Lessons Learnt

A little over a year ago a new policy of ‘near miss’ and ‘lessons learnt’ reporting was introduced at work. If I’m honest, at first I thought it was all a bit ridiculous and that it would become a time wasting exercise. But as time has passed I have grown to appreciate the valuable lessons learnt from other’s behaviours and have generally improved my safety awareness. 

 A few weeks ago we had winter storm aptly named ‘The Beast from the East’ here in London with temperatures plummeting well below freezing and a permanent snow blanket covering the ground. The city was transformed into a beautiful winter wonderland, although I’m not sure many commuters would agree. I was excited to be going our in perfect Antarctic training weather for my Rollerski lessons and I made sure to layer up before venturing out. Rather than using moisture wicking base layers I used thermal moisture absorbing ones that aren’t meant for sport. This meant that I was nice and toasty when I stood still but as soon as the class started I was sweating buckets. By the end of the session, I was drenched in sweat and still had to travel 1 hour back home in my wet clothes, as there was nowhere open where I could change. Needless to say I caught a dreadful cold, which compromised my immunity and brought on a 2 week Lyme-induced fatigue relapse.

 Anyone who has suffered from Lyme’s disease will testify to the sheer dread one develops at the prospect of being knocked out by one of these fatigue episodes. Life as you know it ceases, and you have no idea when you’ll regain any normalcy or your energy. I remember days when I would sleep for about 16 – 18 hours, and was mostly too tired to even bother to eat. So the thought of having to go through all of that again was absolutely horrible and began to doubt whether I’d be able to go through with the expedition. Thankfully my body is strong and I was able to bounce back in 2 weeks.

I learnt some really valuable lessons from the whole episode.

Firstly, getting my base layers right is of utmost importance. Moisture wicking is of the essence and I’ll definitely be stripping off any excess outer layers in the Antarctic if I need to. I don’t want to be known as the girl that had to call off her expedition just because of some sweat.

Secondly, diet and rest are crucial. In the weeks leading up to becoming ill I had become a little too relaxed in monitoring what I was eating and was consuming too many treats and processed foods as well as more alcohol than I am used to. I had also been neglecting my body’s cries for rest and had been burning the candle at both ends.

 It’s funny that it wasn’t one major thing that caused me to get ill but an accumulation of little things that I chose to ignore along the way.  As a society, we have underestimated the power of rest and taking time to care for our bodies and have embraced mantras such as “work hard, play harder” and “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” for far too long. Whilst I believe that applying dedication and discipline to all one does are of utmost importance, living with Lyme has taught me to bring balance to all that I do and not be ashamed or scared of taking some time out to rest. So I would like to encourage you to take some time for yourself this week and allow yourself to enjoy some well-deserved rest. It doesn’t have to be anything radical, it can be as simple as taking a short quiet walk; or going to bed 15 minutes earlier to start on that book you’ve been meaning to read; or maybe just reclaiming your lunch break and getting away from your desk for a bit. Whatever you choose to do, let this be a week of introducing a little rest and balance back into your life…your body will thank you for it!

The Struggle is REAL!

For weeks now I’ve been struggling to find the time, inspiration and words for a blog post that would be worth sharing.  I’ve been putting unnecessary pressure on myself until I realised that it doesn’t need to be epic, it just needs to be me.

So here goes….

I’ve been a busy little bee since the last blog post in November. I’ve been working at getting sponsors so that the expedition will actually happen, which is a lot harder and time consuming than it sounds...especially when juggling it with a full time job and training.

Most days consist of waking up early, working until 5-6pm, then rushing home to grab a pre workout snack or shake before heading out to the gym or the park to do some strength, endurance or x-country ski training. And whilst I am getting noticeably stronger I am beginning to understand that this is a process that is going to take time, patience, rest and lots of resilience.

Truth be told, I have struggled at times with feelings of insecurity with regards to approaching people and companies to ask for sponsorship; with the fear that I wouldn’t raise the money in time for the expedition; with fatigue which meant I had to take a week or two at a time out of training to recuperate when I’d pushed myself too far and not rested; with the fear that I wouldn’t be ready for the expedition from a fitness point of view; and with figuring out the right nutritional balance for my body as my protein intake needs change.

I realised quickly that these struggles were getting me down and that is one thing I simply couldn’t afford. The truth is that this journey is going to have its fair share of struggles and setbacks. That there will be times when I will want to give up and when I will be told I should give up; there will be times when my body or my work schedule won’t cooperate with my training plan. In short, there will always be a totally legitimate reason why I should just walk away from it all.

In spite of all that I have decided that I simply will not give in. After all, my cause and goal are well worth it! So I will keep on taking things one day at a time. I will not allow my fears to keep me tethered or my struggles to clip my wings. In the face of all adversity I will keep on fighting, keep on trying, and keep on believing in myself.

And thankfully it’s not all been negative. I have met some pretty incredible people who have forever changed my perspective on life; I’ve had total strangers encourage me more than they’ll ever know; my family and friends have been beyond amazing at keeping me on track and most importantly I’ve relished getting stronger, surprising myself at just how much I can achieve when I set my mind on something.

There can be no gain without effort and in the words of the new Nike advert…’Nothing beats a Londoner’!

My weekly battle with the 60kg tyre at the gym..so far it's winning but one day soon I'll kick its butt!

Lyme and me

It all began one cold Saturday afternoon in February 2014. I had set aside the afternoon to wash and comb my hair, a ritual that normally took up to 4 hours. As I was rinsing out the shampoo I noticed that quite a bit of hair was falling out so I reached for my scalp and to my absolute horror I found a bald spot! So I did what any sensible adult would do..I freaked out and rang my mum who spent a considerable time calming me down whilst I googled sudden hair loss and tried to come to grips with that was happening to me.

The following Monday I went to see the doctor hoping to gain some insight only to be told that I probably had dandruff issues so I should get some T-Gel and just relax.  I was seething at this blasé response but thought it best not to go into the emotional stresses of hair loss with someone who was wearing a toupee and obviously thought I was overreacting.  Instead I chopped off my beautiful fro and hoped my hair would grow back again. If only I had known then that this lack of understanding or willingness to look into the matter further would come to typify my encounters with some health professionals as I tried to find out what on earth was going on with my body.

My beloved Afro

As time went on my symptoms increased to include night sweats, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, heightened food intolerance, low immunity, joint pain, muscle twitching, and fluctuations in my appetite to name a few.

My relationships were affected because I had no energy and was constantly cancelling on everyone – feeling guilty that I had nothing to give. My mental health suffered, as I felt frustrated and separated from everything, which led to mild depression and anxiety. The impact to my identity struck the hardest. If I couldn’t be my bubbly, happy self and be free to be the active and energetic person I once was then who was I?!

Despite all of this I kept on pushing for possible causes. I took an 8 week course of antibiotics which as first seemed to help but after a while I felt the symptoms returning so I went to my new GP who was an absolute dream and helped get me referred to a top consultant specialising in infectious diseases.  Unfortunately this consultant informed me I that I had to accept that I would have to give up my active lifestyle and consider eradicating all stress from my life as I’d most likely be on antibiotics for the rest of my life. In my opinion his diagnoses demonstrated a complete lack of interest into researching the true cause of my symptoms and so having had enough of allopathic medicine I decided to try a naturopath at the London Clinic of Nutrition where I was finally correctly diagnosed with Lyme Disease. After 6 months of treatment on Froximun's Toxaprevent combined with a strict diet and no alcohol due to the effects of Lyme on my liver I began feeling like myself again; which was such a joy!

And so precisely 3 years after this whole ordeal began I was given the all clear and was able to slowly resume my active lifestyle and start training for the expedition. I can honestly say that my entire outlook on life has been totally transformed and although it was tough, I emerged stronger and more determined than ever to live life to the fullest. So wherever you are in your journey with Lyme or whatever insurmountable struggle you’re going through at the moment, I encourage you to keep fighting, hoping and believing that you can and will overcome it!