How 20 spoons can help you remember to support and exercise your hands
I am starting off this post by telling you a real-life story because a) I thought of you as this was happening to me, and b) it relates to taking care of our hands. Stay with me.
Let me preface this with, I have a lot going on in my life (as you can likely relate). 3 kids + a business is no joke! Things often go under the radar.....for an embarrassingly long time.
So my two oldest children are at a Montessori school where the children are expected to retrieve and put away anything they are using - whether it's pencils, puzzles, their rainboots, or......spoons.
Apparently, my two children think it's HILARIOUS to put their spoons from school in their LUNCHBOXES when they are done with them, rather than washing them and returning them to their rightful spoon-holders at school.
Every day for like 2 weeks, when I opened their lunchboxes, there would be one spoon in each of their containers. I would run the 2 spoons through our dishwasher then place them near my van keys as a reminder to return them to school at the next dropoff.
Here's the thing - the spoons made it out to the van each time, but never past that point. Until one morning I start my van, look down, and realize I have 20 spoons sitting atop my van console.TWENTY. SPOONS.
Sitting there. For 2 weeks. Right there in plain sight.
I drive in my van a LOT during the week - I provide mobile hand therapy in people's homes and basically live out of my van. You'd think I would've been bothered by these 20 spoons in between client sessions, or seen them during dropoff or pickup at any given moment and remembered to return them to a teacher.
Realizing something needed to change in my spoon-returning technique, and out of a very real fear that I would accumulate 20 more spoons in the span of 2 more weeks to then have FORTY spoons living in my van, I grabbed ahold of all 20 spoons and made myself tightly grip them in my hand, in my lap, as I drove one-handed to school to drop the kiddos off.
Thank goodness we only live 7 minutes away from school
I thankfully was able to return all 20 spoons that day, solely because I had changed my spoon delivery technique to ensure I succeeded in remembering them when I needed to most.
“Okay Corinne, but how does your forgetfulness relate to my hands?”
You have all the best intentions. Yet more often than you're proud of, you plan on doing your exercises every day ("during my lunch break" or "right after my shower"), yet they often get skipped over. You plan on using your hand braces but never seem to be wearing them when you actually need them most.
It's okay, give yourself some grace. It can be really, really hard to keep up with everything, especially if you're living with chronic hand pain.
Sometimes, what you need is to CHANGE IT UP.
Grip the 20 spoons in your hand and don't let go till you remember to deliver them.
Leave your hand brace that you know you need tomorrow right on top of your coffee pot, so you have to put your hands on it (which means you'll actually put it on) before you make your morning coffee.
Place your theraputty right in front of your computer monitor, so when the inevitable boring work zoom meeting happens you can get your reps in.
If you are having a hard time being consistent, change your strategy. Set yourself up for success by doing something different.
Here's something else you can do that's different - join me for my first-ever FREE Masterclass coming up in December- the "Hand Arthritis Masterclass for Less Pain and More Fun: How to Exercise, Protect, and Support Your Hands Every Single Day."
You'll learn practical tips on how to actually get your hand exercise reps in, easy strategies for protecting the small joints of your hands, how to choose the right brace/support to maximize your hand function, and simple ways to decrease your hand pain and inflammation.
