Thank you Angels for all the entries submitted :) I know I’ve decided to only choose one, but every story was so heartfelt that I’d be featuring all of them over the next few weeks. I hope that they’d inspire you, as much as they did for me. 

Submitted by Emily (http://www.diaryofafitnessjunkie.tumblr.com)

The hardest thing I ever went through was a near death experience when I was about 9 years old. I got sick at the beginning of February, and it seemed like just another bout of strep throat—I got that sickness almost every year growing up. However, even after going through the antibiotics, I still didn’t get better; in fact, I got progressively worse. Two weeks after first contracting strep, I couldn’t walk or talk. I couldn’t even get up the stairs in my own house, so I had to sleep on the couch. We went to doctor after doctor, trying to figure out what I had, and none of them could find anything wrong. I was hospitalized 2 separate times, during which I got 3 laryngoscopies (where they stick a camera up your nose and down into your throat) and they found nothing that could be causing my sickness.

This continued for about 6 weeks, and my condition kept getting worse. Towards the end I could barely open my eyes, and I slept for about 18 hours a day. The doctors told us they were sorry but they couldn’t figure out the reason for it and that if it continued on the path it was going, there was a possibility I could die. My parents were getting so desperate, and one day one of their friends mentioned something about getting tested for allergies/sensitivities.

Eager to find a way to heal me, my mother took me to a homeopathic center in downtown Chicago the following week to get tested. When the results came back, it showed I was “sensitive” to over 40 different foods which I had been eating for the entirety of my illness. The difference between allergies and sensitivities are that allergies show up very obviously in swelling of the throat, hives, that sort of thing, while sensitivities have a hidden effect on the body. My food sensitivities basically took my weakened immune system from when I first had strep and completely shut it down. I had no way to fight against the diseases in my body and turned into a flower just wilting away. We immediately eliminated all those foods from my diet, and within the next week I began improving exponentially. I could talk again after 5 days and walk again after 10 (which was really difficult because my muscles had atrophied quite a bit from being so inactive).

Now I take the best possible care of myself in what I eat and try to keep my body in the best shape it can be. The whole experience has given me such a positive outlook on life though; my mantra is carpe diem because I always want to make the most out of the life I’ve have, since I was so lucky to have it given back to me.

#1 Remember that days come in many sizes, forms and shapes.

There’re going to be days when your diet is on point. There’re going to be days when you had a party to attend and all they had were 600-calories-a-martini glasses. There’re going to be weeks when you hit the gym like you lived there. There’re going to be days when the only time you have for yourself is shower time. Once you’ve realized that, let it go. Let go of your need of perfection. Let go of obsessing over perfecting your every action. What you do most of the time, is more important that what you do sometimes. Give yourself a break :)

#2 When you’re feeling unmotivated.

Always refer to your big poster of BIG THREE’S. Why you’re doing this. If you want to lose weight. It could be 1) I want to be able to live a long healthy life with my husband and kids 2) I want to be able to inspire my family to adopt a healthy lifestyle 3) I want to have the stamina to run around with my kids …. Remember WHY you’re doing this. Make sure these reasons are for YOU.. and for YOU. If it’s because you want to look amazing in a bikini, write that down. Remember what you’re fighting for, then put in the hard work.

#3 When you’re facing failure.

Failures are EVENTS. Failures aren’t an indication of who you ARE as a person. They’re delayed successes. They’re GREAT teachers, re-assessors, learning points. Let them be your help checkpoints in learning how to re-strategize your actions to better achieve your goals. When you’ve failed, it’s not YOU that has failed, it’s your ACTIONS that needs to be redefined. Failures are delayed successes, remember that.