If you are not growing you are dying

By Eleanor Dhillon

For some exercise can be a burden, but for one Windsor resident exercise is an escape.

Arthur Nietrasov was born in Poland and moved to Windsor when he was 10. In 2017 his life was drastically changed.

Nietrasov was 38 when he was knocked off his motorcycle. He was riding along when a woman pulled in front of him, he hit the car and lost all control of his steering. The accident left him with an injured hip, elbow, shoulders and a broken arm which he had two surgeries for. This left him feeling suicidal.

Prior to his accident, Nietrasov was a husband, a dad and a house owner who enjoyed going to the gym. After the event took place he could no longer work, his strength deteriorated and he was unable to attend the gym for a full year. Nietrasov struggled to lift or move objects weighing only five pounds.

“I was losing the strength to even roll over in bed and it gets depressing when you work out and you have all this energy, but then you stop moving,” said Nietrasov. “The energy goes through the roof but you cannot burn it, so you can’t sleep, I enjoyed working out to keep my temper down.”

He said he could not stand the fact that before the incident he was able to do everything he wanted to fulfil his idea of a normal life and now he said he has been feeling weak and unable to perform the tasks he could before.

“I still can’t bench 400 pounds like I used to,” said Nietrasov. “When you’re active doing what you want to every day any time, then you can’t do anything. You don’t have the will to get out of bed, you feel like you have no purpose in life and you don’t feel like anything will make you happy.”

Doctors and physicians told him not to participate in any form of exercise or activity for at least a year as it could lead to further damage. He said it felt strange to go from lifting 60 or 100 pounds to barely being able to lift five.

Nietrasov decided it was time for a change. He needed to do something to fuel his will to live so he began to search for his purpose. Suddenly he discovered joy in going to the gym again and started his journey to rebuild his strength. He believes once you find your purpose anything is possible.

“If you give up, that’s it,” Nietrasov said. “If you don’t keep pushing yourself you are not going to go anywhere. My friend told me if you are not growing you are dying.”

Jean Laforge is the executive director of Mental Health Connections and Angie Carroll and Myles Robinson are certified personal trainers who say over the years they have all noticed an increase in the number of people suffering from mental health issues, and believe addiction plays a huge role. Fewer teens and younger adults are coming forward and asking for help. It could be due to the stigma around mental health. People are made to feel bad about themselves instead of asking for help.

According to an article by Florence Kellner, suicide is among the top 10 causes of death in Canada. On average, approximately 4,000 Canadians commit suicide every year, and there are about 11 suicides per 100,000 people in Canada. This rate is higher among men and among indigenous communities.

Robinson said exercise is a good place to start if you are trying to overcome mental illnesses. It gives people a purpose and gives them an activity to look forward to participating in. The clients who do work out regularly tend to feel much better about themselves.

“We hear constantly if it wasn’t for them coming to work out, or them coming to our program they would be hospitalized again,” Robinson said. “The biggest challenge is getting someone to join the gym the first time.”

Laforge said it should not matter if someone has a mental illness or not, mental health issues are just obstacles which can be overcome with the right choices. These issues can affect anyone, but the programs they provide are designed to help them overcome.

“Because somebody is diagnosed with a mental illness, it doesn’t mean their life is done. It means there may be some extra challenges in their life, but a lot of people overcome those obstacles and challenges,” said Laforge “There are many people who have overcome these challenges with exercise and with education.”

Laforge also said the more their clients learn about themselves and begin to focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities, they can achieve goals and become who they were meant to be.

There are numerous ways to overcome these illnesses and different people you can speak to in order to receive this help.

Mental Health Connections offers many different activities to help people suffering. To find out more information about Mental Health Connections call (519) 256-4854, visit their website at https://mentalhealthconnections.ca or visit their location on 370 Erie Street E.