**Pictures: Day 1(February, 2 months before joining the gym)| Day 30 into the process | Day 90 **
So, here it goes. Finally after years of waiting to get a membership at the gym, here I am after 90 gym days. Joined up on April 11th, 6 months total on October 11th. Went in with high hopes, a lot of enthusiasm and energy. A goal in life, because as I grew up seeing my father, uncles and cousins working out, lifting weights, it was truly a very interesting thing to me.
Growing up and waiting. I started to participate in various sports, with that some freehand exercises as a young boy. Lots of obstacles, school, studies, life itself, not being able to keep up with sports and fitness. And in our country majority of people aren't interested in fitness, joining a gym ? NO WAY(Times have changed now though) Still I'd manage a bit of time to workout at home somehow. I just wanted to take my training a step forward. But growing up made things more difficult. More studying, grades, responsibilities et cetera et cetera...
Fast forward a few more years to 2015. Finally, freedom. Got a bit of time off from my studies, a decent income, less to stress. Searching for a suitable gym, ready to conquer. Then in August I fell ill, thinking it was a cold, didn't bother much(lesson of a lifetime) Then in the middle of September I was diagnosed to find out that it was actually a life threatening disease. Soon losing the ability to even stand up properly and also losing the ability to speak. Lost about 8Kgs of weight. Being on strong medication, waiting for the pain to ease, asking for forgiveness. Yet not even knowing what I had done wrong. Months go by, healing slowly, waiting for it to end. At one point I was even ready for this illusion to end, it was absolute torture waking up like this every damn day. Kept fighting on for my family, just to see them smile again. Because their reaction to this news left them with faces that I've never seen before.
Then finally in November we saw results, started gaining some weight, got my voice back(which at one point I thought that I had lost forever). Being able to live again, but on a leash. Fast forward to February 2016. 2 more months to go, took the risk, started working out at home again, putting in much more effort than before, resulting to better fitness. In April, the doc finally said "you're free" well then, here I am.
If you're reading this, no matter what, never give up, have faith, be strong and you will surely achieve your goals one day. I fell, I was scared, it was a traumatizing experience, an experience that left a huge scar, not only physically but mentally as well. I came back up much stronger than I was before, learnt a few lessons along the way. Yet, this is just the start. Hopefully I'll be able to share more about my fitness journey, from a bullied skinny boy to training people on topics related to fitness and health. This is just a sneak peek into how and why I started focusing on fitness and diet and how it all changed be for the better, physically and mentally.
For those of you who've made it this far, I thank you all, much love and cheers ❤️🥃
