This is a phenomenon I’ve noticed in myself for years, and I wonder if any other spoonies have noticed it too
You would think that being chronically ill would make you more in-tune with your body since you have to think all the time about what you’re doing, evaluate how much energy you have to do a thing, figure out what triggers which symptoms, have to explain stuff to doctors in excruciating detail over and over again, etc. And, to be sure, that is true for me to an extent.
But the other thing I’ve found is that when you have chronic illness/chronic pain, you get so used to tuning out the unpleasant sensations that are just a normal part of living in your body that you forget to listen to your body signaling you to do stuff? Like I’ll notice that I have to pee, and then immediately forget about it, and then like 6 hours later it reaches the point of like actual stabbing pain and I’m like oh my god I really have to go to the bathroom what the fuck how did I forget about this? Or I’ll go a long time without eating because I just… forget to notice that I’m hungry.
My body is like “hey, I need a thing” and I’m usually like “body, shhh, I’m busy”
Sometimes that signal is my nerves going “AAAAHHHH HELP SWEATER IS TOUCHING SKIN ALERT ALERT EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE” and so me being like “wow body, shut up, we’re wearing clothes today, this is not up for debate” is 100% the right course of action. But then sometimes it’s my stomach going “yo, food is good for you, we haven’t had any in a long time” and I’m like “shhhh don’t worry about it” and then hours later I’m like “wow why do I feel so awful? Why am I shaking? OH maybe because I haven’t eaten today, lol oops, sorry about that one, body, let me immediately overcompensate by eating ALL the snacks while I wait for my dinner to be ready because now that I have noticed I am STARVING”
What if there were women’s cleanliness products that were marketed the way Old Spice stuff is? Like they had names like “Lioness” and “Sycamore” and “Wildfire” and “Hunter’s Moon” and they were touted as making you smell like a warrior queen who does not suffer fools and conquers all she beholds
HELLO LADIES
have you felt the primal call of the unmerciful sea calling you to strike down those who would defy you? no? well if you stopped using overpriced flower-scented body wash and switched to SEA HAG, you might.
look down.
back up. where are you? you’re a siren, bare-breasted and shrieking as you lure the unwary to their doom on the rocks below. and you smell amazing.
what’s in your hand? back at me. it’s a vial of skin-nourishing ingredients, derived from the seaweed you used to strangle a hated foe. it does wonders for your skin tone and resilience, and we all can agree that we will need that resilience in the coming war.
look again: the seaweed is now a formal apology from the last man who unnecessarily tried to explain something to you.
anything is possible when you smell like a vengeful sea witch and embrace your own rage. i’m on a narwhal.
Verylisa 