When Your Mind Wants To, but Your Body Can't

When your body changes, your habits and the way you see yourself do not always change at the same pace.

You remember what it was like to work, make plans, solve problems and keep going until everything was done.

The will is still there.

The ideas are still there.

The sense of responsibility is still there.

But your body may no longer have the same energy.

That can create a difficult conflict:

• your mind wants to keep going

• your body needs to stop

• your thoughts make plans

• your energy is not enough to carry them out

Both experiences are real.

Your body not having the energy does not mean that the will is gone.

With long-term illness, fatigue can cause significant physical and mental limitations. The mechanisms behind fatigue can also differ between illnesses and from person to person. [3]

It can be difficult to accept that something you want to do is simply not possible right now.

You may feel frustrated.

Divided.

Guilty.

Because your body is setting limits that your mind did not choose.

Sometimes the energy you do have can be used in other ways.

Thinking.

Planning.

Writing.

Creating some structure.

These can be ways of continuing to move forward when your physical capacity is limited.

It is not the same as giving up.

It is learning to work with the body you have today, without losing sight of the life you still want to live.