Liam Cameron lacked confidence and felt like an “outcast” – until he joined the Army reserves, which changed the course of his life.
The 22-year-old fitness trainer from Maud grew up feeling he was treated differently to his classmates as he was diagnosed with autism, ADHD and dyslexia.
“You start to feel like an outcast,” he said.
“All my life I’d been told I’d have to do things a certain way and I wouldn’t be able to do what everyone else can, I wouldn’t really amount to anything.
“That kind of stuck with me psychologically and I feel it did hold me back from trying to push myself to do something further in my life.”
Military offered a way forward
Unsure of where to turn while he looked for his next steps, Liam joined the Army reserves after leaving school.
While he only did this temporarily – and struggled with aspects of the role – he felt it provided essential life lessons.
“At the time I was looking for a part-time job because I was still at college and I thought it would be a good place to make some money and learn interesting skills,” he recalled.
“I’m not really interested in doings things like working in a shop, I need to keep active so I thought that would be a good match for me.
“But I didn’t really like following the rules and doing things very precisely, that side of it didn’t really match my personality.
“I just did my first phase of training and then I left, but it was a good experience and I’m happy I did it.”
‘Beating the voice in my own head’
On one occasion, Liam had to find mental strength to complete a challenge made more difficult by an unfortunate error.
“During the first phase of training you do a bunch of backpack runs,” he said.
“On one of them, I didn’t position my backpack properly and this made it a very tough run for me.
“I was already so mentally drained from the previous training, I felt sleep deprived and during that last run everything was sore, I was ready to give up.
“This is where my self doubts started to creep back in.
“I was telling myself I couldn’t do it, that I wasn’t good enough or smart enough to be good at anything in life.
“But I knew if I stopped I would’ve regretted it, no matter how sore it was if I kept pushing it would be over with eventually.
“To everyone else around me, it wasn’t a massive accomplishment.”
“But for me what mattered was beating the voice in my own head,” he explained.
‘Go beyond what you thought you were capable’
Since leaving the Army reserves, Liam has gone on to become a fitness trainer, realising it’s his passion in life.
He explained: “In a way I’m kind of pleased that I have the issues I have because I know I’m not going to be a mathematician but it’s pushed me to health and fitness.
“That’s the only thing I’ve ever been decent at, so I wanted double down and get other people into health and fitness, that’s my passion now.”
He recently completed a potentially record-breaking handstand walk of 5.1km (3.1 miles) to raise money for mental health charity Young Minds.
“It took me 7 hours and 50 minutes to do it,” he said.
“I wanted to do something to really push myself for a while and just do something for a good cause.
“I’m not really sure why it was the handstands, it’s just something I’m always doing and I had this idea for like a year now.”
“I want to encourage people to get out of their comfort zone, it allows you to go beyond what you thought you were capable of and there’s a huge psychological benefit to that,” he added.
Liam is hoping for recognition from Guinness World Records for his handstand results, and donations to his fundraiser can still be made on his JustGiving profile.
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