Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Take Care of Yourself, 2015! (Mental Health)

Oh the irony. My last blog was almost exactly a year ago! I keep telling myself on New Years Day that I am going to start blogging. Why? It allows me to express myself and really jot down my thoughts. I tend to really get inspired after a successful workout due to the dopa-mine high I tend to get. Enough of me rambling and lets get to business!

2015 was a year to remember. On my last post, I mentioned the status of my dad, Bau. He was having a lot of complications with his stomach due to having the cancerous polyps. He underwent his second surgery and viola! They were able to remove all three with no additional signs of potential cancer! It was a scary moment for all of us but sometimes we have to go through rough times to really understand and/or appreciate what we have in our lives. For that, I am forever grateful for everything my dad has done for our family. 

Dad on his Father's Day, Healthy and Cheerful!

Shortly afterwards, Ana and I went to California for my Aunt Christine's Wedding! We were so ready for a change of scenery, especially spending so much of our time at work, it was just nice to be around family and relax. Doug and Christine were so generous to let us stay at there home and a special shout-out to my cousin Thomas who was the real MVP! Thomas was a devoted host to both Ana and I. The last time Thomas and I really hung out was when we were small children. It's funny how much we had in common. Thomas also started lifting a couple months prior and he has made some amazing progress! The GAINS are too real.

Coffee in the morning in beautiful downtown Brea!
Eventually my mom arrived alongside with my Aunt Tam and soon commenced the wedding! My amazing wife stepped in the night before the wedding and became the MC for the night! I am truly proud of Ana and always simply amazed by her actions. She did such a great job with short notice, even with food poisoning at the wedding she managed to pull it all together.

With the lovely ladies!

Shenanigans at the rehearsal dinner :)
Such a beautiful ceremony.
We got to go to Disneyland after the wedding but in all honesty, Disneyland was not all that great. Maybe it was because we went during spring break with the crowd or the fact that all of the restaurants we planned to eat at were booked months in advance. However, we came for family and that was what we enjoyed the most. It was bittersweet leaving, but we all have to make a living somehow.

Leaving for the airport. (Coco watching me intently)

Our host, Christine and Doug dropping us off at the airport.

The trip was a nice change of pace. After leaving California, it was back to full grind mode. Work however, was not exactly my happy place. I was doing a lot more work then I should have and one night, July 17th, I had a life changing event that took place.


Look at that Heart Rate though!
On July 17th, at approximately 11:30PM, I had an undiagnosed seizure. One minute, I was on the couch watching TV with Ana. The next minute, I was in my bedroom fighting for my life just to catch a breath. It was a very traumatic event for both Ana and I. I wasn't able to go the to ER right away for work related reasons and that should NEVER be the case.

It's scary to say but apparently, everyone in their lifetime will experience at least one seizure. Mine had nothing to do with my physical health but I can honestly say it had to do a lot with my mental health. You don't ever truly understand what stresses could do to your body until it is too late. I was in the best physical shape of my life and for that I thought I was healthy. I was on a mental and physically grind everyday, trying to do everything at full speed. I was essentially doing the work of two people at my job and I'm not sorry to say that I was probably doing my bosses' job. Sometimes you have to just take a step back and really say, "Hey, is this really best for me?" I didn't do that. I was purely working to please someone that did not give two shits about what I was doing for them. And for that, I EVENTUALLY ended up in the ER. 

To this day, I take my time with everything. What I have really learned through NASM is all training methods could be effective, but you should do what is most optimal for you. I was averaging 21 gym sessions on a monthly passes. That is taking 2 days off a week. Now, I only train 3 times a week. Life throws curve balls at you all the time, so work with what you have. At the end of the day, its just about staying consistent. I was working too hard at work and pushing myself in the gym everyday when I should have been just relaxing.

Besides training, I also learned to appreciate the time I have with my wife and my family. I was on a very routine schedule before my seizure, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I wasn't doing it for myself, I was doing it because I had to. I can proudly say that my mental health has been improved significantly and work has been great due to relocation. I got certified as a personal trainer in August, which is a small feat but one I am very proud of. I also will be receiving my associate degree that happened to take forever but it was what was best for me, taking school on at my own pace. I will continue to be one of the hardest workers but I will always ultimately put what is best for myself and my family.

Remember guys, if you don't build your dream, someone else will hire you to help build theirs.

1 comment:

  1. Good post Dennis! I had no idea about your seizure! Thank God you are good now! Mental health is so, so important. And often overlooked by physical health. Way to get everything back in place. Good to hear from you (even if it's via blog post). Love you.

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