It has been some time since I last posted an article. It has been even longer since I posted anything disease related. I must admit that I was in need of a little bit of a break. It was a weird purgatorial area in which I had been working on a lot of things at once and something always has to break. But with no further delay, here we go again. I have begun my return to the world of posting articles. Let me tell you why.
When I had started working in the gym as a trainer, I shifted my focus. My goal of wanting to help people never changed; in fact, the desire to help people only grew because now I had the physical capability to help. Yet, it was bitter sweet. It was also my source of income, and soon it began a nasty little intertwined web of wanting to help people, but requiring payment to do so. It didn’t feel right and I felt like I was being pulled in different directions. It was easy to train a majority of people that I trained, but I also felt very gimmicky. It started to feel like everything I did was, in one way or another, an attempt to market myself to get more clients and grow my business, rather than have my message reach more people to HELP more people despite the financial component. It wasn’t until I was able to move on to another job opportunity that I realized that by mixing finances and my desire spread my message had become intertwined, and not for the better. If I had left it separate, it may have worked. But I goofed up. Now that I am no longer in the gym, and feel the desire to continue spreading the message of hope through physical activity, that I see where I had misstepped.
You may notice the site looks a little different now, void of sales, void of business and solely dedicated to education and awareness. That is the main goal, it always has been even though I hit a few speed bumps along the way. So let’s move forward with the right headspace. If I ever choose to go back into personal training, I know now to keep these worlds separate. Like I said, I loved the industry, the gym I worked at, etc.. But I’d like to share a story before signing off in this return article. My hope is that I will share this story and it will encourage others to share theirs because I had forgotten the power of a good story until this moment.
Like I mentioned, it’s been pretty quiet here for a while and I wasn’t sure I was going to start writing again or producing a podcast, etc (still an option). Yet, about a week or two ago (time flies so I forget), someone had told me a story. I’m keeping any names or distinguishing details out just for privacy reasons, I’m sure you understand. Now, it’s not necessarily a happy story, but I like to think the ending is. This person had told me they were talking to someone with a small child. I want to say age 5 or 7, I can’t really remember, but either way, pretty young. Anyway, this parent was experiencing some turmoil. Their child had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The poor kid had a bad case of it too, and surgery looked like it was looming and the parent was understandably worried about the whole thing. They told this person about my story. She was able to share that this disease is not the end of the road, that it doesn’t have to consume someone’s life and most importantly that there is always hope. While telling my story didn’t rid this parent of all their worry, it gave them a little hope. Often times, that little shred of hope is enough to get through the day. In fact, it was a tiny shred of hope that launched me on my journey to regain my health, to join a soccer team, try something new and eventually led to this site. The point I’m making is, don’t be embarrassed to share your story because you never know who it will reach. I started this site in hopes that I could help a single person. Don’t expect a large amount of people to read my articles, but if one person finds the courage to face their struggle, then all the work put into all of this is worth it.
