Jiten's Story - Movement and Mental Wealth
May's mental health special interview series
This is the third instalment of this special interview series on movement and mental wealth.
When Jiten and I sat down to chat, it had been four years since we had last seen each other. I trained him to be a Mental Health First Aider in 2019, and he left his company the following year. He asked if that happened a lot to me (it does), where the people I train start to do the inner work in addition to supporting others. Of course, the other major thing that happened since we last met was the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jiten worked from home during the pandemic between March and June 2020, before he finished work, which was when he found space to begin to look at his life differently. Even though, in his words, it was a horrible time, having the time allowed him the opportunity to re-evaluate and hit the reset button. Whilst he was coming to terms with what was next in his life, Jiten discovered a huge benefit, a love for something he never thought he would - running.
Before the pandemic, Jiten had been in his role for seven years working hard, but this was reflected in his home life. With long working hours and no time to invest in his wellbeing, Jiten’s health and weight began to deteriorate too. He describes getting to a place where this didn’t feel fun. He was not happy with how he was feeling. There was additional pressure as Jiten and his wife had been trying to conceive for around four years before that point, then in 2018, they began the process of IVF which marked a difficult time for the couple.
Pre-pandemic Jiten felt the subject of IVF was not a conversation he felt he could have in the workplace. It was a private matter happening in the background of work and a demanding job taking up his time. He was coming into work but in parallel dealing with the heartbreak of it all, the failed rounds, and miscarriages, which was devastating for the couple. Jiten believes that things have shifted in workplaces, and he would now be more open and comfortable having these conversations with his manager or HR team. During this difficult time and having support from his wife, he decided to step back from his work. In his words, he had enough and wanted a break from the whole cycle. We spoke a lot about the importance of the oxygen mask and that for Jiten to support his wife fully, he also needed to look after himself.
Jiten had a lot of inner questions. How was he going to reset? How was he going to increase his energy? How would he keep going? How would he find more purpose in his job and life? At this point, he contemplated that children may never happen to them, so what were the options for the couple, and how should they approach it? As part of this deep work, Jiten wanted to make real changes in his life. One of the big things for him was exercise, doing something that made him feel good.
Jiten was passionate about sport, but by his admission, he had not been particularly great at it. He never really made the time but remembered how the gym made him feel, not just physically. As it was the pandemic, Jiten could not go to the gym, so he thought he would try running, although he had found it challenging. With the lockdowns, there were few alternatives, and hearing runners saying, ah, this is fantastic; you´ve got to get into it. But he found it hard to make the first move to get out there. In Jiten’s words, “This is true for any new hobby; it is all the barriers you end up facing from putting on the clobber and buying the shoes”. Jiten is honest about his self-consciousness and memory of being unsuccessful at running back at uni. But the biggest motivator for him was that he knew he had nothing to lose.
During his first 4K jogging route, he stopped four times, but as time passed, he felt the benefits as his body started to adjust to pounding the pavements. He started to go on longer runs. He stopped comparing himself to others and saw improvements in his time, completing the routes. Running helped Jiten remove the clouding of his thoughts. Everything was clearer. It gave him mental space and the opportunity to get out and about. As he invested in his self-care, he discovered he was showing up as a better husband, and his wife wasn’t having to worry about him. For Jiten, everything started to line up, and things changed for the better. He felt he was sorting himself out, and life was improving for him and his wife, who fell pregnant in August 2020. They had a baby in April 2021. At this time, he secured a new job. The endorphins from running made him feel fantastic, and he decided to challenge himself.
In April 2022, Jiten completed a half marathon and secured a charity place in the London Marathon, just two years after strapping on the trainers. He smashed the marathon not just from a running point of view but felt it was the bookend of the entire journey that he had been on, which was not just about training for the race but also about the many years prior of feeling down. It was an emotional experience of what he had accomplished physically and mentally, raising over £7,000 for two brilliant charities. Running had provided Jiten with a positive life-changing experience during this chapter of his life.
I love Jiten’s mindset, describing how you can get your head down and believe you can do it when it comes to moving your body. “Anything is possible, so don´t let the fear hold you back. I never thought I’d get there, and I’m super proud of what I’ve achieved.”
Jiten feels he is far from the finished article. Securing his new busy role and being a dad to a toddler means that finding the time for a run is a constant challenge, one I am sure many parents can relate to. But for Jiten, it is knowing the importance of making the time and that by getting out there, he will feel and be a better person for doing that run.
I hope this story has inspired you. Our mental and physical health are inextricably linked, and I took so much from listening to Jiten.
The final interview lands next week.
Keep on moving.
Coops x