Horse on left, S on the right

Being Ill Really Purposefully: Weeks 46-47 of Jiu-Jitsu

The title is partly misleading: I’ve not trained for two weeks. My body did the thing where it went through two flues after another again. This time I decided to try something different: not to stress about missing mat time. As I started to feel better, I could take stock about what I actually did during these two weeks.

Stuff I got done

  • Rested like a pro. Being ill isn’t cool, but it makes four-hour naps during the day legal.
  • Worked a bit on a professional website for myself (still under construction).
  • Secured a meeting for some freelance gigs that might be in the pipeline.
  • Agreed on a planning meeting for a volunteer photography gig I’m doing next month.
  • When I started to recover from the worst bits of the flu, I did some freelance work that was waiting to get done.
  • I followed an interesting communication seminar online.
  • I paid all my bills.
  • BJJ related: I thanked my coach for being a good coach.
  • Finally managed to go to the laboratory (more about later in this post).
  • I chatted to some training partners online. It makes me feel less isolated from the jiu-jitsu community.
  • Dicked about on Twitter. The platform is a cesspit in many ways, but staying there more did give me the sense of feeling connected to both social issues and the field of communication.
  • Got to hang out with my Mum’s horse (Heta is in the feature image) and my friend’s new puppy.

    Rilke

F-surprises

I had been procrastinating on a laboratory test that was ordered for me in June. I had complained tiredness and feeling foggy, so the physician recommended getting my ferritin levels measured.

Not gonna lie, the current obsession with ferritin deficiency in popular health speculations has annoyed me a couple of times this year. Like the time someone opened up online about lacking management and several burnouts in their workplace, and literally the first comment was about how the poster should check their ferritin levels! Grr. I finally went to the laboratory yesterday, as I was feeling better but still not training fit.

So guess what, my ferritin levels are very low. Probably the combination of Being A Person Who Menstruates Heavily and the amount of exercise I nowadays do has been chipping away at the iron in my body. So supplements must be taken for a while now.

No Stress, Like Really

I refused to lament on not being able to train. I barely even looked at any techniques online. Because I have all the time in the world and my motivation is not that affected by having a couple of periods of illness in my year. In fact, when I had the strength for it, focusing on other stuff I was due to do anyway really helped. It got my to-do list a bit shorter and also reminded me I do have a life outside jiu jitsu. I don’t wish for a life without BJJ ever, but at least I have now trialed what to do with my time if I have to stay off the mat because of injuries and the like.

During the past few days, I have started to think about grappling again and checked a few videos online. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed for training to resume next week. 😀

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