This is not a brand, a fitness company or even a community… it is a feeling. A feeling of improvement, progress and being a better you, in however you wish to be that better you. EIS’s unwritten and subconscious comment to the world is that whatever we do, we do it in style – after all, those going through difficult times will often ‘style out’ that they’re ok to the world – let’s get better together and do it in style!
Our humble beginnings
The following are the words directly spoken by our founder and Managing Director Dan Petrusow:
“Planning to leave the Earth.”
“I’ll hide away from photos to make it easier for my son to find a new father figure.”
“I’ll distance myself so I can just slip away from people’s minds.”
The above are the direct thoughts which were a daily occurrence when I was at my lowest. As someone who is a private person, this greenhouse of transparency has been harder to write compared to every other element of the EIS company. Although while at work I am the happy, bouncy, and extroverted ‘manager’ colleague’ and ‘leader’ people know, I am very reserved outside of this setting and often act this energy, especially when the days are hard.
My ‘why’ for EIS is simple:
“Even if one person has benefited in some way from the EIS website or its services, that it my ultimate success”
Compounding can be of magnificent benefit when you look at it in terms of stocks & shares, weightlifting or learning a new skill. However, it can also have the opposite impact, regular negative changes can negatively compound into anxiety, stress, and depression. As a self-confessed perfectionist, I started my career striving for the best, working the additional hours, putting in the extra effort and learning everything I could learn – I was rewarded by the Managing Director creating a new role in the business and as such becoming a manager at the age of 21.
I had a slightly different upbringing to most, my mother was born with Cystic Fibrosis and was advised at an early age that she would not live past the age of 16, get married or have children. My mother achieved all of this, she lived until the age of 61, found love and was married for over 40 years, and became a phenomenal mother of two. She was the second oldest person in the UK with Cystic Fibrosis, she was my hero and inspiration.
I had always understood that my mother would not live forever, and that time was precious, growing up there was always the chance that when I returned from school my mother was back in hospital and potentially may not return due to infection. I suppose I became accustomed to the fact that she always got better, enough to get home and see another day. Two weeks after my mother’s 61st Birthday, she sadly passed away in her sleep, laid next to her husband of over 40 years – no infection, no hospital, no COVID-19, but beside the person she dedicated her life beside.
At 25 years of age, this 3am call, as it would for anyone, broke me. I lost my confidence, my rock and the person I wanted to show just what I can achieve. She had showed me to never give up, especially when she made the choice to have a double lung transplant, she knew there was a chance of no return, and that the final phone call to her 13-year-old son and 25-year-old daughter could be the last. This loss was the beginning of changes in my life – both monumentally amazing but also difficult- which was hard to comprehend within a 24-month period:
- Underperformance at work due to brain fog and lacking confidence.
- Taking a new and exciting role as Head of Department, within 10 months the entire provision was made redundant.
- Moving to a new business, re-building confidence, skills and passion. However, due to a restructuring after 8 months I found myself redundant once more.
- Selling of the family home and the ultimate decline of the families mental health also.
- The loss of our 15-year-old Beagle, Max.
The quotes at the start of this page were becoming stronger and stronger, due to the compound of many life events. I married the love of my life during this time and became a father, but yet I could not shake off the negative thoughts which can be found at the start of this web page. I spoke to the doctors and ‘hey-presto’ I was prescribed anti-depressants and everything should be ok, right?
What they don’t say about anti-depressants is the high level of brain fog they induce, the near impossible nature to get off them, how they ultimately block naturally induced serotonin and dopamine release through exercise and omega 3-rich foods, and how you’ll become simply ‘numb’ each day. I did not like putting this stuff into my body, but the ‘numbness’ was better than the negative thoughts I was having, so what needed to change? The answer was… me.
I conducted 6-months of research into replicating the chemical releases that the Sertraline anti-depressant tablet produced – looking into habitual changes, food intake, exercise regimes and environmental changes. After deep research and going against medical advice, I stopped taking the medication cold turkey – I wanted to experience the worst it could do when coming off, doing this so others don’t have to and for the purposes of research. If you are taking any medication for depression or anxiety, please do not stop taking this following what you have read here, you must consult with a medical professional if you want to change any aspect of your medical prescriptions.
The techniques, blogs, podcasts, training sessions and qualifications offered that you will find on EIS are all based on my research and successful action plan to beat my depression. Mentally I am the sharpest and most resilient I have felt in years, physically, I am stronger and most importantly my relationships both with friends and family are flourishing.
Based in the North East of England, I found that the North East of England once again had the highest suicide rate (12.8. per 100,000**) and that men are 3 times more likely to die by suicide in England than females. 5,284 suicides were registered in 2022, 5,284 mothers, fathers, sons daughters, sisters and brothers vanished in a single year. Imagine the entire population of Boroughbridge being empty in a year, what impact would that make? There were more suicides in 2022 than the population of this entire town.
My drive is to share my findings over this 6-month period, educate, motivate and purposely cultivate the foundations to reduce the above figure; the EIS team and I will do this through exercise, nutrition, social inclusion and sharing of habitual changes.
I beat the negative thoughts in my mind, no longer take anti-depressants and even if this website helps one person do the same, I have achieved my mission.
A share, a class, a purchase, or anything you do to support this company will ultimately lead to more visibility, and result in this content finding those who need it.
Thank you for your time for reading this and for finding out why EIS came to fruition.
