Hello World, an Introduction

Hello, my name is Kenyan Martin and this is my blog. Thank you for coming by and taking the time to read my introduction post. Across the site I have said that I am 26 years old at the time of posting this and was in dire need of reinvention. This blog is one step towards my goal of living a happier, more fulfilling life. Admittedly, I am also using this blog to keep me accountable. I have always struggled with staying consistent with my goals and dreams in the past. Hell, it’s a big reason I need to reinvent myself in the first place. My only hope is that while this blog helps me on my journey through reinvention, it also helps you, or at least entertains you. As you read and watch content based on my path of becoming my best self.

The ultimate goal however, is to inspire those who may be in a similar place as I am. Feeling the need to change something about themselves. If that is you, then I want to help you. Without further ado, let’s get on with this introduction and perhaps put a face to the name, Kenyan Martin.

So let’s start from the top

I am a 26 year old guy. I live in Wyoming. Father of four. Happily married for two years. Currently working a 9-5 job that I do not enjoy, but I am lucky to have the opportunity to work. I am an enjoyer of video games, baseball, tech, YouTube videos, and self development topics, specifically fitness. Also, one of my favorite things to do is watch my step-daughter perform at cheerleading competitions.

That is a simple description that I could come up with, but these are the highlights of my life. This is who I am today. I absolutely look forward to adding “blogger” and “YouTube creator” to the list of descriptors but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself here. Also understand some may read that description and think that I should be entirely happy with my situation. I mean I am happily married, I have kids, and some hobbies that I enjoy. Not to mention a full time job!? Why would this guy need to reinvent himself at all? Well, I suppose we should get into that.

My reason for reinvention

I want to point out the obvious, I am lucky to be where I am now all things considered. However, it wasn’t easy and things aren’t necessarily great as it stands now but I do work on improving daily. Growing up I always expected more from myself and let me tell you, I am NOWHERE near where I thought I would be at this point. I’m sure many can relate as we tend to set high bars for ourselves. I want to share with you the point in my life where everything reached rock bottom and forced me to reinvent who I was.

To start, I had my first child when I was 18 (that isn’t the bad part), the issue is that college for me was now out of the question, which was my one and only goal at that age. I went straight to work instead to try and provide for my new, young family. I married my son’s mother at the age of 19 in hopes that we could be a family unit for him but ultimately it led to a nasty fallout followed by divorce. Already feeling like a failure throughout all of this, I was let go from my job. I was literally at rock bottom, living with my parents again, and trying to navigate life.

Skipping a few years into the future my son was diagnosed with brain cancer within a month after my second wedding. To make matters worse, my new father-in-law passed away just days before that, also from cancer. The saying “when it rains, it pours” has never felt so real.

It was this turn of events that made me spiral and almost lose hope entirely. I was incredibly bitter, sad, and I was at my lowest in the self-esteem department. Up until this point I had spent years rebuilding my life from zero, albeit at a slow pace, and it all came crumbling down in just one week. I can confidently say that it was since this moment that I have struggled to be happy. A lot of it is my fault. Some of it, circumstance. It has always felt like an uphill battle and I had not recovered from this time in my life. Admittedly, I allowed these circumstances to have a lot of power over me and only now am I working my hardest to get it resolved. This was the catalyst to commit to reinventing myself.

So, what did I need to reinvent?

Put simply, everything. I can’t think of a single area in my life that I was truly content with during this period. At my lowest with self-esteem. I was severely overweight, smoking a pack a day, no goals, no hobbies, broke, unable to support my family, and generally speaking I was pretty much useless, or at least I felt that way. To describe this period in time simply, my life was on autopilot. I would wake up (usually later than I would like), reported to work and begrudgingly did my job, went home and tried to be a good example for my kids, and went to bed. In truth I felt empty, even when surrounded by those I love.

I tried to set a good example for my kids, however in hindsight I imagine they just saw someone that was sad, miserable, and burnt out. It is in stark contrast to what I want for them. Not to mention my poor wife who has had to put up with me through all of it! All of this needed attention and desperately needed fixed before my life got worse. I could feel the tension in my life was reaching its peak and before it boiled over I finally decided to change. To update you on the timeline here, this was about a year ago now that I decided to make drastic changes in my life. This was the start of reinventing who I was.

My progress

At the time I was compelled to fix my life, but didn’t even know where to start. So I did what I thought was best, I just started. At this time, I had fumbled around for awhile trying to find things that worked for me. I watched all the YouTube videos created about fixing your life and how to improve in key areas (like fitness). Downloaded and listened to several self help books on Audible. I tested and retested various productivity strategies. When finally, I started to make some progress. That progress motivated me to stick with it. I worked harder, woke up earlier, became more disciplined, and forced myself to improve regardless of how tough it got. I researched until my mind went numb trying everything I could to improve. Sometimes even to my own detriment. There was even a point where I stopped entirely and gave up, but luckily got back on track.

Now finally, I feel in an okay place. Of course, I am still making sure I progress and improve on a day to day basis. I still have a TON to learn and improve on, but I at least feel like I am in an okay enough position to start sharing my experience with others. With you, the reader specifically. Currently ,my health is trending upwards and I am seeing positive results. I am much more productive at work and at home compared to years past. My goal of living more minimalistic is starting to provide its benefits. All of this as a result is leading to a happier and more fulfilling life.

What I can do for you

I want to share my methodology and strategies to resolving these issues so I can help others. My life really was the crash course there for awhile but I think I have set systems in place that can be shared and results can be replicated. I have a wide breadth of knowledge now from my time diving deep into personal development and I believe I can share the simplified truths with others. I struggled finding a starting point that didn’t make me feel immediately overwhelmed with all the things I would need to change.

Therefore, my goal is to provide content whether in blog or video format that can help anyone just start. I try to take all the complicated pieces out and simplify the approach to improving your circumstances. I plan to cover topics such as fitness, productivity, minimalist living, personal development, and personal or family finances. If these topics interest you please join me in the process of reinvention. Learn from my mistakes and my successes, I would love to help you the best I can.

Thank you again for reading,

See you next week. -Kenyan