Homam’s Movara Story
A deep sense of shame overcame me as I returned to Movara after a few years. It had been about 5 months since spending 4 weeks at Movara for the first time. I had reached a physical capability surpassing my senior year of high school as an all conference football player after leaving Movara some 3 years back, but my shame was quickly discharged by the familiar faces who had somehow managed to help me put myself back together when I was at my lowest.
I still remember when my upward trajectory took a slow dive. It was a busy day at work and responsibilities for the day seemed implausible to achieve. Having nothing to eat since 7AM, I could feel my heartbeat elevated, my temper short, and my time available to sort out a healthy solution overlooked by responsibilities which absolutely can not wait. It was the first time I had been back in a drive thru since attending 4 weeks at Movara. One drive thru meal wouldn’t hurt me, but it was falling into the old habit of doing it every day that would.
Before I knew it, my physical health had suffered so badly it started taking a toll on my mental health. The opposite of which led me to Movara the first time only two years ago. Bad habits and lack of ability to stop them consumed my life again. On both occasions, my happiness slowly eroded away for months and years as I continued indulging myself with fast food like it was the cure.
At over 355lbs and 27 years old you begin to realize that there are few things more important in this life than taking care of one’s health. It is the foundation that allows our spirit to flourish and achieve our own unique maximum potential. Faltering on health is faltering on potential. Having fast food one day didn’t lead me to becoming obese. It was the consistent desire to hack my environment eating easy, convenient, addictive foods, as well as a lack of physical activity that caused a decline in my health and happiness. It is innately human to desire achieving maximum potential. I wanted to be better, but unfortunately our environment is not typically designed to expedite or facilitate this process. It falls on each individual to redesign their environment in such a way that expedites and facilitates this process on a daily basis. Failing to design my environment properly is what caused me to regress after my first time at Movara. I could not figure out how to bring the Movara magic home with me because I had not dedicated the time to figuring out what I needed to do in order to be successful at home.
Creating such an environment is a lifelong battle, and without the proper knowledge and tools it can feel impossible. I know how defeating it was to no longer be capable of doing normal activities which exacerbated and normalized my bad habits. Feeling defeated allowed me to dig myself a hole so deep, it didn’t seem like it could ever be filled. That is why Movara exists.
Movara is a perfectly designed environment, in a beautiful landscape, with people who share similar struggles or are there specifically to help you. It is healing in every aspect. To those of us who have the privilege to walk away from our normal lives for a week or even longer, Movara can be life changing.
Someone once told me that you have to be the right kind of person to come to Movara. I agreed with him at first, but after spending much more time here and referring others whom I thought would benefit greatly from their program, there isn’t a personality for Movara. It's a mentality. You just have to want change and be willing to work for it.
You can count on the staff here at Movara for almost everything else. They are some of the friendliest, most empathetic, passionate, and caring people you will ever meet. They are what complete this environment. Eating healthy, exercising and focusing on mental health for a week will always do you good. When it is facilitated in such a fashion as this, it catalyzes your upward trajectory. All you have to do is come with the right mentality and be willing to work for yourself. That was invaluable to me. We can tell when our health is declining. Whether by numbers on a scale or how out of breath you get walking up a fight of stairs. What we don’t typically realize is just how much of an impact it is making in our lives. Following the program at Movara for a week made me realize just how badly my food habits were affecting all of the other aspects of my life.
Out of fear the second time around, I rebooked a one week stay after my second time attending Movara, which was around when my motivation collapsed after attending Movara the first time. Now 6 months after staying at Movara for 6 weeks, I have lost over 100lbs and half of that was at home. On my second go around, I already knew what areas of my routine and habits needed work. It was easier to know what would and would not work for me back home. Those 6 weeks I spent my time here with a different goal in mind. Not to get back in shape or lose a few pounds over those weeks, but to figure out what to do at home. Doing so I was given my life back yet again by this enchanting place. It was the kick in the rear end that helped me develop the knowledge and tools that would help me continue this journey. I can’t imagine there are many other places where a relatively short amount of time can have such a profound effect on your health and happiness. If you can relate to my story at all and are struggling, or just want to focus on improving yourself, don’t wait another minute. Make the intention to change and be willing to work for it. Show up and do what you can. Movara can help with the rest.
Thank you Movara staff for being my lighthouse. For building me up no matter what state I started in. For being my safe place. For helping guide me through the most difficult times of my life. For helping restore faith in myself. For encouraging me to keep going, and helping prove to myself that I am not only capable, but worthy of becoming my best self and reaching my full potential.
