"Passion Over Everything!"

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One of the inspiring and positive people we've had the pleasure of being introduced to. Joey is an inspiration with his achievements but also his attitude. Below is his amazing story:

Joey T.

Growing up where family time is a must every weekend, hearing your parents yell at you every morning to make sure you get ready for school, making sure your room is clean, hurting yourself or getting bullied at school and your mum or dad are the first to be there… unfortunately that wasn't how I grew up. My parents passed away due to health problems when I was in my last years of schooling. The struggles I faced became even harder and it felt like living life wasn't worth
it.

Being a big boy all my life was the reason I was bullied at school. I was probably the biggest in all my classes and even the school. I was called all the fat names you can think of and not having my parents there to talk to meant I was losing my self confidence by the day. Giving up became an option but I had to find something to strive for as the hole I was digging myself into was just getting deeper and deeper. It wasn’t until I began losing weight that I was able to find a place to escape and a place to stay in check. Unfortunately, when things looked like they were on the up, it all came crashing down again when my half brother passed away in a car crash. I fell back into that hole again and this was when I was at my heaviest of 220 kg. I was pretty much following in my parents footsteps and I had to change or I was going to pass away young like them.

I moved to a little mining town in Western Australia Port Hedland which changed my life. I was able to surround myself with like-minded people that had similar goals to me. They wanted to lose weight and live a healthier and fitter lifestyle as well. That is where my new journey began and the first 2 years was all about changing my mindset and telling myself “I can” rather than “I can't” and “I will” rather than “I won't”. I had to set a goal I had to work towards and that was to run the 12km Perth City to Surf. I had 6 months to prepare for it and on day one, I couldn't even run 100m without having sore feet, out of breath and saying I can’t do it, let alone prepping for a 12km run.

I am proud to say that I have now ran that 12km run twice and I was so happy that both times crossing that finish line I cried completing something I thought I could never do. I have since moved to Perth where I train out of The Body Consultants Jandakot and it is one of the most amazing gyms I have joined with amazing coaches and members that work just as hard as I do while at the same time pushing me to reach my goals. I have a motto that I hold close to me, that originally comes from a local sporting and fitness brand STAX, which is "PASSION OVER EVERYTHING". I live my life each and every day living that motto and making each moment an opportunity. I can tell you now I'm not even close to where I want to be with my journey but I know I'm heading in the right direction, it just might take me longer than others, but I will get there.

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