My 20 year Reinvention
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Many years ago, I did a series of video blogs that talked about my health issues and my near death experience. And I think at first some people didn't know how to take it. I mean, I had friends and I had close family that kind of raised their eyes or roll their eyes at times and wondered why would you do this? What's the point of being so candid? But for me, it was always about trying to help people that were in similar situations. And if you listen to the 2005 and the 2012 video, it sounds like I lived happily ever after. But I didn't, a lot of things happened after that point. And that's what this video blog is about. Nearly 20 years ago. I weighed £305. I was angry. I was lonely. I was bitter. I was always in a bad mood. And one day I ended up in the emergency room dying from something called diverticulitis. 14 agonizing days on the third night, it was probably the worst night ever. And I woke up around three o'clock in the morning. It was gloomy raining outside and I just stared and I thought, wow, I'm such a loser. I've never accomplished anything in my life. I'm probably gonna die and no one's gonna know who John Mellow ever was. And it was at that point that I made a promise that I would make some changes if I was given another chance. So I came out of the hospital, I bought a treadmill. I lost 100 and £25. I got an associates degree. I got a bachelor's degree and then I got a master's degree. And then that was it happily ever after. But the diverticulitis always lurked. And so finally, when I turned 40 I said it's time to have the surgery. I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of running. I had it. It was a success. And then in 2018, I even rewarded myself with a tummy tuck for losing all that weight on my own. It sounds like a happy ending. It was. But what I don't talk about in the video blog is the pain, the suffering. The times I got dizzy, the times I wanted to throw up when I woke up from the surgery. My doctor telling me that she thought I went through something comparable to childbirth. It was a lot of embarrassing situations with the disease, having virtual colonoscopies and whatnot. But they made me stronger. Every experience that I went through made me stronger. I found a way of coping with it funny enough. A lot of people, they cry, they get emotional. I used to get angry at the disease. I used to want to fight the disease. And there were many times that I'd be sitting in the bed in enormous pain and I would get angry and force myself to get up. I would force myself to run more and more miles until I got to six miles a day. It became very obsessive for me. It's so easy for us to want to wrap ourselves in a cocoon when something bad happens. But these are the times that really define us. This is when we should step it up a notch. Don't be afraid to take challenges. Don't be afraid to take chances. Don't be afraid to believe in yourself. I promise you sometimes we think life is so bad, but let's face it, it could be worse. So believe in yourself in my moments of low points where I felt like things were so terrible and I was in so much pain. I would always tell myself, you know what John tomorrow is gonna be a better day. Just get through this one and I'll tell you something. It always was. So that's my advice to you today when you think life is so bad. Always remember tomorrow's going to be a better day as long as you believe in it.