Your daily activities can be exhausting.  Many of them are musts, others can be reorganized in terms of importance.  It is important to know in advance, as much as possible, what you have to do for the day.  That way you can organize your time, your priorities and get enough rest throughout the day.  When you are making your plans, remember to schedule at least one pleasurable activity, something you enjoy doing.  Many times we tend to do the chores we feel are needed and to forget about ourselves and what we enjoy doing, and that makes life dreary and boring.  

   It is important to know yourself, and to check yourself at various scheduled intervals during the day to see how you are doing, how tired you are and if anyhing is hurting more than usual, which can be a flare-up warning.  Plan to make a pause at least three times during the day to feel yourself and how you are doing (reffer back to the Mindfulness and Relaxation blog for a technique to do this).  

   One way to be effective is to make lists.  Different lists for different levels of energy, for example:  1. Absolute essentials.  Things that cannot be avoided at all.  Do only these if you are very tired.  Delegate or postpone the rest.

2. Must do’s.  Things that have to get done and you usually take care of.  Do these if your energy is low but O.K., like laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc.

3. Must do’s I haven’t gotten around to doing.  These include bigger projects that have to get done eventually but not necessarily today, like cleaning out the garage or repainting the kitchen.  You can choose one project to start when you are feeling fine, don’t over do it and want to finish everything on the good day, it will exhaust you.

4. Things I want to do.  These include your own projects, those that make you happy that are not necessary at all.  You should have different ones, for different levels of activity and always schedule one for the day, like painting, writing, bicycling, knitting, doing photo albums, etc.