacing efforts. The boom is highly recommended to be something that you are going to enjoy and gain from.
Sorry it has been so long, however the past few weeks have been quite difficult for me trying to implement everything I learnt in Stanmore into my everyday schedule. It has been a total lifestyle change, but most definitely for the better.
The biggest thing I learnt whilst at Stanmore was how to Pace yourself doing things and when is the 'Boom' worth the 'Bust'?
I found this the most helpful and it has really changed things for me at home and managing my day-day life and I think it is something that is definitely worth sharing with you guys.
I won't lie, it is difficult and takes a lot of practice and self-disipline, but the rewards are worth the wait!
What is Boom & Bust?
Boom & Bust is our good and bad days and what we do on these days.
On our Boom days, we may be having an exceptionally good day and we decide to do everything we possibly can in that one day, over exerting ourselves and then pushing our bodies into 'bust', where we spend the next few days recovering from all the hard work we did that day. Our bust recovery times will all vary and be different depending on what tasks we are doing, but it is really important to understand when the Boom is worth the Bust and what we can do daily to prevent this.
What is Pacing?
Pacing is about organising and splitting up hard to manage tasks, into smaller more manageable tasks. It is understanding how much of certain tasks you can manage in one go without straining yourself or putting any pressure on yourself.
How do I Pace?
In order to start pacing exercises you need to establish was your 'baselines' are (tolerance) to certain tasks. For example, my maximum tolerance for sitting in a good posture is 20 seconds before I start feeling the pain and it becomes uncomfortable. So understanding this I would shave off a few seconds of this time to establish my baseline (15 seconds). The whole point of setting your baseline is to be able to manage a certain task and stopping it BEFORE the pain or discomfort sets in. So now I know that I can practice sitting in a good posture for 15 seconds before I need to change my position, posture or have a stretch.
It is really important to stop what you are doing before the aggravations set in, as then it is too late to do anything about it.
How to set baselines
Setting baselines is far simpler than it sounds and can be done for all tasks in the same ways.
The first example I will use to set baselines is a timer, now this can be a proper timer or one on a phone. All you need to do is set the timer/stopwatch at the same time as you start a task. You must make sure you stop the timer as soon as you start feeling any kind of pain or aggravation. Do not let it become unbearable discomfort, it must be as soon as you can feel the slightest discomfort. Now say you was timing doing the washing up standing and you have done your timer, you shave a few seconds off of this time (5-10 seconds) and there you have your baseline for that task.
So you now know that your baseline for standing and doing the washing up is 40 seconds. Every 40 seconds it would be a good idea to either do some stretches or take a small break (sit down). It would be a good idea to have a chair/stool when doing the washing up so that you can alternate being standing and sitting, whilst sticking to your baselines. This means that you can now manage that task without being in all that discomfort you would have been before, just ploughing on through the pain.
If tasks are big tasks, for example you may have a large amount of washing up to do at one time, it would be advisable to split this task up into smaller more manageable tasks, e.g., Organising what order you want to wash things, Letting them first lot soak, coming back to wash that up, soaking the next lot, coming back later to wash etc.
As you start using these baselines, you may notice that your overall tolerance to tasks may increase and therefore you can start to slightly increase your baselines, allowing you to do certain things for longer.
Why we benefit from pacing
So what I just explained above may seem like such a lengthy process, however if you are splitting all these tasks over 5 days, you may affectively get more done than trying to cram in a weeks worth of tasks into one day and spending the next four recovering for it.
We aren't putting our body under half as much stress, nor our minds as we know we have set times for doing certain tasks, and being in less pain/discomfort takes a huge weight off our shoulders.
I now have a routine that I will stick to over the week, using my baselines and pacing myself and I am so much happier for it! I can have a productive week of doing small household tasks instead of trying to do everything on my 'good' days. Effectively now I also have more 'good' days as I am not over exerting myself to that level of discomfort.
Don't get me wrong, I am not whizzing around the house like Mary Poppins all of a sudden with dinner on the table at 5pm, but I now know that everyday, I can get up, make some breakfast/tea, rest, start soaking the washing up, rest, go back to the washing up, rest, shower, get dressed, rest, start preparing dinner, rest, starting cooking dinner, etc. I have such a better structured day as apposed to what I used to have.
We will still have our bad days, but that is where we can go back to our minimum baselines and really take it easy with our pacing.
Other good ways of pacing and using our baselines
1) Using advert breaks on TV to do tasks in that time or to do some stretches etc.
2) (This is one I use a lot!) Every time you check your phone, check your posture of how you are sitting and practice sitting for your baseline time.
3) Having a cup of tea/drink and rest between tasks. So between the washing up you may want to have a sit down and a drink before you finish it off.
4) Pages/Chapters from books. If you like reading then between tasks you may want to set a limit of how many pages/chapters you will read before continuing the rest of the task.
When the Boom is worth the Bust
There are certain things where pacing is just going to be near on impossible and we need to identify if those things would be worth the bust.
Really this is all self preference, however usually the Boom thing would have to be something rewarding to be worth the Bust.
Washing up/Tidying/Shopping can all be paced and is not worth the bust. However, a family party, going out with friends, a night out, that glass of champagne out for dinner, concerts, events and so on, are all worth the bust. It is something you don't do that often and you are 'treating/rewarding' yourself for all your hard working you put into your pacing efforts. The boom is highly recommended to be something that you are going to enjoy and gain from.
I Hope you find this helpful and useful! If you have any further questions please don't be afraid to ask me!
Lottie
xxx
