The Meaning of Fatigue

Your fatigue means something. British psychologist Kyle Davies, author of The Intelligent Body, Reversing Chronic Fatigue and Pain From The Inside Out, explains the meaning of fatigue in this guest post.

The Meaning of Fatigue

That groggy fatigue you experience when you suffer from CFS, Adrenal Fatigue, Fibromyalgia of even depression, can hit you like a steam train out of nowhere, leaving you wondering what the hell happened.

Chances are you’ll be checking your diet, your supplements, and your sleep. And when you do you’ll be missing the most important element that sneaks in the back door and pulls the rug out from underneath you.

Let’s look at this in a little more detail. I have just finished working with a client who was concerned about the sudden onset of groggy symptoms fatigue following a period of far fewer symptoms.

Because Energy-Flow Coaching approaches wellbeing by addressing somatic, sensory, cognitive, and psycho-spiritual elements, we recognise that understanding every problem, every symptom is almost like building a puzzle, putting the pieces together one by one.

So, what did we uncover for this client? The onset of symptoms arose at a time of additional responsibilities owing to the ill-health of a family member. When addressing the situation, it was immediately apparent that my client couldn’t simply stop helping out; her mother was in hospital and there was a variety of tasks that needed to be completed and errands run.

If we can’t change what we do, we have to change the way we do it, our level of consciousness. The first step for my client was to take responsibility for her actions, to make conscious decisions about what she was doing rather than simply doing what she thought she ‘should’ or going along with what other family members wanted her to do. That meant doing things in a way and to a timescale that suited her. It also meant seeking to utilise the time as an opportunity. Rather than sitting in her car stuck in a mental loop cursing the obligations and increasing symptoms, she needed to begin being present in the ‘now’ and using that car time to catch up on some podcasts she had lined up but hadn’t had chance to listen to.

It is very easy to slip into a disempowered space of thinking that you ‘have’ to do something that you really don’t want to do. The knock-on effect of this for my client was that she entered a frenetic state of consciousness whereby she was frantically driving herself forward to fulfil obligations, completely detached from her feeling body. The more detached she became the more she ventured north into her head and got stuck in recursive and destructive mind-loops, pushing herself further and further into discomfort. This was exacerbated by pressure from other family members who tended to take a superior stance and issue orders. The energetic environment created by relationships with other family members provided an opportunity to step into empowerment once again and set boundaries.

As we can see, the cause of the fatigue could be found in several areas, all relating to emotion and misalignment with true self. Despite the discomfort involved, understanding that emotions and symptoms are trying to get our attention and guide us back to our ‘home base’ is vitally important. It is only when we understand this that we can begin to unpick the messages behind the symptoms.