A Spoonie refers to someone who is living with a chronic illness. This term comes from the Spoon theory written by Christine Miserandino. At first when I saw this term I thought it looked silly for someone to compare themselves to a kitchen utensil. After reading the spoon theory, I felt that I was finally seeing my everyday feelings put into words. In effort to explain to her friend what it is like to live with a chronic illness, she laid out a few spoons on the table. She explained to her friend that as she is healthy, she has an unlimited amount of "spoons" to work with each day. Of course, with each daily activity a "spoon" is taken away. For those of use living with a chronic illness, those "spoons" are limited. And as each daily activity takes away one of our "spoons" we have to pick and choose what we are going to be able to do that day.
This story really describes how my last year of college has been. While most of my friends were going out and being social at night and on the weekends, I had used my "spoons" on going to class and doing homework. By the afternoon, I was so worn our that going out was not really an option for me. I also had to plan a head for the events I really did not want to miss out on, which required me to spend the day before resting. Needless to say, I have become an expert at time management. I have really struggled with trying to explain my situation to my close friends and feel that this story will be a great eye-opening tool for others!
You can read the spoon theory here!
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