Carl’s Story

Hey MyoMinds,

We had the pleasure of interviewing @fighting_the_dadbod (Carl) and below is what I have taken away from this, I hope you enjoy.

Carl has suffered from major depression twice in his life. He was given medication and took part in cognitive behavioural therapy during his first case, but this only managed to hide the symptoms, sort of like covering the wound with a plaster. He couldn’t see it, but it was still there.

Carls second bout with depression came after he was made redundant, putting him “on [his] arse in a lot of ways”. He gained weight and became severely unfit.

It wasn’t until he took up exercise that things started to turn around. Carl expressed his love for exercise as a goal setting tool (both long and short term), improving his sleep and making him feel more positive! (If you go to @fighting_the_dadbod you can see that is still the case!)

Carl’s number one piece of advice for those in a similar position to him is this, identify the issue. Coming from a military background he expressed the difficulty to open up about mental health to others (and himself), due to stigmas around the subject. But once you identify what is wrong you can surround yourself with the positive people who can help! I agree with him when he said that the fitness community is one that is often filled with people, working on themselves and supporting each other whether they are a “high level athlete or want to improve their mum or dadbod”.

He stressed his want to let all you lovely MyoMinds people know that it is OKAY TO FAIL, and that we are all struggling. Everyone you see (yes even that person) struggles with something. What’s important is you accept that and then find a way back from however low you may have sunk. Utilise the wonderful people around you or on social media (Maybe some fellow MyoMinds members) and don’t be so hard on yourself. Often, we feel inadequate or not enough because we look back at where we were or we compare ourselves to others. But Carl explains it’s so easy to look back with “rose tinted glasses” and decide your life now is worse, so easy to find the flaws in your life and then compare them with the positives of your past life. Put a little effort in and see the bright side, this is where having positive people around you can help!

Carl finished with a great message that I want to share. He said he uses Instagram as a “Force for good” and this is something I hope we can do here at MyoMinds and something I think each person reading this can strive to do (I’m making it a mission myself). Follow people in a similar position as you, making the same journey and support them! It doesn’t matter what they post, posing in a mirror, a video of a workout or a picture of their family, “positivity breeds and encourages positivity”.

And finally, I would like to finish with this quote from Carl, something I think sums up what is needed, something I hope we as a community can be a part of. “Whatever your journey, whatever your aims, its harder alone. Its better if you’ve got those around you, to support you. Virtual or physical”

Lets all do our bit to support someone today!