"spoons", defined
As in, "I don't have the spoons for that." or "Hey! I saved my spoons for this." or " I gotta' save up some spoons for that..."
Spoon theory is a concept used to represent how individuals manage limited energy. It is a metaphor describing the amount of physical or mental energy that a person has available for daily activities and tasks, and how it can become limited.
NOTE: I don’t actually count spoons. That’s just one more fucking thing. BUT those phrases in the siubtitle? Yeah, I say those.
- Ursula Carrie
_______________________________
The term was coined in a 2003 essay by American writer Christine Miserandino. In the essay, Miserandino describes her experience with chronic illness, using a handful of spoons as a metaphor for units of energy available to perform everyday actions.
The metaphor has since been used to describe a wide range of disabilities, mental health issues, forms of marginalization, and other factors that might place unseen burdens on individuals. In conjunction with spoon theory, members of the chronic illness community have developed several related theories to describe other aspects of energy management.
Those with chronic illness or pain have reported feelings of difference and alienation from people without disabilities.[2]
The spoon metaphor and the claiming of the term spoonie has been utilized to build support communities for those with chronic illness.[3]
Spoons are a metaphor used as a unit of measurement to visualize the mental and physical energy a person has available for activities of everyday life and productive tasks throughout a given amount of time (e.g. a day or week).[4]
Origin Chronic illness and spoon theory
Because of this, many people with chronic illness have to plan in advance and ration their energy and activities throughout the day. Activities of daily living must often be curtailed or avoided, because they carry an invisible cost in terms of spoons available later for other things.
This has been described as being a major concern of people with a (fatigue-related) disability or chronic condition/illness/disease because people without these disabilities are not typically concerned with the energy expended during ordinary tasks such as bathing and getting dressed. The theory explains the difference and facilitates discussion between those with limited energy reserves and those with (seemingly) limitless energy reserves.[1]
Excerpted from: Spoon Theory, Wikipedia