I was telling someone recently about the “spoons” metaphor. I guessed they probably hadn’t heard that before so before I said what I really wanted to say, I explained it. Basically, it means “unit of energy” and the idea is that we each have a different number of units each day depending on our ability / health.
In the time that it took to explain that, I could have just said what I needed to. How did it become so popular? The spoon doesn’t even symbolise anything itself. So while I think it made a good visual demo when the first person presented it, I think it lands differently with people in conversation.
It is somehow reassuring to hear other people using it. It has shown me how many people struggle this way that I never realised before. But I think I’ll stick with “batteries” or something that’s easier to explain to people who aren’t in the loop.
Thoughts?
Edit: The metaphor was invented by Christine Miserandino to illustrate her experience of lupus to someone in a café. I assume the cutlery was the best illustration device to hand in that situation and quite effective.
Eventually it’s not a metaphor anymore, it just becomes its own thing, a new sense of the word. I think “spoon” has every change to make it, just on its sonorous qualities.
On the metaphor, I tend to think of medicine. Like I need a spoon of laudanum for each task before me.
That’s true, it eventually becomes a thing of it’s own among the community that use it. The way things are going, that community will only get bigger.