My January 2020 Fitness Journey!!

Almost thirty six years ago, this May I was born. Born with a issue that an estimated 874,713 people have.. Nearly 900 thousand people have been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lifetime, out of an estimated population of 8,411,808 in 2016 (BRFSS, 2016) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. That is, one out of every ten adult residents in Virginia has been diagnosed with asthma in their lifetime; and if that’s not bad enough how about this fact, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 13 people have asthma. More than 25 million Americans have asthma. This is 7.7 percent of adults and 8.4 percent of children.

So here I am, born with at this point seemingly a common disease, yet at the point of my birth No one really knew what to do with it. Particularly because the disease had just become a thing around the time I was born in 1984.. ANOTHER FUNNY THING!! I until now had no idea what Asthma was. I was completely clues to the fact asthma is respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. It usually results from an allergic reaction or other forms of hypersensitivity.

So here I am, a young EDB, trying to live a successful life without coughing up my lungs. I remember one trip to my pediatrician (Dr. Amin) a little sweet Arab man who’s either dead now, or deported. 😂😂😂 I remember him speaking with my mom, because ya know back then kids didn’t matter. Yeah, I get we’re fin to do weird things to your body, but f*ck how you feel, I’m gonna just ask your mom. To those of you, who got the suddle hint, yes I was throwing shade, it’s so cool to be a kid now days, you have a voice, you have rights we didn’t even dream of back yonder, you can today do what I couldn’t back then, you can say what I couldn’t back then!! Honestly, if I was born in this generation, with the same set of circumstances, my life would be hella different, but I came from the past, which was influenced by serious racism, sexism, child abuse, and neglect.

So Dr. Amin, looked at my mom, and told her, this child (EDB)(ME) couldn’t and shouldn’t do anything athletics. SPORTS TEAM, don’t even look at em, that class we know as Physical Education (PE) just write him out of it. He can’t and WILL NEVER be able to do anything extreme, anything taxing, anything that intensely mobile. Now again this was the mid to late 80s, even into the early 90s, the technology from a medical 🏥 perspective was still young and unsupportive back then. Again now, they would’ve more than likely sent me, AGAIN CONDITIONS THE SAME) how with both an inhaler, and breathing pump like son what time you playing Saturday?? Man I just can believe how much we’ve grown, how far, we’ve come.

So here I am sitting on the couch, growing like a hog, when my grandma goes, Naw, you fin to do something. LIKE WHAT? Didn’t you hear what Dr. Arab, I mean Amin said? I can’t do that stuff? YES you can she shouted, pushing my into PE class. The first time I ran I looked hella stupid, like Lindsey Lohan after a crack session. I ran crooked, constantly out of breath, shaking my head as if that would help me move fast, idk, it’s just what I did. This was my struggle all the way thru to college.

I eventually grew out of asthma 🙏🏾🙏🏾 but my mental block remained. So now I’m on mission, to prove I to myself what my granny and others tried to tell me almost thirty six years ago. I can run, and I can be active. Here is the first testament of my journey...