There is a phrase that I have been using a fair bit lately, after completing a relatively simple task or activity.
"Nothing should ever be this hard."
I am not meaning pain or the general inability to practice certain activities, and I am also not referring to extreme sports/activities. I am merely referring to the reaction of an individual's body after performing a common task.
Have you ever watched people cross the finish line after running a marathon? Ever notice how many people seem to collapse the second they cross that finish line? You can just see how their muscles are failing them... How their bodies are shutting down entirely - eyes drooping almost instantly, muscles shaking, joints completely giving out, tears streaming down their faces, and you just KNOW that thirty seconds after they lie down in their own bed, they are out cold.
It is a visible and all-encompassing kind of exhaustion. It is the kind of fatigue that can prevent a person from even being able to unscrew the cap off of a water bottle.
This is similar to the kind of exhaustion many chronically ill patients experience. The only difference is that, on occasion, I can feel that dramatically fatigued after trying to curl my hair, or climbing a flight of stairs, or even (like yesterday morning for example) making my bed followed by eating breakfast and putting on makeup. This is usually when I hand someone to open a water bottle or a bottle of pills. I immediately had to sit down and take a breather, and within half an hour I was back asleep for the next three hours.
This, of course, is NOT all the time. It happens more and more lately, but there are also days when I won't feel even a slight decrease in energy after a ten minute bike ride or a twenty minute singing performance.
I am so grateful to still experience days where I DO have a fair amount of energy.
Fatigue can be disguised better than it can be predicted. It can also be inconsistent and it is incredibly difficult to to fully comprehend or mimic - unless that person has experienced it in his/her life at some point.