A Message From the Heart

Hey! I hope your day is going well!

I’m kind of a sentimental person. Maybe more than most. I often sit back and reflect on where I’ve been, how I got there and how grateful I am for all I have. This week I’ve been really hit with a gratitude for being able to instruct and lead others towards better health and a better life through many means, one of which being this newsletter.

This time of year, as I’m sure you can imagine, I am ridiculously busy. I’m back to back with clients all day in the office, I have new people inquiring about coming in to see me continually, I have a waiting period for all new clients and I still have all the same paperwork, projects and deadlines that I have to be on top of as well.

When I sat down this past week and thought about what I could possibly take off my schedule, one of the things that came to mind was writing this newsletter. It takes a fair bit of time to do my research, my writing, my formatting and to send it out each week and its nothing anyone is paying me for, so of course it COULD go. But then I stopped and asked myself a question “why do I even write these newsletters?”

Once I realized the answer to that question the decision to continue was a no brainer.

Not everyone knows my story. When I was 15 years old I was diagnosed with a serious case of leukemia and immediately placed into a 26 month chemotherapy protocol. This involved frequent stays in the hospital, high doses of toxic drugs and side effects that were so bad that sometimes I just wished I would die rather than go through the treatment.

As bad as it was physically, it was even worse mentally. The feeling of being helpless, hopeless and deathly afraid of what was around the next turn was too much to take. I had to medicate with alcohol just to get through an entire day. That was my life for the first 10 months.

Everything changed one day when I made one important decision. That decision was that no matter what my medical status was, I was going to do whatever I could do make myself better and not surrender to my circumstances. Literally overnight I began that journey and have not stopped in over 16 years.

I exercised, I ate well, I took supplements, I studied, I learned and I clung to a hope that if I put in enough work things would get better. They did.

After making this change, the second half of my treatment plan was light years better than the first. I felt way better, looked way better and my mind was fixated on what I could do to improve rather than on the fear of what might happen. No more need to self medicate, no more feelings of wanting to die. I was hopeful and empowered to a degree I never thought I could be.

Fast forward to today.

Through many twists and turns I have developed a strong expertise and a very successful practice in the area of musculoskeletal problem solving. These are the most common health problems in America today according to statistics. Many people I help are going through the same mental struggle that I was. They are afraid of things getting worse and in many ways feel helpless.

My number one goal with this newsletter is to put out information and concepts that help to change that mindset. That no matter what the physical problem is there is ALWAYS something you can do to make it better. People that adopt this mindset feel empowered, hopeful and confident about the future. Even if you don’t actually apply what I teach, just knowing that a certain behavior can make a positive impact is enough to help change that mindset. That is by far the most important aspect of getting better.

My secondary goal is to actually give you good information that you can apply. People that adopt the things I write about will become healthier overall and that is something I love to see happen because it reminds me of, well, me.

Some people may be baffled as to why the “muscle guy” might be talking about nutrition, or hydration or even brain health in his newsletters. It’s because good health of one part promotes good health of all the other parts. Everything is connected and everything matters. Plus my ultimate desire is that all my readers achieve total wellness to the highest degree possible. That’s what really makes life better.

That is why I do what I do and why I will continue to do what I do. Even if I only impacted one person it would be worth it.

Anyway, I hope I didn’t bore you with this little letter. I know its different than what I usually send out and I know with over 300 subscribers, not everyone will read this but I wanted to just share this and say thank you for allowing me to have an opportunity to share these things with you each and every week.

It means a lot to me to see that my adversity and the changes I experienced through it has now lead to me having a positive effect on others.

Blessings to you and yours,

Chris Vercelli MATm, RTS, CPT

Founder: Non-Fiction Fitness