Building a sustainable recovery from ME/CFS.
A collection of short, practical articles on recovering from ME / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, based on real experience.
Hi and welcome! I'm Matt, I was hospitalised with Severe ME/CFS in June 2021, and since then have worked my way up to Moderate.
This blog is my attempt to work out the puzzle of recovery by distilling the lessons I've learned about fatigue into short, clear and practical posts that are accessible for people who have limited energy. I hope it helps you or someone you care for.
I also post short summaries of each new article on Instagram, so that's a good way to see when a new article is up.
All Articles
Browse by latest article.
The winter flowering cactus
By the window where I often sit is a cactus. It sprawls beside me, inert for most of the year... Continue reading
Published Nov 16, 2023
Relaxing into the journey of recovery
If you knew you were going to recover, how would that affect you?... Continue reading
Published November 6, 2023
Recovery vs living with symptoms
The messages we get from most sources, including the NHS and charities, focus on living with our symptoms, instead of recovery... Continue reading
Published October 17, 2023
How to cry
When I first started meditating, within a minute I would feel a strong urge to cry. It was like a trapped wave of emotion rushing to the surface as soon as I relaxed my guard... Continue reading
Published July 27, 2023
Enjoy anticipation
The choice of how we act is one of the things taken away from us by fatigue, and one of the hardest things to deal with... Continue reading
Published July 14, 2023
My 2 year progress chart
Having covered the process I use to track my energy levels, I’d like to share my actual chart... Continue reading
Published June 23, 2023
How I track my energy levels
I’ve been tracking my daily energy levels for two years now, since first getting ME/CFS, so this seems a good moment to review and share my progress... Continue reading
Published June 2, 2023
You're doing really well
When did you last tell yourself that you’re doing really well? Or comfort and praise yourself and acknowledge the progress you’ve made?... Continue reading
Published May 19, 2023
Turn off the shower before drying yourself
Imagine that your friend calls you and complains that every morning they find it impossible to get dry after their shower. No matter how much they use their towel or hairdryer, they just stay wet... Continue reading
Published April 24, 2023
A rest state is just a non-stress state
After living with ME/CFS for a while, and having lived with the contributing patterns of stress for much longer, it’s natural to become normalised to a high resting stress level... Continue reading
Published March 2, 2023
Relax your body in the moment
I’ve been practicing mindful breathing for over a year now, and it’s gradually had a powerful effect on lowering my overall stress levels.... Continue reading
Published February 17, 2023
Monitor the trend
Before CFS/ME, we all had days when we were just tired, for whatever reason. Tiredness is how our body indicates to us that we need to rest, to maintain our overall balance of health.... Continue reading
Published November 8, 2022
Real recovery is uneven
We’re used to lining up every day on the metaphorical racetrack and sprinting off to achieve our to-do list; work, kids, shopping, exercise, trips, ’omelette Tuesdays’... Continue reading
Published September 13, 2022
Stop avoiding your emotions
There are many reasons we avoid feeling our emotions and unintentionally build up our emotional load... Continue reading
Published Aug 15, 2022
Process your emotions to allow your body to rest
Emotions are an essential part of how we respond to the events in our lives. When something happens, our body signals its reaction to us through emotion... Continue reading
Published May 6, 2022
Trust your body to feel safe in your mind
When I’d get anxious or panicked, I’d get angry and frustrated at myself. There was no logical reason to be anxious about these situations, I told myself, so my symptoms didn’t make sense... Continue reading
Published April 28, 2022
Moderate stress keeps your body and brain healthy
If you exercise in a regular balanced way, your body will grow stronger. Your muscles, reactions and overall physical condition will improve... Continue reading
Published April 23, 2022
Your psychological patterns perpetuate your stress loads
Our psychological patterns influence what stress we take in to our lives, and how we view that stress.
They are one of the biggest perpetuators of our stress load, often trapping us in a cycle that we aren’t aware of... Continue reading
Published April 13, 2022
Identify your stress loads
Chronic fatigue can be caused and perpetuated by carrying multiple stress loads over time. This combination eventually overloads our system and we get stuck in a state of chronic stress... Continue reading
Published April 12, 2022
Chronic fatigue is caused by chronic stress
Our bodies naturally heal. When you get a cut, you don’t instruct your blood to clot and your skin to grow; it does it for... Continue reading
Published April 5, 2022
Identify as a healthy person
Your identity is the foundation of your mindset, which in turn drives your actions.
It makes some actions easy and automatic, and some actions... Continue reading
Published March 31, 2022
