"AAAARRGGHHHHHHHH!"

I was rolling around on the astro turf, clutching my left foot hoping for the pain to stop.

I knew this was a pretty bad one since I rarely ever went down from a challenge in football.

My friends paused the game to check on me.

"You okay, Nick?" one of them asked.

"Asdfghjudugghgghhhd," I replied, still clutching my foot tightly.

This was no ordinary challenge—I had been stepped on.

Full studs, right on top of my foot.

"Sorry mate, didn't mean it. You okay?" the guy who stepped on me said.

I gave him a weak nod as I finally let go of my foot and came to my senses.

I sat up for a few seconds, the throbbing finally beginning to cool down.

One of my teammates came over, offered his hands and picked me up.

"C'mon, man, we can't afford another injury, we're gonna run out of players", he said.

He was right. We were playing a small 5v5 game this time, when at one point we were having full-house 8v8s for weeks.

I hobbled up and we got the rest of the game going again, which luckily for me, went uneventful.

The Grim Reaper spares me!! 🙏🏻

But as with most minor injuries, the severity (and pain) of them usually comes AFTER they happen because the adrenaline from football (or any sport in general) can mask out the seriousness of them in the moment.

So I'm sitting here at the balcony with my foot still slightly throbbing from getting stepped on yesterday.

I can't move my left toes much because my foot hurts, and honestly, this is pretty frustrating because I've been nursing back my other (right foot) really patiently for almost the whole year now.

I'm probably going to have to sit out my upcoming Tuesday night football (and maybe even next week's Friday football) to let this heal.

What a bummer...

In the past, I would have shrugged off a small injury like that and gotten on with my life.

I would still continue working out at the gym, and wouldn't miss a football session unless I REALLY couldn't play.

But over the years, I've learned to listen to my body, even for the little things like a small injury.

Small things can become big things when you don't watch over them, especially with your physical health.

This small swelling on my foot could become a chronic foot issue if I choose to ignore it. And if it got worse, it would affect my day to day life which will badly hurt my mental health.

And when my mental health takes a hit, so will my productivity 😢

All this to say:

Damn this Grim Reaper for showing up at my football games!!

What is it with you coming up every other week hoping to take another victim to your dungeon of broken feet and sore ankles 🙄

The good side to all this is that it's the weekend's now so I'm going to be perfectly fine not moving much to let my foot heal.

This week's Reddit Roundup will come out tomorrow, so stay tuned for that.

But until then, take care (of your feet) and don’t let the Grim Reaper win!

Nicholas Ng