Rediscovering My Why: A Comprehensive Journey of Self-Discovery

As we break into the final chapter (so far) of things, I want to go back and reiterate a few things. I am who I am because of who I have been, through my past—some good, some bad, some regret, and most of all, a ton of learning. I was once asked in high school on an exam to explain "Nature vs. Nurture," a topic that I find still very interesting today. As I grew up in a small town with a great deal of Indigenous culture and what some would consider an "old school" way of being raised—aka don't mouth off or you're gonna get it, don't pick fights unless you actually want to fight—and on the other side of things, be polite, treat your elders with respect, and, well, in a small town, we know there are always two sides to every story. I bring up these points as they do play a role in this whole story.

Rediscovering my health, fitness, and opportunities to do the things I really enjoy doing, I opened myself up to the world of being a Longdrive coach in 2024. I didn't really advertise it much; just as I was approached, I would discuss things with people. But within that, it brought me back to my days as a personal trainer and how I truly enjoyed motivating and helping others as much as I did myself. Everyone you work with teaches you one thing or another, whether it be in life, nutrition, or random facts—it could genuinely be anything. But regardless, I always enjoyed it, and now I wanted to take much of what I had learned and apply it to my own health and well-being. With a wrist injury preventing me from hitting golf balls and practicing over the winter, I dove back into health and wellness.

This led me down a road of rediscovery, not only of myself and what I wanted in life but also my journey to continue learning and understanding why I think and try to thrive in the things I do. When we circle back to Nature vs. Nurture, I was always praised as a child for success in sports. Hence, the coffee shop banter in previous blogs, there was never a large push on education or what my future was going to look like down the road during my young years. It was sport first (hockey mostly), and the words I had heard, and I'm sure some others who grew up around me also heard, were, well, if hockey doesn't work out, there is always the "Mill"—paper or wood, we had both locally, and they both sustained most families for a long period of time. Those who grew up there also know how all that went down. One mill burnt to the ground, and the other shut down (not long after my first 89-day contract). But that was the thought process, and I will have to admit even when I had my interview at the Paper Mill in Red Rock, I was directly asked if I would play for the Mill Hockey team (others that were hired at the same time were asked the same; funny that the hockey players all got hired). Now, going back to being praised more in sport than I had been for other things like education, as a 9/10-year-old, I was getting one dollar per goal and fifty cents for each assist. I can't remember the exact number, but in 28 games that year, I made well over one hundred dollars from my grandfather (we had a stacked team, and I wasn't even the highest in points). What this drove home at a young age was that it pays to be good at sports, and I never got any money for my grades (school was fun and for other sports). As much as I was always a curious child, I might have had some type of attention and focusing issues. All I can say is my fondest childhood memories were all sports-related, as I'm sure it was for many other kids in my community.

When it comes to fitness and even powerlifting, it was much of the same. There were certain things that held me back for some time during my younger years as far as competition in bodybuilding shows. Generally, and likely, lack of commitment to a goal was more the case, which is why I really pushed forward in 2025 and committed to the process. It truly was for me, and the outcome wasn't truly something that mattered, as you can go from best to average very quickly depending on who shows up to the show that day. Also, those who have known me since I was very young knew how skinny and slight I was up until my early 20s when I found the gym for the first time. But if you are following the trend, as much as on the outer layer my ego and understanding is in check, the trend of being seen and noticed for being "good" at things is quite obvious. Although I do remain humble through it all, there are some underlying things that are quite obvious. I don't see these things as negatives, as I know they are not making me a bad or negative person, since the most joy I get isn't from the compliments for being "good" at sport or being in shape since, well, most don't know the dedication and hard work that goes into each endeavor day in and day out. The things that truly bring me joy are the smiles on people's faces when I hit a good shot in Longdrive, especially the kids, and also the men and women who message me saying the things I've posted along my fitness journey have inspired them to get into their best shape at our age. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, for the period I was competing in bodybuilding this year I tracked every single thing I had eaten for 6 months straight, did all my cardio, slept the best I could, never missed a workout, and never fell off course. It was the discipline that kept me going. Again, something I likely couldn't have done in my younger years.

The one thing I will touch on but not go too in-depth about is that not everyone is going to support your choices, regardless of what they are in life. There aren't a lot of things in life that have great positives without some kind of negatives. As many compliments as I have received, I have also received just as many negative comments. This isn't new, as it's been this way since I was a young giraffe—oh, I mean teenager—haha, especially when I was visibly very skinny, even though I thought I had been eating so much. But I was so active that it didn't matter as a kid. The "small legs" comments haven't ever stopped, but honestly, they only come from the insecure or those not willing to do the work you are doing. Even now, I just laugh and agree, because, well, I've trained them as hard as I could, and they never really wanted to grow. Meanwhile, I look at a dumbbell, and my arms grow like crazy. No one who is doing better than you will ever make these comments, and you can take that to the bank (unless it's your short or overweight friends). But that also means you fire back and ask if they ever reached the cookies in the top cupboard (shorter guys) or if they knew how much they weighed since seeing the number on the scale could be hard because their belly is in the way (heavy dudes). Obviously, my close friends and I have gone back and forth for going on four decades now, all in good fun, of course. Yes, we have gone offside as friendly banter, but we should leave those comments off the webpage. When you put yourself out there, there will always be some type of negatives, and I learned from a very young age you cannot please everyone, but you can always try and help anyone.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, it's all going to make sense if it doesn't already. My perseverance to be noticed in sports, even as I got older, wasn't really just about what I wanted. It was also part of my nurture (mostly coming from my father), more of what he expected than what I had wanted. It was also the nature of where I grew up. I had many friends move on to higher levels of hockey, and I was always super happy for them and impressed by their skills, abilities, and drive. If I look back, I truly wish I had had the work ethic I do have now in my 40s instead of just acting like a dumb teenager who thought he knew it all and could just get by on talent alone, since the friends who did make it were working their butts off and also had the talents to carry them forward to their goals. It's one of the big "what ifs" I used to think about, before realizing I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than where I am today with those who are in my close circle and those who I hold close to me.

This also holds true in my long drive career in the early years, not really doing everything I really should have to become one of the elite hitters much earlier on in my career in the sport. Now, moving into my early/mid 40s, I often look back and think, what if you had taken it as seriously back then as you have over the last five years, since when I started, the sport was in a much "stronger" position than it is today as far as the financial side of things.

So my true "WHY" is a combination of nature and nurture, along with remaining humble, always expecting there to be someone working harder and doing more. When it comes to any sports endeavor I have taken on, of course, there are things like financials, genetics, work ethic, and many other factors that have been completely out of my control. But I will say this: knowing that I now truly do the things I do first and foremost for myself and not for the pat on the back from someone else has been liberating.

The nutrition side of things has come from my wanting to not have happen to me what happened to my father, who we can say basically passed away from his love of food and inability to deal with that addiction. Now, I don't want friends and family thinking I'm slighting his choices by any means, as they know Rocky was his own person and he did what he wanted despite the outcome (he was 100% there for us as kids as best as he knew how and always wanted the best for us in his own ways). My own in-depth learning is I am more like him when it comes to food than I once thought, as I do have to hold myself back for my own personal health when thinking about food, likely why I enjoyed the discipline side of things so much, not so much because I wanted it, but more because I truly needed it. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree sometimes.

The person who doesn't ever get enough credit for our childhood in the public eye is our mother, who was truly the backbone of everything. As I've gotten older, she has been my confidant in many of these exact topics, helping me understand and be able to talk openly about why I am who I am, the good and the bad. Have I been a perfect human being my whole life? No, of course not. Have I done more good than bad thus far in my lifetime? I'd like to think so, and I hope moving forward that is always the case, using the life experiences I have gained through the luxuries I have worked very hard for and the friendships I have made along the way. For my mother, I will always be thankful.

As I wrap up this series of blogs, I will say "my why" isn't perfect; it's just a culmination of events and people I have had in my life over my 42 years thus far, and I thank every one of you who has been part of it—the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows. Every one of those situations has led me to where I am today, just a guy from a small town in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, who never once thought he was too good for anyone or too busy to stop and say hello (just hope you're not in a rush as I do like to chat). If you're ever struggling to find your why, try to go back and find things in your past, and don't let your ego get in the way of what could be staring right at you. Ask the hard questions, do the difficult things, as the answers are usually in the questions you're not asking and the work you aren't willing to do. You will thank yourself for it in the long run. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

I will end the series by saying we all have some demons or skeletons that we can learn to deal with or learn about within ourselves. It isn't up to anyone else to tell us or help us out until we accept that we must help ourselves first. Don't be afraid to go to the person who you know is going to be honest with you before you go to those who will just agree with you and be your "yes" person. Find the ones who will tell you you're wrong and be willing to discuss the questions you have with you. Again, this won't be easy, but you will be thankful for those people in the end much more than the person who is always just willing to agree with you for the sake of not hurting your feelings. I always expect my best friends to be honest with me in good and bad circumstances, knowing full well they're not there to hurt my feelings and they just want what's best for me in the end.

Thank you to all of you who have made it this far as I sign off. I appreciate all of you and wish you all the very best in whatever you're doing and in finding your own true "why".

Thank you to all those that made my visit home for the summer so incredible, it was nice to see and spend time with many of my great friends and catch up and just relax, I will be writing a recap of my 2025 World championship as this was my first time in a very long time that i had nothing but fun the entire time and got to see and chat with everyone who was there as a fan, competitor and friend,

until next time,

Best,

RG