After my last post on goal setting to help you manage your pain. This post is some ideas on goal setting.
Write balanced goals which should include what you want to do with your life at the moment.
Include some type of exercise in your goals. Only achievable ones and not something that could irritate your pain.
Add some activities that provide a personal meaning to you as well as a pleasure (like walking your dog).
Keep a diary separate from your normal diary to keep a note of your goals and congratulate yourself in it when your day has gone well.
Look through your diary to see which days were the best balance for your condition.
Make your goals measurable, make sure you give yourself enough time to achieve some of them, even if they take days or even weeks. I have a goal which I may not finish until the end of this year or longer to rewrite all my recipes from different cookery books into one book with pictures and clippings.
Make your goals realist and not impossible to achieve as that would only make you feel worse and extremely frustrated.
Don’t be afraid to dream as it’s nice to think of something that one-day in the future you might manage.
Talk to your friends and family about some of your goals so they can also encourage you and give you a pat on the back when you have achieved one. This also helps them to realise how difficult it is for you to sometimes achieve the simplest of tasks.
Set some of your goals for the future, three months, six months or even a year away. There is no rush, take your time. The longer-range goals should express objectives that take longer to achieve and that affirm your expectation of making them at some stage in the future.
There are some good books from Amazon on goal setting http://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Down-Make-Happen-Knowing/dp/0684850028/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314298310&sr=1-1 and there are also some good websites, this being one of them http://healthskills.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/goals-and-goal-setting-in-pain-management/
BACK PAIN BLOG UK... 
This is a really good idea, and helps keep people focused and positive. Good luck with your recipes, Bar! How is your Dad?
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Hi gillyk, he’s slowly on the mend and enjoying his tlc with me. He should be fine to take back next week. Thanks for asking. xx
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Great advice, setting goals is very important when dealing with lower back pain, it is a long process there are no quick fixes.
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Thanks von 🙂
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My entry into the gym has been delayed by my brother’s funeral, my GS became ill, and I have had a bad cold that just won’t go away. We are also being hit by a flu epidemic in NZ too, but I get annual jabs for that. I have always been positive so I know I’ll get there. The exercise regime helped but I want some strengthening in my lower back.
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Really sorry to hear about your loss hutt, don’t rush if you have a cold, plenty of time to do the gym when your feeling better. Hope your lower back pain gets easier soon. You take care, x
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Goals are very important for accomplishing anything in our lives, especially pain!
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They most certainly are Nick 🙂
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