“One thing I stand on, is being yourself”
“I started lifting while playing football in highschool. I remember wanting to put on some muscle so I would workout during practice, then after practice I’d workout on my own. That eventually led to me lifting on the weekends. My father got me some weights and I just fell in love with working out.
After graduation I decided to start lifting more, especially at the hospital gym. I ran into an older gentleman who introduced me to power lifting which is what I do now. He showed me all the ropes, I got into a few competitions, and did pretty well. At a meet back in 2019, of the federation I was in, I set a world record in my weight class in deadlift; 622 lbs. I also set a state record in bench press; 292 lbs.
With everything that is going on in the world today, I try my best to block out the negativity with positivity. I lost my uncle back in 2016 to suicide. I really learned from that because you never really know what a person is going through.
The whole thing really brought me closer to God and reminded me that life is precious. After praying so much God revealed to me a few things I could do to help people out. Talking to them, sending positive messages because you just never know what people are dealing with.
I like to talk about God. I like to spread positivity, especially on social media. I like to stay in touch with friends and family, you know uplift them, keep tabs on them to make sure they know that they have somebody in their corner. I like to go to church and fellowship. I like to lift weights and stay active. I’m pretty sure my purpose is going to involve me being a personal trainer, and I feel like in a way that is how I can really reach people. Someone has to be around to introduce people to God. He is the only way negativity and evil can be washed out.
One thing I stand on is being yourself. You don’t have to follow what everyone else is doing or the next person. Just be yourself, if people can’t accept you for who you are then they were never meant to be in your life in the first place. People might say to me ‘Oh he’s worshipping God he’s not like us,’ but that’s just who I’ve become and I won’t change for anybody.”
-Ari H.
