I am on version 20, or 21 of the new me now! Every year I
make a point of saying I am going to lose a bit of weight, not eat rubbish, I’m
going to do this, do that…then 4 days later it all seems like too much hard
work! Why is it so hard to feel healthy? Why is my body insisting on giving me
these aches and pains? People are often shocked when I tell them my age, by the
amount of complaining about aches and pains they think I am in my 60s..not 30s!
The other thing that was hard about the whole ‘New Year, New Me,’ is that I was
so unrealistic. I study, I work, I look after a family (my other half may argue
against this point, but she’s wrong), and on top of this I wanted to run a few
times a week, do additional exercises, maybe go to the gym…all things that would
add to my already full week!
Perplexing and as difficult as the question above may seem, I’m sure you’ve already figured out the answer is – me – Harmeet Johal. ‘Harm’ to some, ‘Mr. Johal’ to a few and ‘daddy,’ to a little girl who has me wrapped around her little finger!
Rather than go on about the therapy side of things, and tell you all the things that I can do to try and make you better (as I have already done that here), I’m going to tell you a bit about what makes me tick!
So, as I mentioned, I am a part time runner, and former dancer. Both of these were/are passions of mine and are part of the reason I ended up on the journey to where I am now – almost an osteopath! I’ve always had an interest in contemporary dance since I was at school and have been lucky enough to perform in some big venues in the uk and then take this interest further as a teacher. I was also a member of a running club and was able to enjoy (if you can call it that) all the training runs and the atmosphere of races.
How frustrating is it to be injured?! I’ve also been unlucky enough to be on the injury side of dance/running! I pushed myself a lot with both, and didn’t always listen to what my body was telling me (‘Don’t run..don’t dance…Have a rest!’) and ended up on a treatment table. This was where my interest in osteopathy began. Being treated by an osteopath, it fascinated me how certain injuries, or aches/pains were not necessarily where the actual pain was coming from. This peaked my interest and I made the decision to leave my then career as a primary school teacher, and retrain as an osteopath!
Fast forward 4 and a bit years and that journey is almost complete…well, the training side of it is! The countdown to May 2020 and the final exam is well and truly on! Although the student discounts will be sorely missed.
As well as almost being an osteopath, I’m a dad to a beautiful little girl, who takes up all my time that I should be studying, but, alas, we make sacrifices. Juggling family, studying, working, and then trying to have a life is difficult isn’t it?! I love music and a variety of sports, so if ever I am not studying/working – a big IF – I can be found jamming to some motown or rap music, and anything in between and catching up on football, basketball, athletics…
Anyway, I hope that gives you a little snapshot into the real world of me, rather than just Harmeet Johal – Manual Therapist! I’m hoping that this blog will be somewhere I can share the rest of my osteopathy journey and other bits of info that you may find useful.
