September / October 2020 

I’ve been crazy busy balancing work, study and fibromyalgia so this has been written over September and October.

Eating + cooking

I’m still following the autoimmune protocol but a lot of my meals haven’t been pretty lately! When I’m low on time, my meals consist of grilled meat and vegetables with a handful of greens. Nutritious and tasty but not so pretty. I did make this roast pumpkin salad with salmon though and it was delicious. I’m currently doing a heavy mental detox under the guidance of my fabulous nutritionist, Alyse from An Apple A Day Nutrition and I can now introduce more foods . I’m now tolerating eggs if they’re cooked well (no runny yolks around here!), oats and rice much better than before.

Listening

I’ve been really taken by the 7am podcast. Every morning the team from Schwartz media provide an interesting take on a topic in the news. It accompanies me as I eat my breakfast every morning before work. 

Watching

I watched In My Blood It Runs, a documentary following ten-year-old Dujuan, a child-healer and hunter who speaks three languages. Despite his knowledge and understanding of the complex world around him, he is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police. As he becomes closer and closer to incarceration like so many other children like him, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education in an attempt to stop him becoming another statistic. Dujuan represents so many Indigenous children in Australia. 

Prior to watching this documentary I had a limited understanding of the experiences of Indigenous  children and found this really eye-opening and out of my comfort zone but exactly what I needed. I would 100% recommend watching it if you have the opportunity.

Doing

I won my first netball grand final!! I started playing netball when I was 8 years old and had a break for a few years when I moved to Adelaide, then got sick with fibromyalgia. 3 years ago I started playing again in a division 1 team. I was very sick when I started with this team and would often be vomiting for hours into the night after a game due to the pain but I was determined to do something I enjoy. Although I’ve made so much progress since then, in January when I was having trouble recovering from exercise my GP told me I should stop running and jumping because my fibromyalgia would only get worse. Well, I’m hear to say they were wrong! After many years of netball and loosing a couple GFs, this was my first time winning one! And to top it off, I played a decent game intercepting the first centre pass of the game from wing defence (whoo!) and didn’t have any issues with fibromyaliga.

This is all while taking the least amount of medication since being diagnosed. I’m currently using CBD oil which has given me a lot more freedom than tramadol did and I’ve been able to stop taking the anti-depressants I’ve been taking for 4 years under the guidance of my medical team. I’ve noticed my sleep routine is more important since coming off the antidepressants but other than that it’s been a smooth transition. 

I also did my lifeguard update course in preparation for summer. This is a big day that I always struggle with my fibromyalgia on but I got through it and passed. On my way home from the course I took the above photo.

Reading

This month I read Against All Odds by Dr Craig Challen and Dr Richard Harris who rescued the Wild Boar soccer team from the depths of the Tham Luang cave in Thailand. The book was a captivating recount of the doctors journey to Thailand, in and out of the cave numerous times and following up with the boys afterwards. Human strength and kindness were humbly displayed at all times and the depths (pun not intended) the team went to in order to get the boys out safely was eyeopening. I read this book at record time and would recommend it to anyone! 

Play

My play time lately has been with Frankie, my 3 year old sassy miniature dachshund. We’ve been learning lots of new tricks and games which has been fun for both of us. She is a great distraction from everything else that’s happening in the world. Frankie charmed her way into getting her first puppuccino from Deja Brew and is on a first name basis at Ikigai.