Disease and illness has the ability to pop up at the least expected, and most unfortunate, of times. I know this all too well and I have a feeling I’m not the only one. People used to tell me all the time about how they would get sick the week of studying or get the flu right before a big competition. The story usually ended in the same way, which was that they weren’t able to perform to the best of their abilities because of what happened. It was out of their control after all!
I don’t follow along with this line of thinking. Maybe I’m harsh on myself, maybe I hold myself to ridiculous standards, but I’ve never liked using this as an “excuse” to a poor performance. Now, I use quotations because while I don’t follow this line of thinking, I also understand it. It’s damn hard to even think of studying when you have a migraine, or even think of practice when you have the flu. Obviously, it’s also not smart to train with the flu, or force feed studying with a migraine. So what on Earth am I talking about then?
Well, it’s been my experience that when I’m sick or injured, I like to play the victim card and adopt the ideology that all I can do is sit at home and feel sorry for myself. I most definitely fell into this line of thinking with my disease. It consumed my life, and self-pity was the driving factor. Yet one of the most important things I ever picked up from martial arts was that just because you are sick or injured, it does not mean that you need to stop improving. It just means you have to use a different mechanism to improve. Now, it would not be reasonable for me to troubleshoot all the possible scenarios and problems that can occur but I will demonstrate with two examples (one scholarly and one athletic).
Let’s first look at a scholarly example. Along with my colitis, I have also broken my nose several times (upwards of 7 times) and with my deviated septum, I am graced with frequent sinus migraines. On one such occasion I suffered a sinus migraine two days before an exam. Normally I study for my exams well in advance just in case this happens, however, this semester involved so much work that I was too busy playing catch up to get a head start on my studying. This day in specific, I had planned to get through three lectures. Well, I woke up with my migraine at 6am. I took my two Tylenols (can’t take advil with Ulcerative Colitis) and attempted to sleep it off before my alarm at 8am. 8 o’clock strolled around with little relief. It wasn’t the worst migraine I’ve had but it wasn’t the best. I attempted to study through it. I’m determined what can I say. But my migraine had alternative plans and nausea soon followed. I kept trying, getting through one lecture, but then I was sick to my stomach. That put an end to looking at the screen. At this point, it would’ve been easy for me to fluff off my effort, go to bed and hope for the best. Instead, I took a crazier route. I grabbed a giant glass of water, went to my bed, and rather than just mindless drift off in the unsuccessful void of migraine sleeplessness, I decided to replay all I had previously gone through in the course in my head. I tried to cement the knowledge I had already learned. If this was all I could get done, I was going to make sure I got 120% out of it. At this point, I also realized that if I couldn’t stare at the screen, I could at least listen and began looking for anything online that would reinforce the point. After painstakingly finding videos, I turned them on and closed my eyes in bed, effectively studying without looking at the screen.
In the second example, I am going to use a sports endeavor. If you’re reading this, then you know that I have aims to be a goalkeeper in a competitive setting. Well, in my first few outings I hurt myself pretty bad. I banged up my knee and hyperextended my thumb. I knew I couldn’t physically train for at least a week, maybe even more. So rest became a must. But being competitive and wanting to make improvements, I had to do something. I vaguely remembered that when I was doing Jiu Jitsu, guys from the club would watch videos when they were hurt to learn techniques. That way when they got back from the injury, they were better than before the injury. I started doing the same. I watched save highlights and began focusing on my weak points of not knowing the game nor how to distribute the ball after a save. I watched video after video, and read article after article. Eventually, when I returned from said injuries, I was a better keeper. I could read new formations heading my way, and I was better versed in ball distribution. I was able to make myself better without physically training. I found ways around my setback.
I hope you can see the emerging pattern and how it may relate to you. This is especially important for those with a chronic illness. Don’t let things be obstacles. Sometimes you have to flow around them in unconventional methods in order to continue improving. I had to go out of the norm to find a solution so that I wasn’t just sitting at home wasting time. This involved searching the net and reading, doing the extra work and making improvement possible. For those of us with chronic disease, we cannot always continually attend training sessions or lectures but we can still make improvements. Do what you can when you can with no excuse. No one ever said the road forward would be easier, but that makes the achievement that much sweeter at the end. Think outside the box, look for ways to still accomplish what you want to. If you can’t attend lectures, find the material online or read the extra chapter in your textbook so that when you get back you don’t miss a beat. If you miss a training session, watch gameplay and study. That way you’ve gained skill and strategy by watching. The point here is to find a way around your roadblock. Bruce Lee often spoke of this in terms of water. Water will flow around anything in its way to reach its intended destination. So in closing, and in the words of Bruce Lee, “Be like water” my friends.