I have joined a 30-day Productivity Challenge and wanted to share my journey with you and invite you to join me. Click here – https://30dayproductivity.com – if you want to join me. I think that this could be a lot of fun, especially completing it as a community.

Today’s productivity challenge is to complete a daily reflection answering some specific questions: what gave me energy today? What tasks or interactions drained my energy? What was my biggest win? What did I struggle with? What changes can I make for tomorrow?

To be candid, these questions aren’t bad, but I try really hard to not focus on how things make me feel. If I focused on how I felt, I would be crying every day. So, I try not to focus on how I feel or to complain. You see, I have fibromyalgia. For those that are not familiar with this diagnosis, here is a description from a research study:

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disease of unknown origin that affects approximately 5% of the population, mainly women. To date, the precise cause of FM is unknown. The symptoms associated with FM significantly affect the patient’s quality of life. Fibromyalgia does not have a uniform disease course, with many patients describing exacerbations or sudden increases in their symptoms throughout the course of the disease. These exacerbations are commonly referred to by patients and the professionals who treat them as “flares”.

The impact on daily life includes chronic pain that permeates the body, making it difficult on bad days to do simple daily tasks. For me, the pain is primarily in my joints – my back, hips, feet, and wrists. Some days, I can’t walk without tripping over everything because my feet are like blocks of wood at the end of my legs. Something as simple as getting dressed can result with me falling onto the floor. And I have, quite literally, fallen up and down the stairs.

The fatigue is overwhelming and it is hard to find the energy for anything. Hence, why I don’t really like the questions that focus on energy. The fatigue is compounded by disrupted sleep patters and poor sleep quality. It is recommended that everyone get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, which I do, and that approximately 2 hours of that sleep be “deep” sleep; I average 45 minutes or less. My lack of deep sleep has become such a significant problem that my physician said that I had to start taking prescriptions to treat the fibromyalgia because the lack of sleep was starting to compound and complicate my symptoms. Part of the reason that I do not sleep deep for long is the pain, that forces me to toss and turn throughout the night. The other is that my resting respiration, meaning the amount of breaths I take per minute while sleeping, drops to 14 breaths per minute at the lowest end and 25 at the highest end. My heart rate also drops significantly.

I can deal with the pain and the lack of energy. I have dealt with it so long, that like a bruise, you just kind of zone it out. What I struggle with the most is “fibro fog” where, some days, I feel like I have dementia. If I don’t write something down, I will forget it. People at my age joke all the time but how the first thing to go is our mind, but it actually isn’t funny. I have forgotten to turn off burners when cooking. I attached the wrong documents to emails. I forget to eat or take medications.

Coping with this condition is one reason that I decided to focus on my health this year. I have been working out every day, doing the best I can. Some days, it means just swinging away on the easy-strider. Some days, I really work at it on the treadmill and try to speed-walk 2 miles in 30 minutes. Today, my husband had to help me get out of bed. I can’t work out right now like I want to because my hands and feet are so bad and my balance is non-existent. Once I feel more stable, I will probably do some stretches and yoga (with a chair) so that I am still working my muscles.

I completely cut out Pepsi and have been drinking 64 to 74 ounces of water each day. I eat less than 2,000 calories and I am working towards losing around 50 pounds to ease some of the weight on my joints. However, this new way of healthier eating has had some unintended consequences with the onset of detox – a flare.

So, instead of answering the recommended questions, I like to ask myself these types of questions: what gave me a sense of accomplishment today? What tasks or interactions did I not get to and why? What was my biggest challenge today? What do I need help with? What can I do differently tomorrow?

Consider the realities of your own life and develop the daily review questions that work for you.