What helps you feel better about your day ?

I had a day that felt totally wasted to me today. And I realized that this 6 weeks is like a gift to me. I normally work 3/4 time, grad school FT, internship 1/2 time, FT mom to a 2 year old, chief cook and bottle washer at home. I am running 100 percent of my normal life... So I realized today was bad because I forget the gift feeling, I got mired in wasting time. I watched too many movies, surfed too long and now I feel sad that I 'wasted' my day. So I realized if I do just one thing that is on my list of things I want to get done in this time "off" I feel better. Like yesterday I wrote a ton of personal thank you notes and got them very nearly done. I also finished reading Wicked which has been on my "to be read" pile for a long time.

So for me the short of it is doing at least one "productive" thing in the day makes me feel better?

What does that for you? Maybe in sharing, we can help each other find ways to make this time home better!

Being able to cook a nice meal and sit with my family to eat it. I feel very removed from them resting in the bed all the time. Yes they come to visit but it is not the same. I am feeling so much better these days I am able to do more and more all the time.

Lauriecircle, I'm at the same point as you are and it is getting increasingly more frustrating to be resting. My mind is ready to resume activity but my body is letting me know that it's not. I watched two movies today and a LOT of tv. I like your idea about the one activity a day on the list. Today I did my first two loads of laundry (no carrying, just switching and folding) so I will count that. Thanks for this thread.

I second your post, Irish. It makes me feel good to make a nice meal. Not a big, difficult, complicated, challenge-of-a-meal, just a nice one that we can sit down to and enjoy. Now that I'm feeling better but still at home, I find a lot of pleasure and satisfaction in that.

I make a small list with maybe just 4-5 things on it so I'm not overwhelmed by it. For example my list for Monday read like this:

swift kitchen
sympathy card
change table cloth on dining room table
wash towels

I start the little jobs as early as I can in the morning because that is when I have the most energy. It did take me all day to do those 4 little things due to my lack of attention on a task and lack of motivation. BUT seeing that same list at the end of the day with a line threw each item is a GREAT feeling of accomplishment and usefulness.

Gosh, lauriecircle, what a great post. I love some of the ideas already presented.

I am 8 days post op so folks are still bringing food each day (and scheduled to until 11/2 -- I've got the BEST friends, I swear), which puts a nix on my cooking dinners. Here a few things I've either started doing or will start over the next day or two:

- organize pictues & put in photo albums
- organize recipes and pull some I haven't cookd in awhile (for when i do start cooking again)
- get together address of friends & family for sending Holiday cards in Dec
- online shopping (my DH and son have birthdays in December, so I've already started birthday & Christmas shopping, price comparisons, etc.)

Those are all things I can do while sitting, so I hope to be more organized upon recovery and ready for the Holidays. They will be here before we know it!

Looking forward to more ideas,
- A

Grateful ~ I too have been putting pictures in a scrapbook. When my parents died I kept all of their old photos and thought that one day I'd actually sit down to put together a heritage album. Well, that became my hysterectomy recovery project. I started with birth certificates from 1925 and 1930, the first family pictures in 1936 and a WWII ration coupon from 1943 among other interesting things. I'm currently putting Easter 1948 in my scrapbook. It certainly helps the time go by.

Laurie I'm 2 wks ahead of you but light years behind in where I thought I would be. That being said though and despite being very down, I still push through and try to do something each day. I do shower, do my hair and yes, even put makeup on! DH doesn't care how I look but I sure do and I find that if I feel a bit prettier it helps. I try to get out of the house and run even the smallest of errands.....drive to the post office to put outgoing stuff in the driveup mail box instead of leaving it in the box for the carrier to pick up, going to the store for even one item.....something to make me have to get out and move.

My biggest saving grace though is walking. I do not trust myself to go to any of my favorite parks right now as I never know how the walking will go each day and they are all at least 30 minutes drive. It has also gotten very cold, rainy and ugly here so I instead get on my treadmill and try to do a little more each day or walk 1/10 of a mile faster for at least part of my walk.

I did start cooking more in this last week and that helps some too but I have to be careful moving the pots and my Kitchen Aid....lawdy that baby is heavy!!!! lol

A few days ago I read someone saying that she does what she can one day without over doing it and then the next rest without guilt and then repeat. That seems to be working for me. I felt so good yesterday no pain for the first time. I was able to get so much done. Now today aside from grocery shopping and one load of laundry I've been taking it easy today. Tomarrow I need to get outside and get the yard picked up before MN snow hits. All you who write uplift my spirits when low. Thank you all

I was told that I should not compare my today to my days pre-op, but instead my first few days post-op. Yesterday I realized that I am actually able to bend over and pick-up somethings, that driving is easier each time I try and that life will be back to "normal" all in due time.

I tried to go shopping at day 13, while my DD pushed me in a wheel chair, I could only stay for 30 minutes in the store. I was looking for a sweat suit, but somehow, we only found her 4 new shirts and 2 pairs of sweats. Anyway - today, day 18, I was able to go to the store, by myself, and walk through for 60 minutes and purchase some very needed support undergarments.

I have set some goals for my self-esteem. I saw the link about exercise and they had some stomach exercises we can actually do. So trying to focus on the benefits of recovery instead of the hastles of recovery is what gets me through the day.
Mini-goals each day help as well.
Sorry post is so long.