Encounters & Transformations

This picture was taken a year ago. I was working hard, I was experiencing much success in my career, but I felt like hell. I was out of shape and at my highest weight of 207 pounds. My god, I was thick and actually at some points I felt like I was losing my mind. I was stressed out from work and changes going on there and a couple times I thought about quitting. I stuck with it though because I love what I do. I just needed to get my shit together. I had been playing with the idea of some sort of exercise plan and diet to get back to where I used to be, but I just couldn’t find the time. I know, it’s an excuse. If I really wanted to do it, I would make time right? Well…maybe so…

My health continued to spiral out of control and every time I went to the doctor she had something different for me to do. I was suffering from all kinds of aches and pains and they were daily. I was taking down Tylenol like Skittles to relieve me of my pain and I was using Biofreeze like my life depended on it and actually…at some points it did. I say this because I would wake up and the pain from my right shoulder to my neck would be so extreme that it would spread up into my temple and I would get dizzy. A little Biofreeze and I was able to function. Sometimes just standing would cause an odd pins and needles feeling in portions of my back and I would feel off balance. It happens every now and then still but a year ago? It was horrible.

The last doctor appointment a year ago that I went to my doctor wanted me to go do more physical therapy. I walked out of there pissed because I knew there was something deep going on. I needed to change. I didn’t care what it was, but I needed to do something. A friend of mine mentioned having a Candida issue. I didn’t believe him at first, that I could be suffering from this, but I was desperate. I started doing research and found the Anti-Candida diet. I was all in! No sugar, no fruit, no gluten, and no dairy. I could eat lean meats and veggies but no starchy veggies. It was hell but what made it hell was quitting sugar. I was drinking soft drinks like crazy back then and when I stopped cold turkey I started going through withdrawals. After that first week, however, I felt better.

I also stopped drinking for a while and in the end it lasted about a year but let me tell you. Everything I was doing was helping. It helped so much that the aches and pains and inflammation subsided. I was working towards completely resetting my body. It even lifted my brain fog and for the first time in a long time I was feeling good. I wasn’t constantly out of breath and my dizziness went away. I also lost 30 or so pounds and I was exercising. In the picture you can see how much I lost from October to April. It was a struggle and it sucked but I was determined to change. I needed it and wanted it. I welcomed the change and transformation.

Although I did this on my own I wasn’t completely alone. Around the time I was starting my transformation I was approached by Jim and Ryan of the 911 Training Institute with the idea of becoming partners for Survive & Thrive FC. The three of us had been going through some hard times and a change was needed. We came up with some guidelines and put it out there. We have a strong group and it continues to grow every day. As I reflect I think about the people I have met and the ones who are changing my life. For the longest time I felt as though I was going crazy because no one had experienced what I was going through. I felt lost and this was even after I had lost weight and regained control of my health. Something was missing and maybe it was just the fact that I didn’t know what was going on with my body.

Through simple conversation at a conference I found someone who had been experiencing the same thing. A dispatcher out of Michigan. This important encounter has really changed my life. Finally! Someone who knows what I have been dealing with and so similar it’s scary and refreshing at the same time. My transformation continues. I pay more attention to what I’m putting in the tank than ever before and it’s for the best. I’m exercising daily and keeping a positive attitude. My transformation has come with some downfalls, but I continue to work at them. In the end, each change will be worth it. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be stressful and no one likes to change, but when paths change, and new paths cross you have to be willing to make that jump in order to move forward and live. Life’s too short to miss an opportunity and right now I’m sitting on a few different ones and I don’t want to miss out. If your new path changes your life, no matter how hard, let it. Don’t be that person who thirty years from now wishes he or she would’ve done something earlier in life. Be the person who thirty years from now thinks, “I did that!” That’s what I want. I want to blow minds and have my mind blown in the process. Thank you, Jim and Ryan, for including me in this amazing experience and to everyone who has joined our Survive & Thrive FC crew, you are all awesome. Keep up the great work and let’s keep pushing each other.