HSP’s and The Spoon Theory
The Spoon Theory was a theory done by Christine Miserandino in 2003. She wrote an essay and published it as The Spoon Theory. It described her life living with lupus. Essentially, what she described is a life where she has 10 spoons to start the day. Depending on how she's feeling, what is going on in her day, daily actions can use a spoon or add a spoon. Some days just to get out of bed may use one or two spoons. Some days, it may not use any at all. I like this description for people who have chronic illness. But I also like it for people who are highly sensitive.
How does having a limited number of spoons apply to your home? Well, one thing with highly sensitive people is just like people with chronic disabilities, we all have limited energy. People that are highly sensitive tend to get overwhelmed and over stimulated much easier than someone who isn’t highly sensitive. Because of this overstimulation, it over stimulates our nervous system and that creates an overwhelming feeling. What does that have to do with your home? Imagine trying to get out the door, but you're tripping over things, like your dog, or if your home is disorganized, and you're having to look around the house for things. If that is how it is for you to leave your house, then your home is chaotic and you're probably using more spoons to get out the door than what you need to be using. Part of organizing your house is helping streamline the process of getting out of the house, so that you're not having to be overwhelmed before you even leave the house.
So in the spoon theory, each of the things we do can use a spoon or add a spoon. If we're doing something that is soul energizing, then it gives you a spoon to put back in. If it is soul draining, it takes away a spoon. So let's say that you love listening to music and you're going out to listen to a live band. But when you're in the setting, you have a ton of people around you, and you're picking up on the energies of other people. That may be a neutral event, or it may take spoons, depending on whether or not the energies of the other people are draining you.
Is your home an energy producing environment? Is it a spoon enhancing environment? Or is it an environment that takes things away from you? So what I want you to think about is as you're looking through your home, are there certain zones in your home that are cluttered all the time? When you walk into that room, do you feel an energy shift? If so, how can we work on taking that section and fixing the energy so that it becomes a more positive place? Eliminate the clutter and make it so it's an energy enhancing space.
The other thing to look at is do you have things in your home that help increase your spoons? For example, if you're a plant person, do you have plants in your home? Are they helping increase your energy? Are you creating a space that when you go into it, it feels like a sanctuary? Is it helping enhance your spoons? If you have animals, are your animals energy enhancing or are they energy zapping? Are they increasing your spoons or decreasing your spoons? So when you're looking at life, I want you to start thinking about things from an energy standpoint, is this thing giving you a spoon or taking some away?
Hopefully this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to me. I'll be glad to respond.