Last night I was watching a beta tester play Frostpunk 2, an upcoming strategy game. As is typical with this kind of game, it's a giant resource-juggling puzzle. And you get punished for over-extending yourself and not living within your means (food, fuel, etc.).

It struck me this morning how much those games are like Long Covid recovery.

I'm a moderate LC hauler. About 13.5 months in. And the last couple months I've been noticing I've truly been feeling better. Seems to be a combination of time LDN avoiding stress pacing, etc. No magic bullet, just lots of little stuff over time.

Brain fog is significantly better. Six months ago I would get neuro / mental crashes after writing a long email to someone or playing a quick game of chess. Now I can go much longer with concentration, digging into programming projects for a couple hours. Six months ago I would get winded and have to sit down from picking up a few pieces of winter yard debris for a few minutes. Now I can mow my entire (large) backyard (though with the caveat of careful pacing and observing heart rate!). If we are talking the Bell’s Functionality Score, there are days when I just about touch 50 on the scale. During this last winter, I was regularly at 20.

But there is a trap. The trap is that there are times when I think: "Hey, I'm better. I have energy. I feel fine!" And, if you're anything like me (historical Type-A, hard-charging, want to do all the things all at once), you will get absorbed in a project or task, lose track of time and your symptoms, and find yourself in a crash.

Luckily the crashes are less severe now. And they don't last as long when I do fall into one. This last winter crashes were 3-5 days long. Now they're usually just 1 day. Maybe 2. But they temporarily make me back slide. So it's best to NOT get to that point in the first place.

It's tricky. We all want to do stuff! I miss hiking. I miss earning full-time wages. I miss going to restaurants.

I just have to remember: there's no "god mode" cheat code in this LC recovery game. You've got to play by its rules. You have to listen to your body.