Sometimes it’s good to take time to reflect.......
Although I’m grateful for where I am, I’m definitely not where I want to be. But if I look back to where I came from and how far I’ve come as hard as I find it to give myself credit I have to be proud of myself.
It’s so very easy to become a victim of your circumstances, I come from a very poor background, I left school early with no qualifications, I left home when I was 16, worked and lived alone not really knowing what my purpose was in life until I was 27.....
At 27 I discovered I was to become a father, nine month later my beautiful boy Lenny James was born and I’d finally found my purpose. I was destined to be a father, I’d never had a proper relationship with my own father and to be perfectly honest it wasn’t a good relationship at all, I was scared of him and I never felt loved hence why I left home as soon as I could. I lost touch with my father in my adult years and a few months before Lenny was born I found out he had died alone in a hostel in his sleep. Although I felt a huge loss knowing I’d never be able to fix that relationship I vowed never to follow in his footsteps, Lenny would have the father that I never had. Being a father also inspired me to chase my own goals and aspirations, how was I ever going to teach my son to follow his dreams if I wasn’t going to follow my own, so I started training.
2016 first place opens at Worthings Strongest Man
One of the things people always talk about is how they don’t have time, well for me that’s just an excuse, you have to make sacrifices, you have to prioritise and make the best of your time, you have to sacrifice some sleep sometimes. I used to train at 5am to fit my workouts in, I’d train and be home ready to give Lenny his breakfast before I set off on my 12 hour shift to work. When Lenny was a year old I had another big tragedy in my life that changed me drastically and hit me hard. My childhood best friend I’d known since I was 6 years old died of cancer.... He was like a brother to me, one of a few people in life that understood me and always had my back. Cancer had spread to his brain and he went into a coma. He was on a life support machine while I held his hands and he took his last breath, he passed away and took a piece of my heart with him. I made a promise that I would live life in his honour that I wouldn’t take my time for granted and that I’d always give my all in everything I did and that’s exactly what I’ve done up until now and that’s exactly what I will continue to do.
Life is full of ups and downs, everybody has their problems, life is hard but like I said you can become a victim of your circumstances or you can use them as fuel to drive you to bigger and better things believing that you can better yourself. It’s taken me a long time to even accept that I am worthy of a better life let alone go after one. Being surround and supported by good people has had a huge impact on me, being part of the TuffWraps family has been a blessing and for the first time I feel like I’m part of a family, I have some great people to learn from in Jaysen and Sonia and with their backing and support I’m already taking steps to better myself and ultimately my sons future. I’m truly grateful for the faith shown in me and support from everyone involved in the company and I’m also grateful for all the kind words I receive via social media.
The key to achieving anything for me just comes down to how much you want something and how willing you are to make the sacrifices to achieve it. The next step is consistency, “we are what we repeatedly do” I’ve been consistent for the last seven years prioritising what I want to achieve and adapting and sacrificing to stay on track.
Body Power 2018 3rd place Opens
A lot of people become obsessed with winning.... I think society has this thing that you have to be the best or nothing else is good enough, well for me that’s just setting yourself up for disappointment, for me it’s about being the best version of yourself. I’m never gonna be the strongest man in the world but I promise you I will fulfil my potential whether that takes me to win the Arnold’s or come dead last I’ll be happy as long as I know I’ve given my best. I also believe that the journey is more important than the destination and I intend on enjoying the ride. I take each day as it comes and I don’t take time for granted. Because I’m a dad, strongman has to come second but that’s fine with me because I don’t wish to be remembered for how much weight I can lift or the size of my muscles, I want to be remembered for the size of my heart.
In February I head to Ohio to compete at the Amateur Arnold strongman competition which given where I come from as a child is unbelievable to me. I felt like there was more chance of me going to the moon than to America, but that only proves that if you want something and you work hard then it’s possible.
If you’ve taken the time to read this, thank you and I hope that by reading this you can see that I’m just a normal guy who’s just a dad and that if I can chase my dreams then so can you, work hard stay humble and always StayTUFF....
2018 Arnold Ohio Qualification at Worthings Strongest Man
