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“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee If it was only that easy right? Just pray for an easy life and never face any adversity or have any obstacles to overcome. Obviously that is crazy and impossible. Everyone eventually faces something tough in […]

“It’s all fun and games until your face freezes.” That quote is from me almost 3 years ago after the left side of my face was temporarily paralyzed from Lyme associated facial palsy. I went from thinking I was having a stroke to being told it was just bell’s palsy to then being diagnosed with

“How much can you really know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?” – Tyler Durden from Fight Club That is the question he asked in 1999’s badass movie Fight Club. Then he added “I don’t want to die without some scars.” (If you haven’t seen Fight Club you should give it a

“There is peace even in the storm.”- Vincent Van Gogh. I read this quote and it really resonated with me and fits perfectly into my whole “surf the storm” message. I’m not going to even pretend to be an expert on Van Gogh or act like I even know what he was referring to but

Do you have a fantasy football team? Or, any fantasy sports team or know anyone who does? It’s pretty much a part-time job. You have to put so much time and energy into it. Fantasy sports are a ton of fun. They bring people together and make sports more interesting. So this post is in

“Obstacles do not block the path. They are the path.” – Zen Proverb What a powerful quote! I feel this in my soul! Everyone has obstacles in their life that they have to overcome. Some obviously have way bigger ones then others but I feel everyone can relate to this quote. At any second your

I get so excited when it’s a new month and you should too! Think of all the awesome things you can accomplish and how much you can personally grow if you push yourself. I refuse to get bored. You want excitement in life right? I need something to aim at and grind towards. My health

Enjoy the small things! I know, I get it, how original! We’ve all heard this before so why am I going to waste your time writing a blog post about it. Do you though? Whoever is reading this right now, do you actually take time and love the small things? I know I took a

“I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never going to keep me down.” Did I just start a blog post off with the chorus of Chumbawamba’s smash hit Tubthumping from 1997? Yup! I randomly heard this

You often hear the term I’m going to ride out the storm. If you look up the meaning of that term it says “To remain at ones location during a storm to wait until it passes, or to succeed in surviving and getting through something dangerous or harmful that can’t be stopped or avoided.” Now this definitely can be a viable strategy if you’re dealing with an actual storm. When you think of the word storm as a “life storm” though, this is where I think we can use a better strategy. I’ve had so many panic attacks caused by my health issues where I’ve just rode out and curled up in a ball trying to breathe and just hope I wake up alive the next morning. Now before I get into the “surfing” strategy I should probably quickly introduce myself. My name is Justin and I’m 38, I have a great wife and two awesome sons. I’ve battled an invisible illness called Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome for years and years. It causes so many different symptoms it will make you feel like you’re going crazy. I’ll get more into those symptoms in another post. I also have bad IBS and ADHD and have had tons of weird mystery health issues that have come and gone throughout the years. Then two years ago my left side of face became paralyzed (its better now) while I was on vacation with my family. After a bunch of labs and tests done in the hospital to rule out a stroke I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and the co-infection Babesiosis. The meds didn’t cure me and I later learned that I’ve had Lyme undiagnosed for years and it’s now chronic. Now back to what you can do if your “life storm’ is chronic or whatever situation you’re dealing with is here to stay for awhile. Do you want to just hope it goes away by itself or things will just magically get better by riding it out? I tried that, especially when I first got diagnosed with Lyme Disease. All that happened was it made me feel alone and depressed. I’ve found the better strategy is to lose the victim mentality and do everything in your power to make the best of whatever situation you’ve found yourself in. Even if it’s just making small changes and trying to appreciate even the smallest things in life. I’ve been forced to change my whole entire lifestyle due to my health issues. My whole diet has changed and I can’t even drink alcohol. Never in my life did I think that I’d be someone who meditates, or does yoga or gets acupuncture but here I am now. I’ve also realized life can still be an awesome adventure once I adjusted my mindset to my new situation. “You can’t change the wind, but you can adjust your sails.” I’ve learned to live my life by that awesome quote. Also I wish it didn’t take a major “life storm” for me to learn so many of the lessons that I have. I want to share all the tips and mindset shifts I’ve made that have helped me. Let’s not just ride out our storms, lets learn to how to surf them!! I’m far from being cured and I’m no expert but I am in the journey of surfing my life storms now. Lets help each other. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think because I’m learning this whole blog/website thing as I go! In the meantime have the best week ever! Surfs Up!
Crush it!
Justin