In this episode of Through The Eyes of Adversity, I sat down with Olivia, who talked all about her journey dealing with Juvenile Chronic Arthritis.

We speak all about the physical and mental health impacts of this condition and how it affected her growing up.

Olivia has had the condition since she was only 7 years old and has now started to share mote about her experiences.

It was a pleasure to listen to Olivia as she has such an upbeat personality considering all she has been through.

A big part of the podcast was that talking about movement has helped her in recent years, especially her pole Fitness and what that has done for her physically and mentally.

Olivia has done an amazing job raising money for @versusarthritis running in her first half marathon on Sunday 18th May, and we talk about how you can train for something like this if you have arthritis.

Conall was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. This is a very painful chronic inflammation issue affecting many parts of the body, including hips and spine. I personally understand the difficulty of this condition having it myself. Conall talks about his journey from his first trip to A&E to now where he is training to complete a half ironman, 10k swim, and a full ironman all within 3 months.

This week, I sit down with Alice Taylor Firstly, I want to say a massive thank you to Alice. This episode is very real and a raw account of a difficult time in Alice's life and a journey she went on to complete a full Ironman. For those who don't know what an Ironman race is, it's a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112-mile cycle and finishing with a full 26.2-mile running marathon. When it comes to speaking about difficult times in life and really going back to the place in your mind to think about it, emotions can come out of nowhere when you least expect it. This was a truly emotional episode for Alice, a real story, told from true emotions, and she is a testament to herself, showing us first hand the resolve it takes to complete an ironman by working through her emotions and pushing her comfort zone in this podcast to tell her story in a hope to inspire others. You should be very proud of yourself, Alice, and I know your story will 100% inspire somebody to push themselves in a difficult moment.

Wow - the first Olympic athlete on the podcast. I am super privileged to have had Sandra Wright on, and I am so proud of her for sharing her experiences leading up to the amazing day she won a medal for Great Britain at the Olympics. Sandra was very open about the fact that she has avoided moments like this since the Barcelona Olympics, so I feel very lucky to have had the chance to listen and spend time with such an amazing woman. Sandra is full of energy, and I came away from this episode inspired, and I know others will too. Sandra's road to the Olympic running was not easy, dealing with setbacks and grief. However, her unwavering attitude and relentlessness when it came to training helped her achieve more than she thought possible.

In this episode I sit down with Paul Faulder who talks about a subject all to common to a lot of people, and that is living with chronic back pain. After a night out at the age of 17, Paul's back and life would never be the same again. Paul talk's about his journey through trying to understand what had happend, visiting the hospital, the physical and mental impacts and all his lowest points. As bad as it was Paul decided to change his life and in this podcast he shares details on his mindset now, his daily routines and much more that will hopefully help others in a similar situation.

I got the chance to sit down with Jen Taylor. Head coach & co-founder of Empire Netball Club and Chair of North West Netball. We talk about an adversity that can be all too common. Jen speaks about her love for netball and how what started as a normal relationship turned into a very controlling situation that meant she could no longer be part of the sport and she lost her good friends in the process. After eventually breaking away from this relationship, it was her love for netball and taking that first step onto a court in almost a decade that got her life back on track. Building friendship groups again and not only helping herself but going on to help build a team of over 250 people in her club.

In this episode, I got the chance to speak with Dan Jones, Manchester's strongest man winner.

Dan experienced a freak injury in a strongman event in Southport, rupturing both patella tendons at the same time. Not only did Dan have to manage the aftermath of his injury, but the video of his injury and recovery went viral with millions of social media views.

In this episode, Dan talks about his Manchester Strongest Man win, the immediate feelings of his injury, and his experience being treated. He talks about his recovery and managing the fact his video went viral, which came with an influx of messages.

Not only is Dan on a journey making an incredible recovery, but he is going out of his way to share his experience and help as many people as possible dealing with knee problems.

Dan really is a true inspiration, and we got into his future plans and reflecting of life as a husband and Farther as well as his desire to stay within the sport he loves.

In this episode I sat down with Stan, who like myself is a personal trainer that has been diagnosed with an inflamatory arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis.

I was amazed when I was introduced to Stan and listened to a story so similar to mine and we both knew his journey and lived experience could help others with the condition.

Stan talks about his diagnosis story and a step by step process of how the condition developed and the treatment on offer.

He gives helpful tips and advice for others when it comes to daily routines and movement and for me this is a must listen for anybody with arthritis looking to listen to somebody they can relate to and understand.

In this episode I speak with Chelsea Shoesmith.

Chelsea tells a story of how she suddenly lost her farther in the Ilse of Man TT race.

This sparked something in Chelsea to start channelling her grief into physical training.

Chelsea talks about how this started as a couch to 5k however she went on to compete in ultramarathon races, ironman events and more. We talk about how training for these events and competing has helped her both mentally and physically.

https://www.instagram.com/healthyandhappychelsea?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

In this episode of Through the eyes of adversity I got the chance to speak with Laura Glover.

Her story is broken up into the phases of her life starting with how she developed an eating disorder in her teenage years which led to an unhealthy relationship with exercise and food which spiralled into a cycle she struggled to get out of.

Laura moves on to another adversity in her life which hit her later and that was being diagnosed with cancer. She talks about the mental health impacts of this and the physical struggles.

We speak about how important exercise is in her life and why it is no longer an unhealthy obsession but more a way of life giving her balance.