Today’s post features a few key takeaways from a recent Wellness Your Way podcast interview.  Find the full episode here and be sure to subscribe to Wellness Your Way so you don’t miss future episodes!

Guest Bio: Chris Ruden

Chris Ruden is an amputee, Type 1 diabetic record-holding powerlifter, motivational keynote speaker, author, and disabled model who was featured on The Rock’s hit TV show “Titan Games”.From being humiliated and labeled broken because of his disability to struggling with mental health and living in a non-disabled-inclusive world, Chris learned to turn his obstacles into opportunities, now using his badass bionic arm, diabetes technology, and message of “creating your world without limits” to impact people around the world.

Top Insights from Chris Ruden’s Interview

1. In life, there’s usually a compound effect of moments that changes our lives, not just one single moment. As you start to make different decisions and think differently, the little moments will often bring you to a big moment of change in your life.
2. We often suffer more in our imagination than in reality. We tend to make up situations in our minds that cause us more pain and suffering than what we are actually going through. We start to feel emotions for things that aren’t even real.
3. Not all feelings are facts. The way you feel doesn’t mean it’s factual even though the feeling is real. Ask yourself. “Is this helping me or hurting me?” or “Can I do something about this problem?”.
4. We all have the same story – You go through some crap, you get over some crap, and there’s more crap coming. Ask yourself if you will take the crap in your story and make it a good one.
5. There’s no finish line to mental health. Mental health is something we can always work on and improve. Focus on winning the moments and winning the day and find peace in knowing you didn’t lose by doing the best you could.
6. Talk to yourself how you would talk to someone you love. Be mindful of how you speak to yourself. If you wouldn’t say it to someone you love, don’t say it to yourself.
7. Uncovering your true “quality of life” is important for contentment. Society tries to tell us what should or shouldn’t be but we have to decide what we want in life. If your quality of life is not true to you it will only cause you pain.
8. Don’t define yourself by your problems. You are so much more than what you are going through or what has happened to you.
9. You already have everything you need. If you think, “If I had X then I would be happy”, flip it to “If I was happy maybe I would be more likely to get X”.

Want to hear the full episode, including how Chris defines his desired quality of life, why the desire for happiness is a negative experience, why you should be okay going against the grain, how Chris manages his Type 1 Diabetes and so much more?

Head over here to catch the full episode with Chris Ruden!

Now it’s your turn!  What is one thing you learned from this interview?  What is one takeaway you can start implementing in your life this week?

🎙️ Want to hear about this topic in audio format? → Check out the podcast episode here!