Man completely turned his life around by doing 'year of the opposite'

A man managed to turn his life around by doing 'the opposite' of what he would normally do.

It seems like a simple enough thing to do, but for Travis Stoliker it provided a ways out of a very difficult time.

Stoliker, a restaurant owner from Michigan, lost three friends in their 40s in the space of just six months.

At the age of 43 he ended up in an awful place mentally, with his physical health also deteriorating.

Speaking about his loss, he said: "That experience left me with some guilt and struggling with grief and depression that I had never experienced before."

Stoliker also said that he wasn't fully aware of the impact of depression or how it manifested, claiming he would just feel more and more sad every day.

He said: "I knew objectively and logically that my life was amazing.

"I had tons of people around me that loved me, and I just kept waking up sad.

Travis Stoliker

"Prior to this, I didn't really understand depression. I kind of thought people should just suck it up and get over it. And I was totally wrong."

Stoliker also said that his relationship with his wife had suffered as a result of his grief.

He said: "I really put the burden on her to try to solve my grief, and that was just totally unfair and put strain on our marriage."

In February 2022 one of his good friends whose drinking he'd been concerned about for some time suffered from a heart attack related to alcohol and died.

He felt that in hindsight he should have spoken up.

In the years between 2015 and 2022, his lifestyle had deteriorated.

Stoliker said: "I never worked out, I ate very poorly. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted."

Travis Stoliker

In an attempt to dig himself out of this rut, he tried a ploy inspired by an episode of Seinfeld where he would simply do the opposite of what he would normally do.

So instead of staying up late he'd go to bed early, instead of going out he would stay in, instead of sleeping in he'd get up.

And after a year the technique had a phenomenal impact.

He started small, saying: "No matter what you've done for the day, you can come back to your bed and know you accomplished something."

Over the course of the year he ended up dropping 43 pounds, and found his mental health improved.

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