What is a Spoonie?

My guess is if you’ve ended up here, you already know what a “Spoonie” is. But if you don’t then grab a pen and paper.

Up until the beginning of last year, I had no idea what a “Spoonie” was. Before I met my other half I had zero clue what it meant to be chronically ill, but over roughly 1 year 5 months, 1 day, 6 hours, 34 minutes and 12 seconds I’ve come to understand exactly what it means.

A “Spoonie” is a person with one or more chronic illnesses. Illnesses that range from arthritis, to Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia to MCAD. They may look the same as everyone else, and often get the comment “but you don’t look sick?” But where “normies” (someone like me who doesn’t suffer with illnesses, and can go all day on a few hours sleep) can get up in the morning, they can shower, change, do their makeup, make breakfast, walk to the bus, or drive to work, work all day, shop, cook then clean, and still have energy for more, “spoonies” just can’t.

A “Spoonie” in a nutshell is the short way of saying that someone has a set amount of “spoons” in a day (spoon = unit of energy) and once they are spent, it takes a recharge to get one back. “Spoonies” have to plan everything they do in a day. Each day is different, one day they can have 10 spoons, the next day they may only have 2, but every day takes planning, and even the smallest of tasks can use more spoons than you might think.

Walking to use the loo can feel like climbing a mountain.

Each illness brings different symptoms, at times they flare, and at times they ease, but the rollercoaster that is life for a “Spoonie” is never ending, and getting through each day is always a challenge.

I will elaborate more about specific illnesses, but right now I have a coffee to drink with my very own Spoonie, Hannah. I’ll be introducing her soon and she is my inspiration for doing this, so thankyou my love.

Hopefully for someone that had no idea, you now know something you didn’t! Spoonie life is something that has changed everything for me and in the best ways. I hope that for others out there that are living the same they can find a place here they can enjoy a little read and maybe even have a say yourself.

Until later. Keep smiling

Jack