What is Spoon Theory?
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
While many autistic people use Energy Accounting, some find they relate more to a strategy called Spoon Theory. This short article explains what it is and how to start using it to manage your daily energy.
What is Spoon Theory?
Spoon Theory was created by Christine Miserandino to explain the experience of living with limited energy due to a chronic illness. It uses spoons as a visual metaphor for the mental and physical energy you have available each day.
The idea is that you start your day with a set number of spoons. Every task you do—from getting out of bed to attending a meeting—costs you one or more spoons. When you run out of spoons, you have no more energy left for the day.
Many autistic people find this helpful because:
It is visual: It turns an abstract feeling (tiredness) into a physical object (a spoon).
It highlights hidden costs: Some tasks that seem “easy” to others, like a quick trip to the post office, might require an autistic person to expend several spoons due to sensory or social demands.
It encourages pacing: If you know you only have a certain number of spoons, it helps you decide which tasks are the most important.
How to Start Using Spoon Theory
This is how to put Spoon Theory into practice:
Count your spoons: Start by imagining how many spoons you have on a good day. For many, this is a fixed number (like 12 spoons).
Value your activities and tasks: Look at your typical daily activities and decide how many spoons each one costs. For example:
Showering and getting dressed: 2 spoons.
A 30-minute phone call: 3 spoons.
An hour of focused work: 4 spoons.
Identify Spoon Thieves: Be aware that unexpected events—like a loud fire alarm or a last-minute change to your schedule—can steal spoons you hadn't planned to spend.
Plan your Spoon Spend: Look ahead. If you have a high-cost task in the afternoon, try to do zero-spoon or one-spoon activities in the morning to save your energy.
Borrowing from tomorrow: Sometimes, you might have to use more spoons than you have. This is borrowing from tomorrow. Recognise that if you do this, you will start the next day with fewer spoons and will need extra time to recover.
