Battery Life: Short

It’s the day after the Total Solar Eclipse 2017. People around the globe celebrated and shared their exhilaration with photos that showed their locations, groups of people, parties (with an array of deliciously looking food), and their funky, plastic, futuristic fake “3D” glasses that wouldn’t burn their retinas as they stared in awe. Literally, the world came together to see the Moon cross the path of the Sun for the first Total Solar Eclipse of the century (weather permitting).

Me however, I laid on the couch, exhausted beyond feeling like I was functioning. I got about two hours of sleep, was up early, and was watching a spunky, energetic two-year old (He was napping by the time of the eclipse).

The Moon affects the tides, the Sun’s rays affect energy. Was I exhausted because of the rain we had been having? Lack of sleep? Or was it because of the celestial pull of the Moon and what astronomically was about occur?

All good possibilities right? I believe it was a combination of all those plus the invisible illness that is Fibromyalgia. Chronic fatigue is something most of us with fibromyalgia suffer from. Some days, as my Grandma would say, I’m “full of vim-vigor-and vitality.” Others getting out of bed, even opening my eyes, is a chore.

Do I say this to complain? No. Do I say this for sympathy? No. I say it because it’s my experience. Leading up this event of the century among the stars, my body was giving me signs that 1) it wasn’t happy 2) the weather was affecting it and 3) it couldn’t decide if it wanted to cooperate or cause pain.

But, even though I had the pain, I still did what I wanted. Which for most isn’t something you have to think about with your body. I worked out in the evening. I went out with friends and wore an outfit that said “Made In The 90s,” (yes I know I was born in ’85 but my life was shaped during the 90s), and had a night to remember with people I adore. I did what used to be normal activities without having to think “Will my body betray me?”

Yesterday with the eclipse I felt betrayed. My body didn’t want to function. It wanted to rest in sleep mode to reboot.

So, the night before I was at 100% battery life. The next day, “Low-Power Mode.” Such is a life with fibromyalgia.