Spoon Theory

Explaining you’re low on bandwidth

Spoon Theory is a concept that originated in the chronic illness community, first described by Christine Miserandino in 2003.

It uses the physical object of spoons to represent one's emotional and physical well-being resources.

Spoon Theory posits that we wake up each day with some number of spoons that can fluctuate wildly based on a number of factors like our day before and how we slept and what's on the schedule for today and the weather and luck and... Well, a lot out of our control.

Spoon Theory continues on that doing anything - eating, dressing, making a phone call, supporting a friend - takes spoons.

Some days we wake up with a lot of spoons and don't need them all. These can be good days to help others. Or rest. Other days we wake up with not nearly enough spoons, be it from a wild day ahead or an empty well or both.

I like Spoon Theory because it's a really concrete metaphor that I can use with my support system.

"I am out of spoons" or "running low on spoons" are easy cries for help without having to go into explicit detail immediately. Which is good - because I'm out of spoons.