Silverware Theory

silverware theory

i'm sure most of y'all have heard of spoon theory, the idea that the amount of "spoons", aka resources/energy, someone has, determines how much someone can do in a certain period of time(this mostly applies to chronically ill, neurodivergent, and mentally ill folks as far as i know)

spoons only cover energy though. what about the other stuff? yeah, there's more silverware! fun!! /hsarc

it can be kinda hard to read a wholeass article so i tried to make each concept more bite sized(pun not intended lol). feel free to let me know if this is too wordy! constructive feedback is important after all.

spoons:

-you have a limited number of spoons every day

-it's pretty much impossible to gauge how many spoons you have starting out, as well as exactly how many spoons a certain activity may take

-EVERYTHING requires spoons, no matter how enjoyable it is

-sometimes you can recover spoons by doing restful/restorative activities(sleeping, reading a favorite book, playing with your cat, etc)

-the same activity can take different amounts of spoons day to day

-if you use up all your spoons one day, you'll probably have less spoons the next day(or longer)

-recovering spoons takes time

-you can't control how many spoons you have. it's not a matter of "laziness"

forks:

-comes from the phrase "stick a fork in me"

-forks are everyday stressors/inconveniences ranging anywhere from needing to pee to someone intentionally triggering you

-the amount of forks you can take varies like spoons

-one large fork like getting triggered can ruin your whole day

-same with several smaller forks(think "the straw that broke the camel's back")

-having lower fork tolerance doesn't make you weak

-it just means getting stabbed with forks sucks

knives:

-can refer to overexertion, pushing past your limits

-i've seen it used to refer to trauma as well*

-not everyone can handle knives because they are extremely detrimental

-knives hurt really bad and often cause lasting and/or permanent damage

-AVOID KNIVES IF YOU CAN

-if there's a super important reason behind the knife, be prepared to staunch the (metaphorical) bleeding

-using excessive knives is ill advised

(this article beats around the bush a lot so it was kinda hard to glean much)

*i've only ever seen the trauma knife theory in RPG settings. it made sense to me, but should be taken with a bowl of

[ID: a digital poster from mentalhealthathome.org titled The Mental Illness Cutlery Drawer. it reads spoons: resources you have to spend. forks: external stressors. knives: traumas. whisks: sources of agitation and overwhelm. meat tenderizer: beat the crap out of you, and just keep on beating. END ID]

happy what do tuesday's tuesday

category 5 autism moment. finding a fun sound to make and then just doing that for 5 minutes straight as a group activity

do you weep

often