The A to Z English Podcast Topic Talk | Spoon Theory
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In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack talk about spoon theory:
Spoon Theory: The Spoon Theory is a metaphor used to explain the limited amount of energy and resources that people with chronic illnesses or disabilities have to accomplish daily tasks and activities. It was coined by Christine Miserandino in 2003 in an essay she wrote to explain her experience with lupus to a friend.
Transcript:
00:00:01
Jack
Welcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social and today social and I are going to talk about something called Spoon theory and I don't really know what this is, to be honest. I am kind of ignorant on this topic, but social is going to explain.
00:00:22
Jack
The meaning of spoon theory and then we are going to complain like a couple of old people about all of our physical ailments that we're dealing with, right? So, OK, awesome. Alright. What is spoon theory? Social.
00:00:34
Xochitl
Yes.
00:00:39
Xochitl
So spoon theory is a metaphor, and it describes the amount of physical or mental energy that you have available for daily activities. So if you live with chronic pain or chronic illness, whether it's mental or physical or both, you're kind of limited in a way that other people aren't. And so.
00:00:59
Xochitl
The idea is that you have a set amount of spoons. Let's say you have 10 spoons for your day, and then things that other people don't realize take up energy because they have.
00:01:09
Xochitl
A more fit body do take up energy for people with chronic pain. So let's say getting up and out of bed, taking a shower, making something to eat.
00:01:23
Xochitl
Even getting ready for bed, getting dressed, all those things can put strain on your body and eat up your spoon. So maybe by the time you even get ready to go to work, you're down 5 spoons and someone who doesn't have chronic illness might have just used a spoon or half a spoon of energy to do all those.
00:01:44
Jack
Yeah. And let's just, uh, quickly, uh, unpack a little bit of the vocabulary. Chronic means, like, always constant. So chronic pain means you're always in pain from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. You have some kind of pain.
00:01:54
발표자
Yes.
00:02:04
Jack
Issue.
00:02:05
Jack
And and so social was describing like, like the spoons are not literally spoons. We're not talking about real spoons. We're saying, like, they're like metaphors. Like, you got 10 spoons and.
00:02:19
Xochitl
They're like units of energy, basically.
00:02:21
Jack
Units of energy. Right. Exactly. And so.
00:02:24
Xochitl
Like hit points on a video game when your character has like a little green.
00:02:28
Xochitl
R.
00:02:30
Jack
Yeah, right. Energy. Your power gets, you know, goes down and down and down, yeah.
00:02:30
Xochitl
And then yeah it.
00:02:35
Xochitl
If your character is a healthy character, let's say they did all their tests and their bar is still green. But if your character has chronic illness, then by the time they're done with their morning routine, they might be down to yellow. They might be.
00:02:47
Xochitl
Down to half points.
00:02:49
Jack
Right. And let's say your energy level for the day for a person with chronic pain is 10 spoon.
00:02:55
발표자
And.
00:02:56
Jack
Like social said, getting ready in the morning, making breakfast, taking a shower, getting dressed, that might be 5 spoons, which means you only have 5 left for the whole day, so you get the bus, get to work, open your computer. You know, there's three more spoons now. You've got 2 spoons.
00:02:56
Xochitl
Yes.
00:03:17
Jack
Left, you don't even have enough to get home, you know.
00:03:20
Xochitl
Right.
00:03:22
Jack
Until you hit the wall right and you're so exhausted.
00:03:22
Xochitl
And.
00:03:24
Xochitl
Right.
00:03:26
Xochitl
And a lot of people get through their day-to-day on like a spoon deficit. So you're, but you're the concept basically suggests you're borrowing spoons. You're borrowing energy from your next day, which is how people who have chronic illness might end up pushing through of five day work week and doing 40 hours a week.
00:03:46
Xochitl
But then on the weekend, they're just laying in bed the whole 2 days.
00:03:50
Jack
Right. They're just totally wiped.
00:03:52
Jack
That out. OK, I love the idea of spoon theory. I think it's a really good. I'm not sure why they call it spoons. Like use spoons as the as the example, but it could be anything. Yeah.
00:04:02
Xochitl
Right. I don't know. I think I think because you run out, you run out. I don't know if this is true or not, but you know when you're doing dishes like you only have a certain amount of spoons and you have to do the dishes again.
00:04:13
Jack
Ohh yeah, that's right that that's probably it. Yeah. I think that makes sense. Yeah, so.
00:04:16
Xochitl
Yeah.
00:04:20
발표자
So.
00:04:22
Jack
Uh, I'll, I'll. I'll start with myself here first. Uh, I've been. I've been dealing with. Uh, a chronic chronic back pain for probably 20 years, I would say.
00:04:34
Jack
I had my first.
00:04:36
Jack
My first surgery, my first back surgery for disc.
00:04:42
Jack
Problems when I was 27.
00:04:45
Jack
And and then, uh, probably about 10 years later, maybe 15 years later, I had another back surgery for more disc problems. And now for the last like maybe three weeks. I've been dealing with some serious chronic pain just all the time.
00:05:07
Jack
With my back and my discs again. So what? What I find is when you're in pain all the time.
00:05:16
Jack
You're more tired.
00:05:18
Jack
You can't exercise, so when you eat you get bored. You just sitting around. So. So in for me, I'll eat more to, like comfort myself, which makes me.
00:05:30
Xochitl
Have something to do right? Yeah.
00:05:32
Jack
Gain weight, which makes my back hurt more, which makes me more depressed, which makes me want to eat more, which makes me not exercise more and it's like a a horrible spiral. You know, as I just go down the drain, you know, and things are getting worse and worse, so.
00:05:48
발표자
Right.
00:05:50
Jack
So.
00:05:51
Jack
Yeah. So I so I I know what the spoon theory thing you're talking about is like there are times where I go to work and I run out of spoons, you know, by the my third class, I'm just like.
00:06:04
Jack
I don't. Whatever. You know what, guys? Just take a rest and, you know, draw a picture on your paper or whatever you wanted to, you know, talk with your friend like I'm completely. I'm done. Like I I don't have the the mental capacity.
00:06:15
Xochitl
All right.
00:06:23
Jack
Or the physical capacity to do this anymore?
00:06:27
Jack
And and it's a really, it's a really depressing way to live because living with pain all the time means you're kind of always thinking about the pain. It's always in your mind. And then that leaves a little bit of space for you to think about and deal with other people. So I find that I'm really short tempered.
00:06:38
Xochitl
Yeah.
00:06:47
Jack
With my wife, I'm like, short with my wife. You know, my wife will ask me a question. Like what? You know, what do you want for dinner? What? You know that. That's my response to something like that. And it's like it's so rude.
00:06:59
Jack
And so disgusting of a response. But it's not. It's not because I was mad at her or anything to do with her. It's just cuz I was in some pain. I'm just like not able to focus. Like what? What did you say? Like I I can't. I can't even hear what other people are saying to me. And I really hate being like this. Like it. Really.
00:06:59
Xochitl
Right.
00:07:18
Jack
It really makes me frustrated and I and I.
00:07:21
Jack
Can't get good.
00:07:22
Jack
Sleep because I can't lie on my side. It hurts if I lie on my back. It hurts if I.
00:07:27
Jack
Lie on my other side, it hurts.
00:07:28
Jack
So it's really I've I've been dealing with this and and I know that you also have understand what I'm saying, cuz I think you've dealt with some like physical issues as well.
00:07:38
Xochitl
Yeah.
00:07:39
Xochitl
Definitely, Jack. I I completely understand what you're saying. I was born with.
00:07:45
Xochitl
Borderline hip dysplasia and both hips, and that just means my anatomy is wonky, so my bone is like here instead of being here, it's like on the edge of where it's supposed to be. And every time I walk it, like beats up the other bone I.
00:08:01
Xochitl
So it like pinches and it's really bad in one hip specifically, which has become weaker due to the pain, but it's really hard to do physical therapy with it because.
00:08:09
발표자
MHM.
00:08:14
Xochitl
I'm in pain, so it's hard to start doing exercises around it because it hurts more and it's more tiring and I have like a very limited.
00:08:25
Xochitl
Amount of what I can do in one day.
00:08:28
Xochitl
Which means that I'll if I feel like I have energy to do something, I'll do as much as I can in one day and then I'll end up borrowing spoons for the next day. So I'm totally crashed out the next day. I have no energy and I know what you mean. I can also get really short tempered. Uh, one thing, a lot of people don't realize is that.
00:08:47
Xochitl
It affects your sleep.
00:08:49
Jack
Right.
00:08:49
Xochitl
So imagine that you had really poor sleep for like a week straight. At that point, if you're only sleeping.
00:09:01
Xochitl
Far less hours a night than you're supposed to be, far less comfortably. You probably start getting confused, agitated, irritable.
00:09:12
Xochitl
And unfortunately, people around you suffer because.
00:09:15
Xochitl
You can snap at them unexpectedly.
00:09:18
Jack
You're not gonna snap at strangers. You know you're gonna snap it. You're the people that you love because you know that they can't abandon you. You know, it's like.
00:09:25
Xochitl
Right. You're comfortable with, you're comfortable around them and you're also interacting with them?
00:09:29
Xochitl
More, yeah.
00:09:30
Xochitl
On a daily basis than you would with any strangers, right. So.
00:09:34
Xochitl
It does. It is really hard. It it's one of the reasons that I have a hard time.
00:09:39
Xochitl
Finding a full time job that I can do is because.
00:09:45
Xochitl
I only have so many spoons in a day and I really struggled with college when I was in college for the same reason. It's not that the work was too hard.
00:09:52
Xochitl
For.
00:09:53
Xochitl
Me. It was that I would just get so burnt out in a day from I didn't. I like. I won't sleep well. I'm not eating well. I feel terrible. I can't walk well. Some days I really have to drag myself around.
00:10:08
Xochitl
Get anywhere and I think.
00:10:12
Xochitl
It really puts a strain on what you can do in any given day and a lot of people just don't understand.
00:10:17
Xochitl
And especially when it's kind of an invisible disability. So like people like Jack and I, we might look fine to people on the outside, but we're suffering internally through all these physical and emotional stressors because it does affect your mental well-being as well.
00:10:35
Jack
Yeah, chronic pain is is a it. It doesn't just affect your body, it it affects your mind as well it it. It plays games with.
00:10:42
Jack
Your.
00:10:43
Jack
With your mind and and changes your personality and and your outlook on life and and everything so.
00:10:49
Jack
Ohh yeah trying trying to overcome it. If you can find some way of dealing with like physical therapy or some kind of you know if there's a if there's a way out of it. I highly recommend pursuing it if it's possible and staying away from like painkillers and opiates and that sort of stuff.
00:11:12
Jack
Because that stuff is.
00:11:13
Jack
Just uh masks the pain for a little while, but then that'll send you down a whole, you know, could send you.
00:11:20
Xochitl
Ohh, their wormhole, right? Yeah.
00:11:21
Jack
Yes, exactly, exactly so there. You know, there isn't really necessarily always a good solution to our problems. You know, sometimes they can throw painkillers at it. That's not gonna solve the problem.
00:11:33
Xochitl
Yeah.
00:11:34
Jack
Yeah.
00:11:35
Xochitl
It's like seeding the monster temporarily, then it like rears its ugly head again.
00:11:40
Jack
Yeah, it it gives you, you get a week of, you know, like a kind of uh. But then you're foggy, you know, you you're not yourself, you know, so.
00:11:48
Xochitl
And you can also get your table like as soon as you're off the pain meds or as soon as anything. Yeah, and you get dependent on them. So I think it. Yeah, I I really haven't had much. I did get an injection, A cortisol injection in my hip.
00:11:52
Jack
All right, absolutely, absolutely.
00:12:03
Xochitl
That worked for about two weeks, and then the pain is back, I suppose, to work for average to three to six months. So I'm like, well, totally didn't work. So I burned through that. So we shall see. But yeah, it is. It is a frustrating condition and I think.
00:12:11
Jack
You're like, whoops.
00:12:23
Xochitl
First world so-called first world countries are just now starting to treat chronic pain as its own condition, not just the underlying cause, but managing it on its own. And we're just now making strides and.
00:12:37
Xochitl
Making accommodations for it in the workplace, and I think we're making big leaps, but yeah, I'm curious to know about your guys's experience as listeners. Do any of you suffer with chronic pain or chronic health conditions? Obviously, only share as much as you're comfortable sharing, but yeah, I'm just curious to know what, what are things like in your country?
00:12:56
Xochitl
UM, how does it operate in your country and your culture?
00:12:59
Xochitl
There.
00:13:01
Xochitl
Yeah, I'm very interested to know. So leave us a comment down below at AZ englishpodcast.com. Shoot us an e-mail at at ozenglishpodcast@gmail.com.
00:13:10
Xochitl
And make sure to join the we chat and WhatsApp groups to talk to us directly. If you can spare $1.99 Jack and I are making exclusive episodes for subscribers. This really helps us to be able to increase the level and amount of content that we're making. So we really appreciate your support and thank you so much to those of you who have subscribed.
00:13:31
Xochitl
Ready. And I'll see you the next.
00:13:33
Xochitl
Time. Bye bye.
00:13:34
Jack
Bye bye.
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