Jordan Best - Musician, Coach, Author, Speaker, Podcaster, R.M.T.

EXCERPT FROM PAGES 1-8 OF "THE WEIGHT LOSS MINDSET: HOW TO LOSE 100LBS:

Whenever someone asks me how I lost over 100 pounds I think they expect me to begin explaining what type of exercise routine or diet I did to achieve that. When the reality of it is It all began with my mind. In order to heal and fix any problem, we must get to the source. When we understand the source of how things are created, whether it be positive or negative – we can begin to implement change.

My name is Jordan Alexander Best, I was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on May 27th 1992 and at one point in my life I weighed 285 pounds. My immune system was down and laryngitis was far too common for an aspiring professional musician. Growing up I presented with the hallmark symptoms of ADHD, ODD, anxiety and had quite the trouble managing my emotions. At the age of 19 I was diagnosed by 3 different doctors with bi-polar Disorder, severe-depression, anxiety and OCD. For over 5 years my doctor and I experimented with many different medications to manage my symptoms, but they only helped some aspects to a certain degree and of course were accompanied by side-effects.

Over the years, my food habits of eating basically whatever and whenever I wanted had finally caught up to me and I ended up with severe symptoms of insulin resistance/type 2 diabetes. No matter how much coffee I drank I was fatigued all day and my brain felt foggy. Marijuana and Alcohol consumption became far too frequent, I was what you would consider a “functional” alcoholic, drinking a 6 pack in about 90 minutes 2-3 times per week. On the nights I decided to “drink” with friends I would consume a quart or two and of course end up making a fool of myself. Although I switched from cigarettes to vaping, it was still an addiction and had a detrimental impact on my lungs especially with the diagnosis of asthma and use of medical inhalers since the age of 11 years old. One might refer to this as an “addictive personality” – luckily I hadn’t touched any other drugs.

My digestive system was also presenting with symptoms of IBS and “Leaky Gut Sydrome” (Intestinal Permeability) which I later discovered was a trigger for my rosacea (an auto-immune reaction). I had developed severe stretch marks on my abdomen, armpits, sides, and legs and to top this all off I was also presenting with improper function of my reproductive organs. At my heaviest, I was 285lbs.

Aside from the physical aspects I was also very unorganized, I struggled with anger-issues since childhood, I procrastinated nearly every task and my priorities were not in-line. I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror because I was buried in so much shame, self-doubt and guilt from all of the problems I caused in my life and how kids treated me all throughout my school years. I had trouble making, maintaining and developing relationships with friends and family and I was terrible with money.

Despite all of the problems, luckily I was still able to maintain some success as a Registered Massage Therapist and had a loyal clientele, I was a loving and caring father and did a good job raising my 3 young children. I always maintained at least some level of stability, but things could have been much better, and they definitely would have gotten worse if I hadn’t made a change the moment I realized the power of the human mind.

As I sit here writing this I Have since brought my weight down to 170 lbs. I have reversed all of those problems I have mentioned above. I was able to successfully stop all of all my medications, and I can confidently say that I feel better than ever! The 115lbs that I lost is just a physical representation of what transformed internally. I realized in order to change my outer world, I had to change my inner world first. And yes it is no exaggeration, Literally every single problem I had in the past has been reversed. I am happier and healthier than I ever have been in my entire life.

But In order to understand how I changed my life we must first understand how I gained weight in the first place! And you can clearly see as that the lifetime of anger-issues, uncontrollable emotions, scattered thoughts and the resulting guilt, shame, self-doubt and everything else that went along with it ended up manifesting physically in different ways

I unknowingly self-medicated through food, alcohol, marijuana, nicotine, sex, social media and even using humour as an excessive coping mechanism which led me to never taking anything seriously. I really just accepted this as my reality, and who I was. I never really thought of life any other way than how it was during that period of my life. Although I wish things could be better, I never actually truly saw the possibility and believed things could be different. But in the summer of 2017 that all changed when I had a series of epiphanies that led me to research and learn more about the human mind and our innate potential.

 began to learn all about neuroplasticity which is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change and adapt via growth and reorganization. Part of this explains how thoughts shape our neurological wiring. Meaning the more we think about something or think a certain way. The deeper it gets hardwired or “programmed” into our brain – essentially reprogramming our subconscious mind through conscious awareness and action. I finally began to realize the power of positive thinking and how I could reverse all of my bad habits and depressive/suicidal thoughts simply by thinking the opposite.

I took back control of my own mind and began to use it as a tool rather than be subject to any sort of unhealthy stimuli that enters whether it be from the external world or my own internal dialogue. I knew that it would be difficult at first, but over time It would eventually become hardwired into my brain and all of this positive thinking would just become second nature. It really came down to me thinking this:

“Wait a minute.. I AM my thoughts, and everything I thought before is what brought me here today along with all of the problems I have. Then that means that if I begin to think differently I can bring myself towards a better future.” I also knew that this would change my body as well. After researching the placebo effect and the power of how our thoughts, beliefs and unwavering faith in positive outcomes has the ability to full heal even the most severe of medical conditions — I thought to myself that I had to at least try it. What else did I have to lose?

I could either stay where I was and continue suffering and fighting disease of both the mind and body. Or I could embrace the discomfort of moving forward into unknown territory and shape myself into an entirely new person.

I decided I would rather experience the difficulty of fighting towards a better, healthy life rather than fighting all of my cyclical problems through unsuccessful prescription medications as well as all of my detrimental forms of self-medication. I vividly saw both versions of the future-me, it was either death/disease or thriving in health!

I chose the latter..

Psychiatric medications can suppress the symptoms to a certain extent, and sometimes it suppress’ them far too much. But pain medications also suppress physical pain and shares the same boat with psychiatric medications in the sense we can become reliant on them. As an RMT since 2013, it has been my job to relieve pain among thousands of individuals and keep them off pain medications.

A combination of Massage Therapy and other forms Manuel Therapy, stretching, exercise, healthy diet and a healthy mind is a recipe to cure someone of their chronic pain. I took this same concept and applied it to my own experience. I refused to identify as someone with Bipolar, ADHD, OCD and Depression. I became so passionate about finding a way out of this. I didn’t want to feel trapped inside my chaotic mind anymore. I wanted off my medications, and I wanted to be truly happy at last. The current medical system told me this isn’t possible, and that I am destined for my illness and just have to deal with it.

They would say it’s a common thing for a psychiatric patients to want to come off their medications but they end up experiencing a crisis after sometime. But I chose to use that as leverage to bring me towards my desired destination of a healthy body and healthy mind. And so I changed my mind, and in turn that changed my life.

First I knew I had to strengthen my mind, so I began researching cold exposure and ended up graduating from being able to withstand cold-showers to full-out Ice baths. It gave me a sense of empowerment and control over my own life once again.

I thought If my body could adapt to extreme temperatures, then my mind could adapt to being balanced. I deliberately started doing things I didn’t want to do. This really gave me the confidence and mental strength, discipline and will-power to move forward.

How we do one thing is how we do everything, which is why conquering a cold-shower also gives you the courage to tackle life’s other obstacles. Science has even proved that will-power acts like a muscle – the more we use it, the stronger it gets. And so this led me to quitting nicotine, alcohol, and all of my other addictions.

I Started a new journey of health and saw the food we consume as either medicine or poison. But the same thing goes with the things we consume with our mind. Whether it’s from TV, the Internet or from our own self-talk. I let go of old friends and began to surround myself with better people. I found my own form of spirituality that helped me to stare my shadows in the face and heal all of my past traumas that were preventing me from moving forward.

I’ll never forget the day I looked in the mirror after a shower which something I avoided like the plague. I said out loud: “I love you Jordan”. I broke down in tears, I realized I never truly loved myself or even allowed myself to experience the love all around me that I deserved.

I also cried because in that moment I realized I did love myself, it didn’t matter that I was overweight and had all of these problems. Deep down I am the innocent child that was born into this world. And as Tony Robbin’s says “Heal the boy, and the Man will appear.” So I went back in time and gave the childhood-me all of the love I pushed away.

This was the beginning of the new, upgraded version of me. It took time, it took work, it took consistency, it took blood, sweat and tears. But I made it happen because I believed in myself and most importantly — I had faith that things could be better than they were. And sure enough it worked.

I eventually lost the weight, cultivated real relationships, healed burnt bridges with family and friends, started new hobbies and gained much more progress as a musician in my band “Before The Dinosaurs”. I also gained courage to tackle new challenges and ended up creating not only my own successful Massage Therapy business but also my online educational self-improvement/coaching platform “Best Interest” and began to release podcasts, videos, blog and articles. I even ended up meeting the most amazing woman I could have ever asked for. And most importantly I was no longer on the spectrum of Bipolar, ADHD, OCD or depression.

This was all thanks to the hard work and consistency I applied in order to let go of what was weighing me down (both literally and figuratively). I was able to leap forward into a new direction. To whoever is reading: I truly hope this inspires you that anything is possible. It became my purpose to share my story with the world and teach others how to unlock their potential. I’ll leave you with 3 core principles that will help you change your life, and maybe even the world.

Because together we WILL create a world that’s in OUR Best Interest!

• Be what you want the world to be.
• Treat others as you want to be treated.
• Inside of you is the most unimaginable and infinite potential. You are the loved, you are worthy and you are capable of anything even if it seems out of reach. You just have to reach in side to bring out what has been their all along.