This week has been a huge adventure. I have been staying with friends because the babysitter was unwell and the LD team are not ready to take over yet.
By staying with friends i can self manage more things because i am not dealing with the pressure and demands of being home alone and sleeping at my flat. Knowing this week would be tough, i also took some time off work to allow myself more energy.
My goal for the week was to:
I didn’t quite achieve all my goals but i got close. I managed my morning routine 2 of the 5 days, i worked 4+ hours on 3 of the 5 days and i was independent for 12 out of 15 meals (by going to the cafe more!). I had some baths and showers but probably not enough.
The independent for meals goal was my main focus. My friends where really busy, so the less helped i needed with meals the better. Having a shower / bath in the evening and support overnight was simpler for them to do.
My approach was to keep my breakfast routine the same (breakfast bars) but swap my lunch and evening meal for a BLT sandwhich and a pannini from the local mothercare cafe.
In effect, ive replaced my evening with a secound lunch and i have recycled the routine from lunch time to the evening. I also buy a BLT sanddwich for the next day when i go to the cafe.
This all worked pretty well. It went wrong on Tuesday when the cafe closed early so i didn’t really eat properly, but apart from that it went well.
The downside is that it’s really really expensive and very spoons intensive. If i was always consuming this much energy for food i’d struggle. I would quickly find myself going days without eating when the spoons dropped below a level where i could make the trip out.
However, for one week its a nice insight into how i could manage food during support gaps etc in the future.
This week has highlighted to me how much my routines help. Going without them has been stressfull and it reduced my ability to do other things.
Back to routine next week will be brilliant. I am looking forward to it emmensely.
Hopefully this weekend will be nice and estful so i can sleep a bit and recharge.