10-24-2018, 09:35 PM
Hello to everybody. Hello TruthSeeker. I am a long time reader of your work, back when you wrote on the "irongangsta" site and another site which i cannot remember the name of.
I am here to share a hardship story, in hope that my tough path , will give inspiration to people who will read this thread to never put their heads down and never quit their dreams no matter what . So here is a brief story, and i warn you it is going to be long, so prepare to read for quite a while
Currently i am 25 years old, living in Greece, and early 2019 i am going to graduate university. I have always been a fun of strength sports, and i always envied strong people. Maybe this had to do because i was very thin, and weak , and i always wanted to become a stronger version of myself. So i started lifting at the age of 16, and at the age of 19 i started to do powerlifting workouts. So there i met my first obstacle. Powerlifting was not a known sport in Greece, and most gyms were bro gyms which did not allow heavy deadlifts, chalk etc. I had to change 3 different gyms in order to find a "hardcore one " , that was owned by a bodybuilder. Oh the things i saw in that gym. But thats a story for a different thread
Anyhow, around 2014 a federation was founded, which started organizing powerlifting meets. So, long story short, i started competing, at the age of 20 weighting 65kg (1.70 height). My first competition was a failure, because my technique was bad and made a lot of mistakes. But my second meet, and a lot of meets after, were a huge success (always placing 1st or 2nd - even on international meets).
So, here is where the multiple sclerosis thing comes in. Last year, around November, i noticed that i did not have a clear vision on my left eye . At first i though i was just tired. As the days passed, this clear vision became severe. To the point that i tested 2.5/10 vision, so i was essentially blind in my left eye. The doctors said that i had optic neuritis, and i had to move to the hospital ASAP. I was like what the fck. So, there i was at the hospital, which had a specialization in neurological issues. I told the doctors that i was fine but they insisted to keep me for 4 days in order to do blood tests and MRIs. At that point i did not grasp the idea of me having multiple sclerosis, even though google(lol) had optic neuritis as a symptom of multiple sclerosis. As i was staying in the hospital, i started reading more and more about multiple sclerosis, and optic neuritis. A lot of sites stated that 50% of people who get optic neuritis have multiple sclerosis. I had to man up and at that point i accepted that i might be in that 50%.
So the day of the official diagnosis came, and doctors informed me that i indeed had multiple sclerosis. That moment, is the moment that i cannot forget. I felt my feet crumble and just felt that my life was over - for a brief moment. I cried a lot on my way back home, because i though that i had something terminal at that time. By the time i arrived home, i had to "be strong" and just inform everybody of the situation, without me breaking infront of them. I was indeed very calm when i made the announcement, and i recall saying "my life will keep going as it already was, nothing is gonna change and i wont allow it (multiple sclerosis) to change who i am.
So, i started training again. After a bit of a time off, due to me being under cortisone which did not allow me to train hard. I trained like a madman. And i competed again, and managed to place 3rd, after starting from point 0 due to cortisone being a highly catabolic hormone.
I am still in battle with the "fiend" inside me. Multiple sclerosis makes my everyday life very unpredictable and i had to make a lot of adjustments in order to be happy . One huge drawback of multiple sclerosis meds, and MS itself, is that you experience tiredness even though you sleep well at night. This has made my training, like my everyday life, unpredictable as to how i am going to train, or how much energy i have to train. Training in a half-wake, half-sleep state is no fun at all, but most of my days are like this.
So whats the point of my story anyway, you might ask. Well, all i want is to be an inspiration to whoever reads this and is having a rough time in his life(be it health,mental health,break up,divorce, financial issues). Hand in there. Always be present in the moment. At the end of the day, if you let a situation define you, you have just lost the battle my friend. Continue to fight whatever bad situation you face and YOU are going to rise wiser and stronger. Strong and successful people are made though lifes hardships, and not by living in mansions and driving lamborginis (kinobody joke there). A successful person, by my definition, is someone who has a debilitating condition, but does not let it define him, nor guide him. Every successful person you know, be it celebrity or not, have 1 thing in common. They never quit their dreams, no matter what. They see hardships as a challenge, and not as a way to stop pursuing their own goals. I dont remember who said the following quote, but it goes like this " you lose when you quit, not when you lose." Quiting in what will actually worsen your (current) bad situation, because you are then going to face both the failure and the quiting .
What i used to think on my first days of diagnosis, was "its only as bad as you make it out to be" which actually turned out to be true, because nowadays i feel like i have nothing and my daily life is the same as it was before my diagnosis (minus a lot of drugs i am currently taking)
Thanks a lot for reading. I hope this will help our fellow readers/ members. Feel free to ask me anything, i will be happy to reply.
I am here to share a hardship story, in hope that my tough path , will give inspiration to people who will read this thread to never put their heads down and never quit their dreams no matter what . So here is a brief story, and i warn you it is going to be long, so prepare to read for quite a while
Currently i am 25 years old, living in Greece, and early 2019 i am going to graduate university. I have always been a fun of strength sports, and i always envied strong people. Maybe this had to do because i was very thin, and weak , and i always wanted to become a stronger version of myself. So i started lifting at the age of 16, and at the age of 19 i started to do powerlifting workouts. So there i met my first obstacle. Powerlifting was not a known sport in Greece, and most gyms were bro gyms which did not allow heavy deadlifts, chalk etc. I had to change 3 different gyms in order to find a "hardcore one " , that was owned by a bodybuilder. Oh the things i saw in that gym. But thats a story for a different thread
Anyhow, around 2014 a federation was founded, which started organizing powerlifting meets. So, long story short, i started competing, at the age of 20 weighting 65kg (1.70 height). My first competition was a failure, because my technique was bad and made a lot of mistakes. But my second meet, and a lot of meets after, were a huge success (always placing 1st or 2nd - even on international meets).
So, here is where the multiple sclerosis thing comes in. Last year, around November, i noticed that i did not have a clear vision on my left eye . At first i though i was just tired. As the days passed, this clear vision became severe. To the point that i tested 2.5/10 vision, so i was essentially blind in my left eye. The doctors said that i had optic neuritis, and i had to move to the hospital ASAP. I was like what the fck. So, there i was at the hospital, which had a specialization in neurological issues. I told the doctors that i was fine but they insisted to keep me for 4 days in order to do blood tests and MRIs. At that point i did not grasp the idea of me having multiple sclerosis, even though google(lol) had optic neuritis as a symptom of multiple sclerosis. As i was staying in the hospital, i started reading more and more about multiple sclerosis, and optic neuritis. A lot of sites stated that 50% of people who get optic neuritis have multiple sclerosis. I had to man up and at that point i accepted that i might be in that 50%.
So the day of the official diagnosis came, and doctors informed me that i indeed had multiple sclerosis. That moment, is the moment that i cannot forget. I felt my feet crumble and just felt that my life was over - for a brief moment. I cried a lot on my way back home, because i though that i had something terminal at that time. By the time i arrived home, i had to "be strong" and just inform everybody of the situation, without me breaking infront of them. I was indeed very calm when i made the announcement, and i recall saying "my life will keep going as it already was, nothing is gonna change and i wont allow it (multiple sclerosis) to change who i am.
So, i started training again. After a bit of a time off, due to me being under cortisone which did not allow me to train hard. I trained like a madman. And i competed again, and managed to place 3rd, after starting from point 0 due to cortisone being a highly catabolic hormone.
I am still in battle with the "fiend" inside me. Multiple sclerosis makes my everyday life very unpredictable and i had to make a lot of adjustments in order to be happy . One huge drawback of multiple sclerosis meds, and MS itself, is that you experience tiredness even though you sleep well at night. This has made my training, like my everyday life, unpredictable as to how i am going to train, or how much energy i have to train. Training in a half-wake, half-sleep state is no fun at all, but most of my days are like this.
So whats the point of my story anyway, you might ask. Well, all i want is to be an inspiration to whoever reads this and is having a rough time in his life(be it health,mental health,break up,divorce, financial issues). Hand in there. Always be present in the moment. At the end of the day, if you let a situation define you, you have just lost the battle my friend. Continue to fight whatever bad situation you face and YOU are going to rise wiser and stronger. Strong and successful people are made though lifes hardships, and not by living in mansions and driving lamborginis (kinobody joke there). A successful person, by my definition, is someone who has a debilitating condition, but does not let it define him, nor guide him. Every successful person you know, be it celebrity or not, have 1 thing in common. They never quit their dreams, no matter what. They see hardships as a challenge, and not as a way to stop pursuing their own goals. I dont remember who said the following quote, but it goes like this " you lose when you quit, not when you lose." Quiting in what will actually worsen your (current) bad situation, because you are then going to face both the failure and the quiting .
What i used to think on my first days of diagnosis, was "its only as bad as you make it out to be" which actually turned out to be true, because nowadays i feel like i have nothing and my daily life is the same as it was before my diagnosis (minus a lot of drugs i am currently taking)
Thanks a lot for reading. I hope this will help our fellow readers/ members. Feel free to ask me anything, i will be happy to reply.
