It's been more than 5 years since I had my last knee operation...
I had three operations. Everything could have been fixed from the first operation, but I hired a doctor unable to perform an operation of such magnitude. In order not to make this article long, there were three ligaments that were torn from the bone, the anterior and posterior cruciate and the median collateral.
The first operation was in 2009 and it took me a year to regain my athletic abilities again. The second operation was in 2010 and it took me another year to return to my previous athletic level. It wasn't until 2017 that I had the operation that left my knee stable, with a very competent doctor, Robert Laprade. After this operation, I was finally able to reach my athletic state.
I have many reasons why my athletic level is important...
One of them, it's true, is because I'm a bit vain and I want to look good. It was a great motivation for me to start lifting weights and change my body. I remember before I wanted to look like the guys in the magazines, super muscular and ripped. It was so much effort that I put in at the gym that when they made a bad comment to me, I got angry.
I remember when I worked in a restaurant and we had a friend who would come and tell me that if I had lifted weights that day because I looked smaller than normal. I took it to heart and I believed it.
I took a lot of supplements to speed up the process…
I admit it, one day I thought about taking steroids, but I thank God very much that I did not look too hard for them and I was never given the opportunity. My goal was to look like the bull-like guys.
It was not until later that I learned that there are a lot of lies in the industry and that it is not worth putting my health at risk for having unnatural muscles. Not only that, that made me understand that I did not accept reality and that I was psychologically ill.
There are too many people who are not happy with their body...
First we are going to differentiate the people who are mentally healthy who can do something to improve their body. These people know that they are overweight or not in shape and that they can improve their body through exercise and eating healthy. They do their best to bring out the best in them. They don't crave someone else's body, but other people can be the motivation for them to change. They are happy with the characteristics of their body and do not intend to change anything aesthetically, only to improve it.
Now there are the people who psychologically are losing their sanity. These people compare themselves to others. They are not happy with their hips and want other people's hips, for example. If their hips are small, they want them big and if they are big, they want them small. It can also be the hair. If they have curly hair, they want it straight and if they have it straight, they want it curly. They are not satisfied with their height or body type and are looking for a way to change it aesthetically through operations.
The truth is that most characters on TV and social media are not real…
People and industries want to pretend to be something that doesn't exist. They look for perfect angles, they alter their photos, they look for lights that enhance their body, they take drugs, they dehydrate, but nothing they do is real or natural. For many reasons, the way these people live and how it affects their health is not sustainable.
You can never be someone else. The only thing you can be is better than you were before...
We all have different bodies. After I woke up from my lie, I realized that I could be better than myself, but that I was never going to be someone else. I stop comparing myself to people who are more muscular than me. I began to realize that many were taking drugs to grow muscles. Other people had operations and that was no longer healthy in any way. I focus on getting the best out of me. Now every time I see a person who is natural and you could see the effort in their body, it made me smile because I knew that few of us really paid the price to improve our bodies in a natural and healthy way.
You will never be happy if you compare yourself to someone else and want the body you don't have...
Yes, do everything possible to improve your body. If you're overweight, drop a few pounds. If you want to tone your body, work for it. Grow your butt, firm your glutes, grow your legs, slim your stomach, comb your hair, fix yourself. But you never want the other person's big hips that your body can't have or want the other person's small hips that your body can't have.
You are special and many people would like to have the body that you have. But there's nothing healthy about wanting to be someone else. The best thing is to improve your body. The same goes for achievements. You cannot achieve the same as other people. Do not compare yourself with the one who has achieved more or with the one who has achieved less.
We all have different experiences, different parents, different lives, and some have been in the world longer than others. You can never be someone else. I'll say it again, just focus on being a better you every day. Be a better version of you.
Now many people want to compare me with other people and I know that they, who have achieved less or more than me, have nothing to do with my self-esteem. I only know if I'm doing my best and getting my full potential. I learned to be satisfied with my body and my achievements. But be clear that being satisfied with who I am is not being in a comfortable zone. I am always pushing my mind, my body and my being to be better than I was before. Whether I get more than others or less does not affect my self-esteem.