How many spoons do you have?

How many spoons do you have? That’s a question Spoonies are often asked, by GPs, Dieticians, anyone in the healthcare field who is trying to understand how to best help us. But, is it a simple matter of the number of spoons, or are there other questions that need addressing first?

For those unfamiliar with what we’re talking about here, it’s Spoon Theory. It’s not some weird or wonderful astrological or scientific study, like String theory, you won’t need a degree from a university to get to grips with this topic. It’s literally just a way of thinking about the energy we use to get through the day’s requirements.

A lot, but not all, of people who use ‘spoons’ to relate to the amount of energy will equate 1 action = 1 spoon of energy. It’s a generalisation, not a precise measurement, and it can be inaccurate when budgeting your energy/spoon allowance for the day/week. 

Does size matter?

A bit like the fuel gauge in your car, or the amount of coffee in a jar – how far can you go, or how long will it last? You might have a ‘full tank’, but if you’re doing some heavy duty work, you may burn through it much faster than if you were on holiday. 

Or, perhaps you need something with a bit more grunt, to get a job done – huge trucks hauling big loads are going to use more fuel than what a small commuter car will, or an extra large serve of coffee in your cup after a bad night’s sleep to help get your going.

The number of spoons correlates to this; do you have a 10lt tank? What about a 40lt tank? Or are you like a semi-truck with 100lt capacity? That’s what needs quantifying too!

Essentially there are two questions that need answering; how big are your spoons, and does size of your spoons matter? After all, the more you do, the more you use. 

Understanding size limits

So, let’s start with spoon sizes; in traditional spoon sizing there’s a range, a coffee spoon, a teaspoon, a dessert spoon, a soup spoon, a table spoon, and a serving spoon. Here’s a chart for reference:

Coffee	Tea	Dessert	Soup	Table	Serving
2.5-3.5ml	5ml	10ml	10-15ml	20ml	40-55ml

 

Now, think about how a ‘spoon’ of energy might actually relate to energy spent on activities. For example, you might spend 1 coffee spoon on brushing your hair, your teeth, and getting dressed. Now, what about getting breakfast, is that included in that first spoon, or does it fall into ‘meal prep’ for the day, ie. breakfast/lunch/dinner might cost 1 soup spoon. 

So, already you can see that those two spoon measurements aren’t equal, yet if someone asks you how many spoons you’ve used, you’ll probably answer ‘2’. Here lies the conundrum, the number of spoons doesn’t necessarily answer the real question being asked, because any two people may not be measuring with the same size spoon. 

What size is YOUR spoon?

That’s ultimately what you need to discover, and be able to explain to a healthcare professional when they ask. Everybody will be different, the baseline number of available clean spoons in the drawer will vary, and the rate that those same spoons can be restored and returned will also vary.

Here’s another example;

Activity	Teaspoon 5ml	Soup spoon 15ml	Serving spoon 40ml
Hair/teeth/dressing	3	1	.3
Making food	2	.8	.2
Cleaning the home	5	1.8	.6
Work	5	1.8	.6
Total spent:	15	5.4	1.9

As you can see, the ‘number’ of spoons varies greatly, and this information can thus be misunderstood or misrepresented.

How do you size your spoons? 

What we’d recommend is sitting down with a pen and a piece of paper and thinking about the energy you spend doing things – and what that usage feels like. By this, we mean is the activity something you do easily, or does it leave you feeling exhausted? After the activity, how quickly can you move on to the next thing? Does recovery come easily, or does it take time? Just doing this exercise alone will no doubt use energy, so notice that as well.

Here’s another chart for you to use to get an idea of energy-taxing daily activities for you to fill in:

Hair/Teeth	Dress/Undress	Make/eat food	Washing	Laundry	Vacuuming
Tidying rooms	Deskwork	Socialising	Short drive	Long drive	Grocery shop
Clothes shop	Appointments	Exercise	Relaxation	Restore spoons	?

Okay, so under each activity add in a volume amount, ie: 1 teaspoon = 5ml, so doing your hair and teeth in the morning might use 5ml of energy, or maybe it’s 10ml? It’s completely personal to you and your body. Think carefully about each activity, and at the end you can add up the total number of ‘ml’ used – then you’ll get an idea of the size of your ‘tank’ or ‘drawer of spoons’.

Now you have your ‘volume’, you can work out the number of the spoons you want to relate it to. By this, we mean go back to that first chart and compare the spoon sizes vs the spoon numbers, which feels easiest/most accurate for you to work with? 

Do you prefer more precise measurements, which means smaller spoon size, but closer management of spoon allocation. Or, do you prefer a generalised approach which allocates a few distinct spoons, and gives a broader understanding of where you’re using your energy.

Renewing your spoons

This is the tricky part, and where many come undone. Spending the spoons and ‘living’ is easy, but having to do the dishes every day can feel monotonous. If only there was a ‘dishwasher’ where you could load all your dirty and spend spoons, and with a few pressed buttons they reappeared in the drawer ready to use again.

It’s not that simple though, is it?

Many people with chronic illness/es find that each spoon requires individual handling, with close attention to the spoon’s makeup. We have to be ever vigilant against over usage and wearing down our spoons. With a limited supply available, we can’t just pop to the shops and buy new ones.

Understanding how you renew, or clean, your spoons is key. You might be someone who needs to sleep, or lay down and watch or read. Maybe you benefit from sensory deprivation and shutting out the world? Or perhaps you need to be surrounded by nature? It’s a personal choice, and often requires a carefully curated combination of approaches to restore your spoons.

The trickiest part though is remembering to leave enough spoons available to do this! Often we’re tempted to push through, to just do that little bit extra because today’s a good day. Then we discover that we’re out of spoons, there’s none left for today, so we borrow from tomorrow with the promise we’ll pay them back. But we can’t. We’ve literally used more than we can afford, and we can’t always pay them back easily. Yes, sometimes we can and do, but it’s risky, any day could be the one when there’s no more water to wash your spoons, literally writing cheques our bodies can’t cash.

Spoon budgeting?

Is there such a thing? That’s what we’ll discuss in the next article; how you can give some prediction to your spending, plan in recovery, and ensure you have enough spoons available to enjoy your life, not just endure it.

Until then, sign up to our MBaS newsletter, head over to Instagram and give us a follow, and we’ll see you soon!