Injury …

Dealing with injuries isn’t just a part of Jiu Jitsu - it’s a part of life. We are creatures playing ‘rough and ready’ on a spinning ball of water and rock … we have to expect our share of injuries throughout life.

We are of course, fortunate in the extreme, in that we now live in a time where we have the miracle of modern medicine on our side. Much of the stuff that would have killed or crippled us 100 years ago, we can attend-to fairly easily now.

My son Felix just broke his tooth in training a few days ago … and although it set him back a bit, we know that we’ll be able to get it seen to …. it’s just a part of the job.

Life, when played hard, by risk-takers, and by people who won’t let small obstacles hinder their choices and actions, will get scars. There’s an old saying - first through the door is always bloodied’ - and so we accept this as just part of the cost of living a life, more extraordinary than most.

If we put our life 'on hold' just because we are injured - we may well find our life is ‘on hold for a lot of the time. I always try to work around it. I don’t think too much about getting that ‘injury monkey’ off my back … I just live with it - and find a way to keep moving forward.