User story:

We spent some time with Krige hearing his growth story and the impact that Mygrow has had on his life. The following is what he had to say, shared with his permission.

My name is Krige Van Rooyen and I am self-employed. I have been married to my wonderful wife Sasha for the last 5 years. I overheard a friend talking about Mygrow and my ears pricked up because I am someone that values health and fitness.

Many people separate physical health and fitness from mental health and wellbeing. However, as someone that has experience in functional fitness, having owned a number of Crossfit Boxes and journeyed with many towards health, I am convinced that a holistic approach to health is necessary. You cannot just focus on your physical fitness and hope to be healthy. Wellness is larger than the physical. It is emotional too.

Part of my passion for health and fitness came out of the fact that for a number of years I was addicted to drugs and alcohol. That lifestyle damaged my body and my brain. Becoming healthy and taking care of myself has been a personal journey but also one that I believe is necessary for everyone. I have personally experienced the life changing effects of investing in your health.

I mentioned that my approach to health has been a holistic one, but I had a rather thin understanding of what EQ development was until I signed up for Mygrow and started the first module, Bootcamp.

I was deeply impacted right from the very beginning as we covered an understanding of our subconscious mind and identity. This was not something I had known in this way before. It was as if someone turned on the lights. The reality of my subconscious mind hit me. I started to piece together and understand that certain decisions I would make and responses that came out of me were rooted in my subconscious and ultimately in dysfunction.

The journey quickly became very personal for me. I began to process and acknowledge the fact that the way I grew up has shaped my mind and the way in which I respond on an instinctual level.

“I was also so encouraged to learn that through EQ development, my mind can be reformed and my innate responses could change, and are changing as I’m continuing to do the techniques.”

The light bulb moment for me was realizing that when I was a child, healthy emotional expression was not a part of my family dynamics. Emotion was usually expressed with anger and aggression and this meant that I would become afraid and defensive whenever someone shared any kind of emotion or even move towards emotional connection with me. When my wife Sasha wanted talk, connect and express any kind of emotion, even very positive emotion, I would react in fear and shut down. I couldn’t control it and didn’t know why or how to change my response.

Any kind of emotional expression or connection made me feel very insecure and threatened. I would get extremely defensive and react in ways that would cause distance. This would lead to frustration in my relationships, especially with Sasha.

Over my time on Mygrow I have had amazing breakthroughs in this area and continue to grow towards healthy emotional connection and expression. I can now be a safe place for Sasha without running away from an emotional moment or when someone is expressing themselves.

Mygrow has also grown my emotional language and helped me to communicate better. Previously I didn’t have the words to explain what I was going through or to express what I was feeling. Learning healthy emotional expression has made a huge difference in my ability to communicate and express myself, both with my wife and others.

I am looking forward to more growth and flourishing with Mygrow. I love how the course is structured with short videos and the techniques. It keeps me engaged and I see the changes happening as I do the exercises. As someone in the world of health and fitness I appreciate that there is an emphasis on practicing the techniques because that’s how we grow and change as people. You don’t read a book one night and expect in the morning to all of a sudden have a new skill. No, it comes with practice in the same way that we get fit by exercising consistently.

We are often very short sighted as humans. We want quick results and don’t like the idea of having to commit to a lifestyle that is different. I see this all the time in the fitness world.

People want quick results because they want to lose weight or have a health issue. But they fail to see that the road is hard and requires a new way of living, a different approach to life. It’s a lifestyle of fitness. I would even say that about 75% of the people I see that want a quick fix are back in the same boat in a short space of time and their results do not last.

I now see that the same is true with emotional health. I want to establish a lifestyle of emotional health and fitness with Mygrow and would encourage anyone who reads this to do the same.

I started off by saying that you cannot separate your physical health but need a holistic approach, everything is connected. The decision to grow in emotional health is part of a bigger decision to be a better husband, friend and human. One day at a time.

I hope I get to read your story one day of how your Mygrow journey and EQ development has impacted your health and life.

DEEPEN RELATIONSHIPS
IN YOUR TEAM, COLLABORATE BETTER
AND TRANSFORM YOUR COMPANY CULTURE