My voyage of personal development, growth and discovery has been a true voyage with some incredible experiences. and it is bigger than just me.

My journey so far

It has now been several years since I started to apply changes in my life in order to better my physical and mental health, finances and overall joy of life. At around the same time I started Gira180 as a means to share our experiences with the hope it could benefit others.

My personal journey started with lifestyle changes regarding my diet and exercise to try and combat my heavy brain fog, constant stress and anxiety, slight overweight, mild depression and financial worries.

Ever since that time I have become completely obsessed with this process. The more I learned the more I wanted to learn. I have since experimented and adapted meditation, breathwork, Yoga, Nootropics, nutritional supplements, CBD, cold showers, fasting, ketosis, mouth taping, EMDR, Ayahuasca and much more.

I have become conscious of many things I was not even aware of and a world of possibilities opened up for me. With every new thing I learned I became aware of more possibilities. It has been like opening a door and seeing a new door appear over and over.

I learned about the importance of nutrition of body and mind and experience first hand the enormous impact it has had on my life. I can not believe I have been asleep at the wheel for so long!

I recognize the potential in other people and feel an obligation to at least try to show them what is available to them too. I mean, if I can do it, anyone can!

Time to wake up

I have become obsessed with the idea of awakening as many people as I can as I believe it can literally save lives as I believe it did mine.

I am appalled that it took me so long to learn a lot of the things I am discovering, I am now 45 years old and experiencing a lot of these for the first time! For a lot of these things I am only becoming aware they exist for the first time! Why were w never taught these things in school?

I see it as my obligation to share what I have learned and hopefully provide a way for other people to learn these things sooner and quicker than I did.

We currently live in a time of pandemic, and I am not referring to the so called viral pandemic that is going on right now in 2020. I am referring to the actual pandemic of obesity, chronic illness and poverty in all senses of the word.

I often feel like Neo from the movie the Matrix as I feel I have been awoken and am looking from the outside in and see things other people are not yet aware of.

For example I have learned a lot about nutrition and how food actually nourishes our body and how we have gotten so accustomed to eating none food that makes us sick that we have forgotten how to eat right. I see how we have forgotten that our body can heal itself and we should not put all our faith in doctors who just think in terms of pharmaceuticals. From all I have learned I can often identify people that are obviously pre-diabetic yet are not aware of it themselves. There are so many of them and I see them as if they are sleepwalking. It really hurts me to see them literally kill themselves without even being aware of it or giving a damn about it.

A recent personal experience I have had demonstrates this to the extreme.

A matter of death

I had a conversation with a gentleman about 4 months ago after I had expressed my concern for his health when I saw him walk by my house and my father told him about that. From his physique I could clearly see the signs he was pre-diabetic due to insulin resistance and most probably suffered from a range of related symptoms. He asked to speak with me about it and we had a pleasant conversation. He confirmed my assumptions and indicated he was indeed suffering from high blood pressure and a slew of other ailments.

He was obviously overweight. I explained how his current lifestyle would surely lead him to an early demise. I explained how elevated insulin and cortisol levels affected his health and I painted a process which could help him try to correct his course. His reply was typical, and he stated he “could” simply not sacrifice his little pleasures in life like his Coke and sweet bread and cookies.

We talked about putting things in perspective and the importance of understanding that such “sacrifices” are really not sacrifices at all if you look at the bigger picture. We even discussed how his health affects his children and his wife so he could maybe see it is not just about him.

I suggested he should try and focus on the mid- and long term benefits he could get out of it by simply giving up these short term insignificant pleasures but he could not see past the short term pleasures he would have to give up.

After he left I was asked if I thought I would be able to help him. I said I thought I could not. I have learned that people need to WANT to be helped before you can actually help them. This gentleman was looking for a magic pill that could help him without having to put in any effort. I said I was not interested in even trying at this point as he first had to come to the realization he wanted to be helped.

This gentleman passed away one month ago. When I heard of his passing I felt guilty for not having pressed and try to help him, but I am convinced it would not have made a difference. He was simply too settled in his ways and not willing to even consider making a change.

This situation did leave a lasting impression on me and it underlined the importance for me to keep trying to wake up people before they get too far down the line.

Overcoming the resistance

I have come across a lot of people like this gentleman that simply do not want to change or are very complacent, and I have learned not to push.

An often heard response is “We all have to die of something”, which is true but, if you got the opportunity, would you not want to try to reduce the chance you will die too soon or will have to needlessly suffer?

It is not about how you die, but how you get to live.

I will not give up. I feel that by discussing these topics or introducing concepts and leading by example I could be planting seeds in people that at some point may blossom into their realization they should probably make some changes. Everybody is different and we are all in different stages of our life. So for some the time may be now, for others it may be never. I would hate to think though that people are missing opportunities simply because they are not aware of them or have nobody to help them get started.