There are a lot of ways to cope when finding out your long-term girlfriend has been cheating on you, some better than others.
After a rough breakup, Dwayne O'Connor coped by hitting the gym hard
There are a lot of ways to cope when finding out your long-term girlfriend has been cheating on you, some better than others. Dwayne O'Connor's coping mechanism can certainly be added to the list of better ways he took his stress and pain to the gym, and came out almost unrecognizable.
O'Connor, a 26-year-old personal trainer from Derby, United Kingdom, told Men's Health that he originally turned to fitness after his unexpected breakup because he saw it as "something I could depend on, something that wouldn't let me down." He had been working as a personal trainer prior to then, so he knew his way around a gym. But he was looking for something more than his stale routine gym routine that kept him in okay enough shape.
"It was more about feeling better at the start," he said, "I just didn't want to have a belly anymore." But that quickly evolved into something else a passion for bodybuilding. "Through bodybuilding you can shape your own body, and that's pretty awesome," he said.
O'Connor said he was also motivated to pursue bodybuilding because he'd always admired the big, strong characters on television shows the good guys who always seemed to win in the end. "I wanted to look strong so I felt strong... then maybe I wouldn't lose anymore, either," he said.
"Plus, cardio sucks," he added.
O'Connor said it wasn't as simple as flicking a switch and heading into the gym religiously. Early on, the wound left by his ex was still pretty raw. "The hardest part of the routine was accepting that this was the new routine," he said. "My old life was over. When you're with someone for a long time, you do things together all the time... I had to admit to myself that whatever I had before was gone forever."
Today, O'Connor's Instagram is filled with pictures and videos of him working out and him showing off his jaw-dropping physique. This is exactly what it means to turn lemons into lemonade.
As for dealing with cheaters, O'Connor advises anyone to keep their head up and realize they're likely not really to blame, at all. "If you end up with egg on your face because you've been cheated on, don't take it so personally. It's a reflection of the person who did it, not you," he said. "Don't damage your body or health with drinking or junk food... keep busy, productive and positive."