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Delete Facebook, Lawyer Up, Hit The Gym, Or, How To Change Your Life

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"Delete Facebook, hit the gym, lawyer up" digital, 10"x11" r/suicide-by-thug http://beauchemincreations.com/ www.instagram.com/cbeauchemin
"Delete Facebook, hit the gym, lawyer up" digital, 10"x11" r/suicide-by-thug http://beauchemincreations.com/ www.instagram.com/cbeauchemin

I like to tell people who aren't familiar with Reddit that Reddit has a topic for literally everybody and everything. And if you want help doing something — be it how to DIY something, get legal advice or lessons on how to lose weight — Reddit is there for you.

There is a funny aphorism that sums up a lot of the advice you get on Reddit: "Delete Facebook, lawyer up, hit the gym."  (Indeed, it is the title of this week's artwork).

IMO, it's pretty good advice and covers a lot of solutions.

This week we bring you two stories about getting motivated to change your life. One is this guy:

Here is Jared now, omg:

Jared before he started weightlifting (left) and after. Courtesy photo

Jared Wells is from Denver, via Utica, New York. He wants to be a professional bodybuilder; right now he weighs about 150 pounds and he wants to get up to 180.

He's so skinny in the photo above because Jared has cystic fibrosis. He had, thanks to his mom and older brother, a fairly "normal" childhood. But as he got older, he just got tired. He's on a lot of medications and has to breathing devices to get the mucus out of his lungs.

Instead of doing his breathing treatments and taking his medication, Jared hung out with his friends, or slept. He thought he was ready to die, and he set up a doctor's visit to prepare for hospice. He talked to his mom about setting up a will.

His illness got so bad his mom brought him to the hospital.

"And then, being in a wheelchair, finally getting admitted into the hospital, I remember coming out of that and saying to myself, there's got to be more. And something just clicked that said, 'I'm not ready yet,'" he says.

One day, a friend invited Jared to join him at the gym. He went, thinking it would be a one-time thing. But then... he started going every day. The owner of the gym — his friend's dad — took Jared under his wing. In 3 months, Jared gained 35 pounds, his lung function improved, and he found a new sense of purpose and confidence.

And he's become a bit of a meme on r/GetMotivated:

In November, Jared competed in his first bodybuilding competition. His next goal? Get his personal training credentials, and maybe even become a motivational speaker.

His story has already motivated someone else who wants to make a big change:

Yes, it's our very own Ben Brock Johnson looking for advice on r/loseit.

And, Endless Thread style, he's recruited a Redditor named Daniel Peever from Thunder Bay, Ontario, to help him with this resolution. Daniel has lost more than 200 pounds, and credits r/loseit with helping him. He's now one of the mods there.

Dan's advice is pretty simple: Change your mindset. Make small changes — don't try to change everything at once. Try to focus on having more good days than bad days.

Good luck with your 2019, everyone.

Related:

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Meghan B. Kelly Multi-platform Editor
Meghan is the multi-platform editor for WBUR.

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