I’m not writing a blog this week.
I guess I kind of am because you are reading this.
But my brain is tired.
I talk a lot about mental energy and mental fatigue among those living with dementia. Someone with dementia has limited mental energy, and they should get to decide how to spend it.
My favorite analogy is mental energy pennies. I talk about it so much that I think my team rolls their eyes.
When someone is out of pennies, they withdraw or maybe get irritable.
That’s not just true of people living with dementia. It’s also true of their care partners. It’s true of 40-something college professors who run dementia simulation houses. It’s true of all of us.
My mental energy pennies are not as limited as someone who has dementia, but they are limited all the same.
The weekend has been crazy. Two dementia simulations on Friday night. A fun (but long) day on Saturday at my friend Kevin’s Run to Remember to raise awareness and funds for those who live with dementia. And a really great Dementia Friendly Organization training today at a local church. (We love making faith-based communities dementia friendly.)
It wasn’t a weekend off but it was a weekend doing things I love to do. And I now realize that the combination of events this weekend (although all super-positive events) has stolen most of my mental energy pennies.
Here’s how I plan to spend my last ones tonight. My friend Amy and I are going shopping at Dick’s Sporting Goods and then to grab dinner. My brain is tired, so I will buy things I don’t need because I am too exhausted to remind myself why I don’t need things. I will eat unhealthy fried food–because when my brain is tired I don’t have the energy to consider what might be healthy.
Signing off immediately to preserve mental energy pennies.
When Dementia Knocks 
I relate. Thanjs
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Love the penny analogy! So true in every life circumstance. When I was caring for my mom, I was so physically and emotionally exhausted, there were no pennies to spend on friendships or even my relationship with my sibling who lived halfway across the country. My sibling’s mental health struggles meant that they had no pennies to spend on my mom and me. Initially I was bitter and angry that they wouldn’t at least call to check in regularly. Once I experienced the lack of emotional energy that came from being a caregiver, I understood that my sibling only had enough pennies to invest in their own marriage. And that was okay. It was the most important relationship for them, and I’m thankful that they had enough pennies in the bank to keep that marriage healthy!
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