Relearning The Art of Pacing Myself with PsA

Pacing oneself is to do something at a speed that is steady. It allows someone to continue without becoming too tired. The art of pacing myself with PsA is one that I would like to master but unfortunately, given the forever-changing landscape of this condition, I know that I never will.

A whole new complication

I began experiencing psoriatic arthritis symptoms years before my diagnosis in 2003. Throughout that time, no two years have been the same. Each one is different. Some consistent symptoms never leave, but even they vary from one year to the next in severity.

I thought pacing was quite simple at the beginning of my life with PsA. Take my time, take frequent breaks, prioritize my tasks, and learn how to manage my time while balancing it with my pain.

As you may have already figured out, it ended up being one of the most complicated aspects of living with this form of autoimmune arthritis. To improve, I had to relearn how to pace myself and how to apply it to my chronic life.

So, what exactly is pacing?

When living with PsA, the act of pacing is not just an action; it is a lifestyle. To pace is to do something at a slow or steady speed to avoid over-exerting yourself. It is giving your body some grace and compassion by moving at a rate that doesn’t trigger flares.

Many, myself included, fail to pace regularly because we won’t have time to accomplish everything we want. There is a slight chance that if we did not suffer any setbacks that we could achieve everything we need to do, but there would still be some wants left undone.

Pacing with PsA requires acceptance that my body will never perform at the speed or level that it did before my diagnosis, no matter what I do.

>Pacing practice makes perfect

Confession time: As much as I hate to admit it, I failed at pacing right from the beginning. The reason for that failure was because I only applied the tactics of pacing to more strenuous activities. What I needed to do was apply it to all activities.

My frustration grew once I recognized that all activities required pacing. At that time, my flares and pain were out of control. There were no good days! Going slower wasn’t an option; it was my only speed. And that made it impossible to fit my wants in with my needs.

Notice I did not say everything I wanted or needed to be done! It was coming to terms with the amount of what I could do that has taken me from a pacing failure to what I like to call a pace practitioner. I will never master pacing, but I have become a master of practicing it and getting a healthy combination of completing what I need and want to be done.

Why adjusting priorities is important

Adjustments to how I practice pacing are needed to accommodate my life with multiple chronic illnesses and life-lasting injuries. I may manage one chronic disease well one year, but not the next. Two or three may decide they want to spend a year torturing me, or they may all decide to give me a break.

Other factors that require adjustments are life changes. What we need to do may change as well as with what we want to do. Nobody will ever master pacing, but we can all become darn good at practicing it.

The key is to accept what we can do; delegate needs that we cannot do to someone else, and make room for a few wants. Most of all, we need to be patient and gracious with ourselves.What pacing tips do you have?