14/07/2024
It's important to express gratitude 🤍
And for me, it's actually the struggles l've experienced in life that I'm grateful for.
Life comes at you in peaks and troughs, and at 40 years old, l've learnt to embrace the lows - because I always know something even better than l imagined is around the corner.
I was never a sporty kid - I was small, shy and bullied and took up karate to learn to defend myself.
I earned my black belt at 17 and opened my own dojo: teaching pre-teens myself. This journey helped forge my character as a young man.
Then as a 20-something year old without purpose, I suffered mentally, drinking too much and working on an IT Helpdesk.
At 25 l decided I wanted more from life, so turned my life around and joined the Royal Marines Commandos.
In training, I was certainly one of the weakest, but grafted and passed out as Recruit of the Troop.
I explored the world and went to war and took advantage of every opportunity the Marines offered.
Then came a time when I needed that 'struggle' once again.
I needed to be challenged. This time by something outside of the military, so left to start my own business in something I was now deeply passionate about: health and fitness.
It was going well at home until I realised this wasn't the adventure I craved. So with a ticket to Dubai, no money and my accommodation being a one-bedroom apartment with eleven other guys, the struggle really began 😅
But I wouldn't have changed anything for the world.
I sacrificed so much - leaving behind a promising and brilliant career, security, a home and my familair network of family and friends, to be in a foreign city, not knowing a soul and continuing to live in squalor for years.
I could labour the point that I worked hard, but to be honest, I was having fun whilst enduring that much pressure. I relished the challenge.
Whether I was a struggling adolescent, fighting through my Commando training, or enduring to make a life for myself in Dubai - every single battle l've had in my life was wholly worthwhile.
It's the struggle where the magic happens ✨
The same principles apply to your physical training. When it's tough, perhaps seemingly unbearable, stay with it because that's the work that needs to happen for a dramatic, profound change to happen.
Nothing was ever given to me: I worked from the 'ground up' in everything l've done and I am so thankful for that.