Living the Lifestyle

shawnpsweeney

I was basically born on hockey skates and from age three I was skating daily at the rink. Coming from a massive hockey family there was always high expectations put on me to succeed to the highest levels. All I did growing up was play hockey and train. At age 14 I was thrown into the world of junior hockey, playing against 21 year olds. The experience of competing against top competition at a juvenile age of 14 was intimidating yet rewarding. It taught me life lessons of perseverance, commitment, passion and dedication, to name a few. There was no going to parties during high school. My daily schedule was off to school for the day, driving an hour to practice, weight training, back home to eat, do my homework, sleep and repeat. This was my life for five years with the goal of playing at the highest levels. Suddenly one summer day my entire life was flipped upside down. After a standard x ray, doctors discovered a tumor in my shinbone. I couldn’t believe the news. Why did this happen to me? The doctors didn’t have answers but surgery was critical. For months I had no idea what exactly was in my body but I didn’t even care. The only thing on my mind was how detrimental this was to my hockey career. Surgery was set and I went under the knife. They removed the tumor and totally reconstructed my leg adding synthetic bone and a plate. When I woke up I was relieved that the tumor ended up being benign and very thankful for the positive news. However, the recovery was long and very brutal. I was bed ridden for 4 months. However, I was still driven with the mindset that I would be back to top shape and still be able to perform at the highest levels. The road back was very frustrating and a constant struggle. As you know, hockey is a game of speed and agility and having leg mobility is crucial. However, I kept a positive mindset and little by little my leg was getting stronger. I had lost a tremendous amount of weight going from 210 to about 175. I persevered and gained most of my lost weight back, trained and skated daily. Ultimately, the extensive time off, not being eligible for junior hockey any longer, and the severity of my injury proved to be too much and my career was over. Now what do I do when hockey was my entire life? I could be depressed and angry that this happened to me. However, I had a different mind set. I wanted to inspire people to eat healthy and live a happy and healthy lifestyle. That’s my goal here to help you guys live an awesome lifestyle and look great while doing it.

grward612

What a great attitude! Thank you for any inspiration you can provide to us!!