This isn’t a COVID-19 blog, but it is mine, and I am a practicing physician. And while there’s no direct medical advice here (standard disclaimer, I’m not your doctor, these are my thoughts and opinions and the content is for educational and recreational consideration, only, etc.) it’s hard not to comment on developments with the coronavirus.
If anything, I write about insights, especially on underlying principles.
XYZ can be confusing, but ABC strikes me as a simpler theme running through it. Or Situations A and B look unrelated at first, but underneath they’re very closely connected, how about that?
Hence, Covid ah ha’s in a blog about pulling 100 lb. warbows and getting back on the mat in your 6th decade.
It’s hard to train when you’re dead
I had the epiphany when getting fellow doctors up to speed on the latest legal requirements.
As busy-as-frak frontline physicians, we could keep our noses to the grindstone and focus on patient care — and bitch and moan about all the bureaucratic requirements to document 10 additional items per patient mandated by pencil pushers with zero clinical experience. Or we could work together with our IT and Quality departments to take our case to the capitol to have lawmakers reconsider the head-banging mandates.
Spend our life energies on chasing 100 rootlets, or take it up the chain and deal with the main root.
Now, I’m not saying that Covid is the root cause of not being a black belt. But if you get derailed by an illness affecting your ability to breathe, stand upright, or think straight, that root problem is going to make all of your downstream activities a helluva lot harder.
Jury’s still out on Omicron
Word is trickling in about Omicron and the current vaccines: it’s catchier than Delta, supposedly milder, and the vaccines still appear to protect against severe illness, though better if you’re boosted. Sounds interesting but not that big a deal.
That would be the wrong conclusion.
It’s the too short version of a complex virus and its tango with your immune system. Remember that anything involving your immune system is complicated by definition: Chinese translation of the tax code of Germany complicated. As Einstein said, we want things to be as simple as possible so we can focus on the important stuff, but NO SIMPLER THAN THAT because real life is complex and not a Disney TV show.
As this article points out, even if just a teensy percentage of people die from Omicron, the fact that it’s even more contagious than Delta and previous infection does not appear to protect against it means a huge number of folks are going to get infected, and a teensy fraction of a huge number is still a lot of dead people. Keep in mind that at the time of this writing, Covid has killed more than 790,000 fellow Americans; we are rounding the corner on A MILLION DEAD.
I’ve also pointed out that a nervously high percentage of folks with Delta experience no-fun-atall long Covid symptoms 6 months or more out, somewhere between 30-50%+. Call it a bit less than a coin toss that you’re going to be staggering around in one way or another, or having cooked food smell like dog poop.
There are many threats to training besides Omicron
And I will write about them in future posts. I’ve got a 50 lb. Asiatic bow on its way, but I’m not at 100 lbs. of draw weight, and I should have been an aikido, judo, and BJJ black belt by now given the age I started martial arts. I’ve made personal and professional choices that I can live with, but no question they have put a hold on my advancement in martial arts and archery. And I’m grateful to have made new choices that have put those endeavors back on track.
The point, though, is that being in a position to make those new choices depends on a certain minimum functioning of my mind and body. Insights into co-dependency, choosing the familiar, “getting comfortable with discomfort,” linear vs. exponential growth, personal boundaries, and commitment; progressive developments of strength, connective tissue resilience, revamped nutritional raw materials, and stress management.
Fancy names for an attentive mind, sound body, and a calm, willing spirit.
Those things make up the root. I’d argue that they’re the root for every one of us who trains to improve not just martial endeavors but every challenge in our lives.
Covid Omicron might be just another challenge to overcome. If you catch it, I hope so. But it could also hamstring your ability to move, problem solve, or think at a very fundamental level.
As such, I submit to you that mitigating it deserves a serious spot in your plans for the new year.
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