THE STORY BEHIND MISIUWEAR
There comes a time in life where you are tested to the max, and I’m no different. Life can be brilliant, but it can also be cruel, deal us a bad hand or just plain make us doubt whether it’s all worthwhile.
In the last two years, we have all been tested to the max, firstly with COVID, then the Ukraine and Russia, and now we are wondering how we can afford to live – hard times indeed. It’s a time when we have to pull together, look after one another and make sure we are all okay. Times like these make us the people we are.
My own journey has been a tough one, but I’m not one to sit and complain. I’ve just got on with it. However, there comes a time when things become too much and you think to yourself: what’s the point? This has happened to me several times, but I’m still here, fighting on, living life and able to tell my story.
I’ve always been proud that I’ve been strong minded, that mentally I’m an ‘iron man’, but really, I’m just as vulnerable as the next person – I just hide it well. In my fitness studio, I was the life and soul of the classes, making sure everyone had a great session and enjoyed themselves. But, deep down, I was suffering.
Years ago I was married, but we parted, mainly because we lost our beautiful little girl Molly. Luckily, at the time, I had an amazing companion: my beloved chocolate lab Oscar. He literally saved my life.
Move on a few years, and I was flying with my fitness business, but due to COVID it all fell apart and I spiralled again, which coincided with my losing Oscar, so I was left alone. This time I had to dig deep and, instead of doing something stupid, I got help from rugby legend Stevie Ward from the Leeds Rhinos and through his company Mantality, which gave me back my sense of purpose. I can’t thank him enough.
Justin O'Halloran, founder of Misiuwear
Now I’m back doing what I love: helping people achieve their fitness goals, increasing their confidence and helping them to be happy. In the pandemic, I watched clients struggle due to mental health issues because they had nowhere to train, mix with people and generally feel great because I’d kicked the shit out of them in my 20/20/20 class! I felt responsible. I couldn’t help them in my studio, which due to the pandemic I had to close down, and this destroyed me.
Fast forward to today and I am back on track: loving life, loving my job and moving forward – this time bigger and better than ever. I now want to make people aware that there is always help. We are not alone and through communication we can get through anything and come out stronger.
I came up with the idea of combining what I do – fitness – and my struggles to come up with a way to communicate. So I set up the brand, misiuwear, from the word misiu – which is my nickname – taken from the Polish, meaning bear, and symbolising both physical and mental strength.
As a personal trainer, fitness is my passion. With misiuwear, I want to spread the word about mental health and fitness through ever-popular hoodies and fitness clothing, with slogans to raise awareness of mental health issues and how fitness is a way of combating these, helping to calm anxiety and ease stress. The hoodies have been so popular that I thought: why not bring out a full range? So I did.
And to further support my passion, 5% of all sales will go to Sport in Mind (www.sportinmind.org), the UK mental health sports charity, whose mission is: ‘To improve the lives of people experiencing mental health problems through sport and physical activity’.