Simple tasks feel impossible, and you are not just being dramatic. Taking a shower, making your bed, brushing your teeth, as I said, things that once felt like part of your normal routine now feel like climbing Everest, and maybe you have started beating yourself up about it, telling yourself you are just lazy, that you need more discipline, that you should be over this by now. But what you are experiencing is real. It has a name. It is called post-exertional malaise, or PEM for short. It is a condition where even light activity, like standing too long, having a conversation, or washing your hair, can drain your body so deeply that it crashes for hours or days after. This isn’t psychological; it is metabolic. When your body is in this state, your mitochondria, the little engines in your cells that produce energy, stop functioning properly. That’s why I said it’s in your cells. They can’t produce enough ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the molecule your body uses for energy, so even the smallest task feels like too much. I used to brush my teeth and then lie down on the bathroom floor, can you believe that, because my heart was pounding so hard. I would take a shower and I’d have to sit down halfway through because I felt dizzy, and I remember thinking, “What is wrong with me?” But now I know nothing was wrong. My body was just finally falling apart after years of holding everything together.
Conclusion
Bottom line: your symptoms are not your weakness; they are evidence. They’re the physical proof of how strong you had to be, how long you endured, how deeply your body tried to protect you. This isn’t about pushing through, you see; it’s about listening. If your body is asking you to slow down, to rest, to recover, please listen. It is not broken; it is healing.
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