About Me — Tony Gjokaj
Hey everyone, my name is Tony and I write about living a more active lifestyle to battle depression and anxiety.
During my middle and high school years, I was an overweight, sleep-deprived, and depressed kid.
I lacked self-confidence in myself and would do things to please others, which led to people regularly walking all over me.
Because I didn’t want to be a burden on them, I would sit there and take EVERYTHING people would say about me.
It led me down a very nihilistic path where I contemplated suicide regularly.
I hated how I looked, felt, and thought.
It was not until I vented my frustration to my own mother that she led me down a path of building myself up.
We started working out.
At first, I hated it… and then I noticed a couple of things.
I slept better.
I felt better.
I thought better.
And eventually, I started to look better.
After these changes, I was hooked.
My sleep insomnia went away.
My suicidal thoughts went away.
When people tried to push me around, none of what they said matched who I really was.
An active lifestyle saved my life: it helped me discover who I truly was beneath the depression and anxiety.
For years after, I would use exercise to manage my stress levels with college, my corporate job, and onwards.
And while I worked that corporate job, there was an entrepreneurial flame within me.
I wanted to help people out on their journeys.
And I discovered what my calling was in my experiences, my story.
I want to help people live a more active lifestyle to battle depression and anxiety.
Living with those things suppresses who we truly are as people.
They can consume us.
If I could help you, even just a bit, with a more active lifestyle, I will be doing my part.
And as such, I decided to not only write about this but create a movement around it.
I created my business Reforged to help others live this active lifestyle.
I want to help people discover who they truly are through activity.
An active body makes a more active mind.
And to me, movement has meaning.
Active movement can bring about meaning in your life.
Years ago, I realized I wanted to live when I was running my nearly 13-minute mile gasping for air.
And most recently, I realize I want to live after being choked out in Jiu-Jitsu. ;)
Today, my mission is to show you your life has meaning, and there’s meaning in the struggle of pursuing to be greater than you are now.
I can’t wait to see what you’ll become.
PS: If you need an extra kick in the ass on your fitness and mental health journey, you can sign up for our Fitness for Mental Health email list. We’ve got a few freebies in it to help you on your fitness journey. You can sign up here!
Check Out Our Fitness For Mental Health YouTube Channel!
