How a good decision I made became an even better one

Way back in the mists of time, about 10 months ago, when I wrote my first post, I mentioned taking a year off university. Partly because they hadn’t provided subtitles, and partly because my health was really suffering.

I was pretty pale (similarly to the medusa in the featured image) and struggling a lot more with fatigue than I was used to. I kept falling asleep in the middle of the day and felt so exhausted all the time.

Turned out I had iron deficiency anaemia.

After 6 months of iron pills (they really do look and taste like iron!) I’m feeling a little better. But the improvement had plateaued after a while. Things weren’t back to how I used to be.

I had a blood test a few days ago to check my iron levels. They were good. But I still have anaemia.

Yeah, my body really didn’t want to give up the anaemia label. It just switched to folate deficiency anaemia.

It explains a lot of what I’ve been going through. Shortness of breath. Extreme fatigue. A lot of brain fog.

And then there was the drama that happened the other day.

I’ve been trying to do a little bit of walking every day. Not much, but just enough to keep myself from being totally wiped out.

This time, though, when I was done, I rather spectacularly threw up. Yep, that’s the anaemia too. Anaemia means your body doesn’t get enough oxygen, due to the red blood cells being the wrong shape. Exercise uses more oxygen, so your digestive system sends all the food it’s digesting … out of your body.

And unfortunately for my poor dad who had to clean it up, under the floorboards.

In my opinion though, exercising so hard you throw up has to give you bragging rights. Just ignore the fact it was only a tiny walk that did it and I become The Exercise Guru.

So how does all this relate to the decision I made a few months ago to take another year off uni?

Like I said, I was feeling like it wasn’t getting better. And it’s gonna take the better part of 4 months to start feeling better from the folate anaemia. What with the brain fog, it’s been so hard to think sometimes. And my stamina has been shot.

I don’t think I could have coped with the intensity of studying a degree this year.

So yeah – it was a good decision then. And a great decision now. Prioritising your health is so important. I’m always pushing myself to do more, write more, exercise more.

But this time, stepping back actually brought me forwards, towards recovery.

In an earlier post, I wrote about pacing myself and how it really helps you get stuff done when you’re not feeling 100%.

This anaemia has wiped me out even more than I was then. So I’ve had to find new ways to pace myself.

The pomodoro method hasn’t worked well lately, because I’m not up to working for twenty mins, or even five. It’s sometimes one sentence or even one word at a time.

I’ve found that bulleting paragraphs can be a great way to do writing when you’re so tired you’re envious of your phone battery being able to charge itself.

I can see how it’s useful if you’re low on free time because your life is so hectic with so many other priorities getting in the way.

This is how it works (I’ll use the last three paragraphs as an example).

Pomodoro method not good now, can write only a few words

Bullet paragraphs good for fatigued and busy writers

Writing a whole post like this does make for a pretty skeletonised draft. But you can add gradual things to it and build it up until you’re ready to publish.

One word at a time.

If you enjoyed this post, share it with a friend. And if you haven’t seen the pacing yourself post, click here to find out more.

Alright, I’m as tired as Jin Sakai from Ghost of Tsushima so I am peacing out for now.

Jin Sakai from Ghost of Tsushima having a sleep. It’s tiring being a samurai. All that armour has to make for an uncomfortable resting position.

Naomi the Wordsmith

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword