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M o n d a y M o r n i n g M o t i v a t i o n W i t h M i k e #40

Prior to 2019 I never really dealt with any of my own personal depression or anxiety. But two weeks after opening my second location I lost my best friend from college, as many of y'all know. 

Brandon Wright was more than a friend. He was a brother and losing him hit me like a ton of bricks.

Then 6-8 months later COVID happens. 

We make it out alive, personally and professionally. Barely professionally, by the skinny skin skin on our chinny chin chin, but nonetheless, both gyms are still open and operating. 

Early 2022 I FINALLY convince the wife to try for a 3rd. Remember, I'm Irish and Mexican so there was no trying, it happened.

Literally two weeks after she and I find out we're expecting, I get an email that rent at my flagship location is DOUBLING. 

Baby girl was born September 19th of 2022 and by Dec 31st of that same year both my gyms were officially shut down, no longer in operation after 11 fun and fulfilling years of business. 

Processing a worldwide pandemic, social and political unrest, inflation directly impacting my livelihood, all the while bringing another human being into all this madness, and still grieving the loss of my brother, Brandon Wayne Wright, had me toe to toe with depression, and face to face with anxiety for the first time in my life.

For the first time in my life, I would cry out of nowhere, out of the blue, and for-- what seemed-- no particular reason at all, at least to the untrained eye.

For the first time in my life, there were days where I had to peel myself out of bed and drag myself through the day hoping and praying no one would notice how I was barely there.

For the first time in my life, I would wake up from a dead sleep crying. The first time I was sobbing, damn near hyperventilating and woke the wife up too. 

This was the best list I could find online that helped me.

It wasn’t until last year, 2023 that I started taking stock of my life and how/when I would feel the worst.

• How has my sleep been?

• How has my nutrition been?

• Have I been on top of my workouts?

• Have I had regular positive interactions with high energy, positive people? Or have I been around low energy, negative people?

Every time I noticed myself falling into a slump, the two most common denominators, THAT I CAN CONTROL, was I had missed more workouts than usual (not like me) and my nutrition was off— in particular, my (processed, added) sugar intake was always much higher than normal.

I’ve told y’all before in previous newsletters that sugar is the devil and I mean it, here are two articles that link sugar with depression, one from Healthline, titled “The Connection Between Sugar and Depression" and another one by HealthCentral titled, “Can Sugar Cause Depression”.

So here’s the deal, I won’t spoil the articles for you because you need to read those on your own and I believe you will, but I will tell you from direct experience what I noticed in myself.

Every time, and I mean every time I felt, physically and mentally, like shit, I had just come out of a little sugar binge. Every single time. And I’d be willing to bet, most, if not all of you who struggle with depression, don’t realize how much added sugar you eat.

Now listen, I’m not saying sugar causes depression. Remember, prior to losing B, I’ve never dealt with this and I’ve obviously eaten sugar before 2019.

What I’m saying is, it can and will make your symptoms worse and, more importantly, eating less of it can and will decrease your symptoms!

Furthermore, I did more research on gut health and wrote a newsletter on it, titled, “GO WITH YOUR GUT”. Since then, I began implementing two daily gut health habits:

• Drink a low sugar Kombucha, LIVE Soda’s root beer flavor is my ‘go-to’ happy juice.

• Eat low sugar Greek yogurt.

Less sugar, and fermented foods that also have a high content of pre/probiotics help strengthen gut health which increase seratonin levels which help combat depression.

Getting back to that list above, what works best for me is staying on top of:

• 1.) DAILY SELF CARE

  I have a morning routine and evening routine I take myself through each and every day. One to set myself up for success and the other to reflect, practice gratitude, and adjust the sails if needed.

• 3.) NOURISH YOUR BODY WITH HEALTHY FOOD

  Eating whole, unprocessed, high nutritional value food helps! IT DOES!

• 5.) EXERCISE

  Working out is the most underutilized yet FREE medicine readily available to man to improve not just physical health but mental health, too.

• 6.) MANTRAS TO COMBAT NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

  “I am the greatest motivator on the f*cking planet”

  “I empower people”

  “I make people feel good“

  “I influence, inspire, and impact the world” are just a few examples of the many mantras/affirmations I randomly say to myself throughout the day, AT LEAST a dozen times.

What works best for you?! Respond to this email and let me know!

If you are struggling, please reach out for help. If not to me, someone you love and trust. You matter! And so do your feelings!

Thanks again for reading, really appreciate your continued support!

And please never forget:

Suicide does not take the pain away, it only transfers it to your loved ones.

Much love, mi gente!

- Mike O’Hara

PS

Thank you, again, for your continued love and support!

And as always,

YOUR FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED:

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