Guilt and Chronic Illness in BDSM

You know, when your 'get up and go' has 'got up and went' before you ever get out of bed, it's going to be a bad day. As with many other days, that sentence explains the past few days for me. As a BDSM slave, it makes me feel bad emotionally and mentally to not be able to live up to my normal expectations of myself. In turn, these negative feelings make my brain and body operate on an even worse level than they already were. 

Even when I don't feel good, I am always able to help Padrone at least in some small ways. When I can't, I try to wake him up and get his coffee before work. Doing the smallest things for him makes me happy and makes me feel useful. As a slave, heck as a person, I need and want to feel useful. Many times, I hide away from the world when I'm sick because I feel like if I can't help myself, if I'm feeling all down and negative, why let people see that? I think there's too much negativity in the world already and don't want to add to it by complaining about my health issues. 

But, when I don't answer people right away, when I see the comments, tags, emails, and messages trying to get in touch with me, I feel guilty for not responding, even though I had a very legitimate reason to not to. How do I get myself out of feeling this guilty cycle? How can I feel better while taking care of my own needs?

I have to follow what Padrone has taught me. I have to listen and not think. Padrone always tells me to take it easy during the times my epilepsy is acting up. He tells me to not worry about him, chores, the dogs, or our followers. He tells me to concentrate on myself and my own needs because those are what my priority has to be when I'm not feeling good. How can I take care of someone else's needs when my own haven't been take care of? 

Over the past few years, I have finally started to understand this and allowed myself the time I need between bouts of illness. I take the time out and recover much quicker. After sleeping or relaxing, my brain and attitude are much better and I'm able to go back to my primary mission, which is to help Padrone and help others in the world of BDSM. 

As bottoms, submissives and slaves, we are always putting the needs of our Dominants over our own, which we should when we are in the right head space and health space to do so. But, we also have to realize that we need to take care of our own needs too because we can't serve and give our best to our Dominants if we are not feeling well. 

With all this above, what I want to say is: understand yourself and your limits. It's good to push those limits, because it helps us to get stronger. But at the same time, we need to know just how far our limits can be pushed. Mental and emotional health are very important factors to keep track of, just as we monitor our body's physical health. Don't put the entire burden of your health on your Dominant. Be hyper aware of your mental state, as well as your physical state. This will help you to learn more about yourself and possibly help you to maintain a more balanced and healthy lifestyle.