Baseline: How it can backfire

The most generic bit of advice you will ever receive for CFS / CF / CP or Burnout...is 'establish a baseline' & god forbid you go out of it.

Insinuating you should pick a few activities that feel manageable & stick to just doing them while you slowly improve your energy. This rarely ever works as a long term solution, & more often than not amplifies push/crash cycles due to its meticulous controlling nature.

 I believe this is quite damaging advice for most (not all), read below for why...

The problem with baseline (to name a few), is that it insinuates you have all the control over your energy. It insinuates energy is only used for physical activities. It insinuates you are to blame if you have a flare up because you "chose" to go out of the baseline (so hi more self critisms). It often is not clearly defined. It is restrictive...it disconnects you from your intuition further & encourages you to treat your body like a machine because you are making decisions for it without even checking in with how it feels. It usually increases stress & hyper vigilance. It usually reduces quality of life & presence...because your not thinking about enjoying what you can, you are thinking about staying in the impossible guidelines.

Restriction leads to overconsumption, always.

If you are trying to stick to a strict baseline, you are more likely to then fall into the 'push crash' cycle. You will feel more inclined to 'push' when you have been forcing yourself to rest without feeling like you actually need to. You will also label anything outside the baseline as 'pushing' ...when maybe it isn't. 

So what can you do? 

Let me be clear...absolutely sometimes baseline can be helpful & applicable. But it must be taken with a flexible mindset.

It's important to understand...so much of your energy goes on cognition, metabolism, emotions, & other bodily functions. So you could stick to your baseline 'perfectly' & you will likely still experience flare ups. 

So use baseline as a rough guide. But try to avoid becoming overly attached to it because its not accurate for energy.

There will be times in life where you have to go out of this baseline whether it's a pet getting sick, an emotional upheaval, or any situation that cannot be avoided (because life is life)...the more accepting you can be of this - the better.

There is nothing worse than having to go out of your baseline & then 10x'ing your stress because you believe it is a bad thing - "OMG I have gone out of the baseline...PANIC". When it doesn't always have to be.

Having a fixed & ridged baseline can backfire because it makes you feel deprived, reduces quality of life & you are more likely to say 'fuck it I just want to do something'...& then actually do a lot more than you are able to.

So how about if you focused on improving quality of life whilst managing your condition? Rather than focussing on controlling yourself as much as possible?

Staying in a strict baseline makes you more vulnerable to crashes because everything outside of this baseline you will interpret as a threat. Allowing yourself instead to fluctuate imperfectly means you will build some resilience within the nervous system.

This is the hard truth...flare ups can't be completely avoided. EITHER WAY. A lot of people trying to stick to baseline are attempting to avoid a flare...which on the surface level makes so much sense but it doesn't work (for the reasons above).

Of course be sensible, i'm not suggesting you start filling your days up & forgetting all your rest actives etc. But learning to manage the flares whilst being flexible with your baseline is a much more realistic, stress less approach.

*This does not replicate 1-1 advice. So take what serves you & leave the rest🫶🏼*