Tag: Josh Perry

Depression or Deep Rest?

People are scared to talk about depression for fear of being judged. As someone who has gone through it and gained a new perspective on what depression is compared to sadness, I found that most confuse the two.
 The difference between sadness and depression is…sadness is from “happens stance,” as in whatever happened or didn’t happen to you. This could be loss, circumstance, grief, or whatever it is. Depression is your body saying “fuck you, I don’t want to be this character anymore. I don’t want to hold up this avatar you’ve created in the world.”
Depression is your body and mind going into deep rest. Your body feels it needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character you’ve been trying to play. Depression comes about when there is an imbalance and/or resistance with your inner true self and the version of you you’re trying to hold up to societal standards and what you think “they” want you to do, say, or become.
As you know, I am a huge advocate for nutrition and exercise. It is not only for physical well being, but also your mental health. When we make positive choices within the three pinnacles of health (nutrition, exercise & mindset) they play a fundamental role in the health of our mitochondria. The mitochondria are the “powerhouses” of our cells that create the energy our body, and most importantly our brain, uses to function called ATP. When the three pinnacles are weakened or out of balance, they compromise the strength of our mitochondria resulting in less energy production which creates anxiety, depression, fatigue and overall dis-ease. 
Once I began taking my fitness and nutrition seriously and I let go of what I thought “they” wanted me to do, say, and/or become, and just did what I felt deep down inside to be true to my loving inner voice, the depression, anxiety, fear, and worry all stripped away little by little the more I stayed true to myself and followed my gut and my heart.
I’ll say this again and again, do what you love and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Take care of your body. You know best and so does your gut. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

Training Is Just For Money? 

Training isn’t about “money”, “winning”, or any other nonsense people want to say it is. At least for me and what I represent. 
Training is about taking care of my health and my performance with the thing I love most in life, and creating longevity for all the above. Yeah, training will improve your riding. But that doesn’t mean it’s focused on money or winning. 
Take me for example, I decided to not compete this year nor take a paycheck from anything bmx related. I still rode at a level to compete and also trained in the gym. That was my personal decision to do so for my health and performance on my bike. It’s made tricks easier, recovering more efficient, sessions stretch longer without fatigue, and increased the ability to take the physical stress from landing or falling on a trick. What’s also an equal part of this equation is nutrition and mindset. 
That being said, all this shit about “bmx is just about fun” and blah blah blah is just that, shit. Ones ignorance and insecurity at its finest along with inability to embrace others to do something similar yet take a different approach. Nothing about my riding or career says anything but fun and love for it. If I was focused on money, I would have kept the job I had in high school making twice what I’ve ever made from bmx, which would have been way more by now as well. I don’t do anything for money, I donit for the love! 
Bmx has led me to where I am today, shown me paths to passions I’ve developed along the way, shown me the world, saved my life, and gave me a outlet to share my story and passions. Some, like myself, find training fun as well as the benefits that transfer over to the bike to be fun. 
It’s funny how many riders enjoy training just from the health perspective and enjoyment, let alone the riding benefits, and the disciplines of riding that people least expect one rider in such a discipline or stay of riding to train. 
At the end of the day, if you love something, do what you love! Don’t be afraid others doing it differently or taking a different approach will change whatever it is for you. Bmx is a lifestyle and anyone who wants to use the term “freestyle” to say it has to be one way and can’t involved progressive new ideas is missing the whole point of “freestyle”. 
What’s wrong with someone loving the sport of BMX so much that they decide to make a career out of it? What’s wrong with someone putting their heart, blood, sweat, and tears into something for so long they want to make a career out it that and share it with others? What’s wrong with making money in any form that’s positive? There isn’t anything wrong with it other than the judgmental people’s views that have a negative relationship and story with money. 
I’ve said this before, money is a tool. It’s not good nor evil. It what you make it. There isn’t anything wrong with someone making money at what they live rather than what society has been washed into thinking the way they just make money- unfulfilled, stressed, no enjoyment, 9-5, hourly pay, etc. 
BMX is something special to me a lot of other riders. The amount of sacrifice, dedication, and pain that has gone into should be enough to not need an explanation for training or even making money from the time and skill that goes into it. 
I encourage you all to take a risk on what you love, ignore the haters, and believe in the life you want. Why live to do something you don’t enjoy just to make money when you could do what you love to make money and enjoy the fuck out of your life? 
I train so my brain, body, and riding all benefit. Not for money. For me! For what I am and what I want to show up as in life. I don’t care what others think because I know my truth and I’m being 100% authentic in life. 
Until next time….💚✌️
-Josh P. 

Follow Your Dreams

We have all heard “follow your dreams” but how many people do you know actually pursued their dreams? Or, how about the people sharing “follow your dreams”? Did they take a risk on their dreams or is this some kind of generic statement authority figures in our life share as we’re going through the motions of developing as little humans to “adults”?

 
I didn’t know many people, if any, that pursued their dreams while I was growing up and developing my own dream. I mean this in a personal sense, not the people I saw on tv or in the magazines.

 
I’ve come to learn that today’s society and standards of “how you should live your life” limits the number of people chasing a dream, or sustaining that chase, with all the pressure to amount to expectations of family and societal standards. The fear of judgment sets in and “what will they think of me if….”, “will mom and dad be disappointed in me for not following the path they set forth for me?”, or “what if I fail on top of going against their wishes for my life?” All these fears kick in and kill any momentum or effort towards challenging status quo for what you truly believe in as the path YOU want to take in life. 

 
Dreams come true when you believe they will come true and you take ACTION towards them. No amount of suggestion from the outside world (strangers, family, friends, teachers, etc.) can determine your destiny, unless you let that suggestion control your actions. But you also can’t take belief, visualization, and mediation as a cop-out for taking action and risking your comfort zone on a new desirable outcome in your life. You can’t have one without the other, action without belief. Belief without action.

 

As for suggestions, I mean if someone says “you’re never going to make it”, at whatever it is you want to pursue, this isn’t true or false until your actions determine that suggestion to be factual or not. Meaning, if you let that suggestion control your thoughts, beliefs, and therefore take actions in a manner to not succeed, then their suggestion is true and you will choose fear over your dream. If you take that suggestion and do what I did growing up, turn it into fuel to make your dream happen and dismiss their suggestion as irrelevant, you won’t care what they suggest because it’s not aligned with your inner truth, desires, and beliefs, which then correlates to the actions you choose along your journey. 

 
Bottom line: take a risk on your dream, go “all in”, stay committed, believe in yourself, and take action!
A dream starts with belief and manifests with action. 💚✌️

 

 

-Josh P.

Fear or Love? 

 “You will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart” – Jim Carrey
Far too often do I hear people give me all kinds of excuses as to why they are unhappy, suffering, and/or didn’t/don’t follow their dreams or passions in life. Bottom line, it’s because of fear. Fear of failure or failure again, fear of the unknown, fear of what others may say or think, fear of even succeeding and what that’ll do to their life, and so on. I’ve been there, many times. 
Any successful person has. The difference? Gratitude, love, and a choice to not let fear dictate your life. I encourage you all to figure out what it is you love to do most, WHY that is so, and how to make that a regular habit in your life while ditching the excuses. Life’s way more pleasant that way. 💚✌️
This Video trailer is from the original vlog I made at the beginning of this year “JP Weeklies”. Here is the link to the full episode 

-Josh P 

Fitness Is A Game Changer For BMX

Priorities tend to change with experiences as we grow and learn. I’ve had to learn important shifts in life that I’ve needed to make, but I had to learn the hard way for some shifts.

“You’d think fitness was on top of my mindset being a professional athlete. I had to learn the importance of proper fitness after blowing out my knee.” 

 

That being said, it has all taught me to open my mind and see how I can be proactive to learning as well as share my experiences in the ope it inspires a change in those who may need to make similar shifts in your lives. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

WHY

WHY we do anything is a million times more important than what we do. 

WHY is the driving force behind what anyone does, whether they are conscious of it or not. Whether they like what they do or not. 

There is a reason WHY they set out for that path and the more conscious we become of our decisions, the more we can navigate to the lives we want. 

Find what you want to do in life and be conscious to your WHY. It will help navigate your path to success and keep you motivated in times of doubt. 💚✌️

-Josh P.

Stop Complaining

Whether you believe you can or can’t, you’re 100% correct. You determine the possibilities for your life. No one or thing can do that but you. No excuses. Stop with the excuses that keep you from taking action and putting the work in.

 

I’m sick of people complaining when they don’t have it bad. They just look around at “what is” rather than what they want. They focus on what they don’t have rather than ways to obtain what they want. STOP IT! 

Your life could always be worse. You’re alive if you can’t think of how it could be worse. Maybe travel to a new country to gain perspective. Maybe do something risky to gain perspective. MAYBE, get the hell off social media and comparing your life to others?

 

Just because someone suggests you can or can’t doesn’t mean it’s fact. Your beliefs and actions determine the outcome. The power of suggestion is powerful but only if you allow it to be so. Good or bad. You choose your outcome. F all the noise. Do YOU!

 

-Josh P.

Is Pain & Suffering a “Must” for Life?

According to the actual definition of “pain”,

it’s suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.

 

That being said, the majority of us inflict that said “pain” on our selves by lifestyle choices and or lack of choices, aka mental illness (fear, anxiety, stress, and depression). I don’t believe anyone must choose what “pain” they will HAVE to endure and I don’t believe anyone must suffer against their own will, that is living in a past emotional state and experience, or literally harming yourself on your own terms, which creates illness and or disease.

 

I am not willing to suffer for shit. I am willing to make choices that will lead me to my goals. The cool thing is about most of anyone’s dreams and goals is that they come without illness or injury. MOST, is the key word. For example, my dream that I live today is to be a BMX athlete. An injury does happen because mistakes do happen in life but you move on, assess what went wrong, and learn from it. “Pain” in that sense is temporary unless you let it mentally hold you back later on in life.

 

What drives me is that life could always be worse, I am a living human in America, I want to support others in this world with my experiences that have given me tremendous perspective, and I, just as well all do, have potential to reach any and every one of my goals.

 

Nothing is worth my pain.

Pain is just information to the brain when things are not in balance.

 

I use pain as I use “failure” a lesson to learn what is out of balance and how to progress with my life.

 

-Josh P.

Train With Push

Having a clear goal/vision is one of the most important things to me.

Data follows closely behind. @trainwithpush put together an article detailing how @coachmatthunter and I track progression at @athleticlab and how @jciake and I worked together to get me back riding within 4 months after ACL reconstructive surgery, along with a host of other issues with my knee from my stubborn ass pushing surgery off for 2 years.

I believe that you have to have a clear goal, know where you’re starting from, and know if you’re progressing forward or not. @trainwithpush makes that easy for us and other athletes from pro to the weekend warrior.

Tracking data helps anyone accomplish their goals that much easier and more effective. 💪🏽💚✌️

Read the feature PUSH interviewed Jackie, Matt, and I for. 

https://www.trainwithpush.com/blog/josh-perry-bmx-qa

-Josh P.

Thanks To My Health

Gratitude is, in my opinion, the single most crucial aspect of life.

With the holidays coming, it seems to be the one time of the year everyone, for the most part, agrees on gratitude being so important.

I disagree, though.

Not with celebrating gratitude, or with my first statement, but the fact we dedicate one time a year to be grateful.

It’s great and all, but I believe it’s a facade concealing a business. But that’s a whole other topic.

Back to gratitude. Gratitude has been a game changer for who I am, how I live my life, the relationships I have built, the career I have developed, the health I maintain, how others perceive me, and how I move forward with my life and set goals. See, I used to be ungrateful. Very ungrateful.

Then one day my life was threatened. Then again and again. AND, still.

When you’re 21 and told “you are going to die” if you do not go into risky cranial surgery to remove a massive brain tumor taking up the lef portion of your brain and may die, even so, your perspective on life and what really matters shifts.

Then when it happens two more times, you get serious about this change of perspective. All the petty drama and negativity, we seem to let grab our attention and focus easily, goes right out the window. Why? Because it doesn’t matter at the end of the day and has no real affect on our lives when we stop and give it thought.

Once we shift our perspective in life and focus on the things that matter to us most, our health, family, friends, happiness, fulfillment, etc., gratitude starts to manifest itself every day in new ways. That is precisely what happened to me eight years ago and then again six years ago, and recently earlier this year.

No one thinks they are going to run into major health concerns or even having to face death at an early age. Or at least they don’t consciously think about the possibility. Why? Because we are all so focused on living but, not in this current moment. We are worried about the future and what we are going to do after school, what we are going to do for a career, how much money we “need” to make, what others will think of us, what happens if we take a risk on what we truly want rather than what we are told to want, etc. I was wrapped up in this.

When we are living in this state, it creates dis-ease, which creates “disease.”

Although I was pursuing my dream with massive success, I was still in a state of fear, worry, lack, and judgment. Once I began to shift my perspectives, I saw massive improvements in my life and those around me. This included taking my health into my own hands regarding nutrition, fitness, and mindset, and focusing on doing the things I loved, and what I think is the second most important thing in life, WHY we do anything.

Today I live, ride, train, and coach with 4 brain tumors in my skull and I wouldn’t have it any other way. No, honestly. People say “that’s gotta be the worst thing that ever happened to you.” No way! It changed my life around 180 and all for the best. It took that moment to show me what was important in life and teach me what gratitude truly is. Things could always be worse in our lives, and I don’t think people give that statement the credit it deserves. Don’t agree? Well, the fact that you have an opinion on this backs my statement. YOU ARE ALIVE!

Thanks, to my health, I can continue living my dream, develop new passions, and what I think is the greatest, I can share my experiences, beliefs, love, and support with others around the world in an effort for us all to live as healthy and happy as possible. It starts with gratitude, and it begins with us, then it spreads throughout the lives we lead.

 

-Josh P.