How do people manage mild ME/CFS with work/life demands?

I am looking for some advice on how to manage the demands of life with mild chronic fatigue.

I (26 F) have had ME/CFS for around 2 years now. I used be be quite alot more sick (house bound and at times bed bound), but have been lucky enough to improve with rest and the support of my amazingly patient partner to a 'mild' level more recently. I still cannot tolerate heavy exercise/can get terrible PEM and have all the same symptoms, just to a lesser and more manageable degree than before.

I have found it quite challenging to balance general life demands with my health. I can appear relatively normal to others, which is frustrating as they don't fully understand how strictly I have to manage my health and that I still suffer with terrible PEM if I overdo it. I was doing my PhD (on a scholarship) along with a bit of work so I could get by financially, but was stuck in a cycle of feeling good, then overdoing it and causing PEM. I have suspended my PhD for a couple of months to try and get ontop of this and rest. Since I have become 'mild', I find cognitive stimulation puts me into PEM alot faster than light physical activity such as walking, which has been really challenging! I don't know how to describe it, but my brain feels different - critical thinking/writing feels impossible to me.

I wondered how any other mild ME/CFS people out there manage balancing work and life commitments without making their health worse? I want to have a proper job and a family one day, but feel totally out of my depth navigating this grey area of mild ME/CFS where I can at times present totally 'normal'. I'm aware that part of the problem is me needing to have firmer boundaries with myself around my schedule so I don't overdo it, but wondered if people might have any helpful tips/ tricks/routines they use to manage? Thanks for taking the time to read this 😊