From mental disorder to professional cyclist
Welcome to my website! I have been looking so much forward to reveal it and my first blog will be a short introduction to my story. For those who do not know me well, my name is Fie Østerby and I am a danish professional cyclist living in Spain. If someone told me 5 years ago that I would stand here, I would have laughed and said that ‘you must be crazy’!!
But here I am and sometimes I have to pinch myself in the arm to understand that it is reality.
It has been a long journey to get here, and it all started when I was finishing high school in 2011. The last year of high school I was having a hard time and I often sat in the toilet crying and hiding from the world and sometimes I even packed my stuff and left the classroom in the middle of a lecture, completely dissolved by crying. I didn’t know what was wrong and at this time I was very judgemental about mental disorders, so I was just telling myself to pull myself together. Now I understand that being so hard on myself just made it worse.
One day reality hit me for real! I was hit by an anxiety attack while working in a supermarket a few weeks before I graduated high school. I clearly remember this day – I sat behind the counter serving customers, while shaking all over my body and dissolved with tears.
That moment marks the 8 year long struggle with a mental disorder.
It gave me a lot of challenges in my life. I couldn’t take care of a job, and inside my head everything was chaotic, which made my pattern of behavior out of control and I couldn’t socialize with other people.
In 2012 I was very lucky to be introduced to cycling, as I was participating in a municipal activation project for young people who wasn’t able to take care of a job. When riding my bike I found peace and I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Riding my bike has become my way back to life and has brought me to where I am today.
My purpose with this website is also to help break the taboo and prejudices of mental disorders. Unfortunately I still meet people who have a lot of prejudices about mental disorders and I understand why so many people find it so difficult to understand. Because it’s not like a broken arm or leg that is very obvious to see. It’s a broken soul.
I am looking forward to share more of my journey with you and I hope to inspire other people to see that there is a spot for everyone in this world.
Take a look around and feel free to contact me and comment on my blogs. I hope you like it – I am very excited about this and I owe I BIG THANK YOU to Katarina, who made this website and completely understood how I wanted it to be! 🙏🏼
The content of this website will be a mix of good reading and inspiration for a healthier lifestyle based on my own experiences as a professional cyclist and creativity in the kitchen with my own healthy recipes.
5 replies on “From mental disorder to professional cyclist”
Sikke en rørende historie!! 🙂 Du er en kæmpe inspiration og vil kunne inspirere så mange menesker rundt omkring i verden.
Tak fordi du deler din opbyggelige historie. Jeg ser frem til at følge dig i dine meritter fremover.
Tak, Bo! Jeg er glad for at du har lyst til at følge med!
Fantastisk du står frem åbent og kan godt drage paralleller med min egen tilværelse. Har jobbet med unge i 20 år, der alle har en historie bag sig i form af dysfunktionel eller vilkår bag sig, der har skabt betingelse hvor der er behov for støtte samt hjælp. Det er historier som din og at turde stå frem, der er til stor hjælp for andre…
Tak for din besked – den gør mig glad!
Det har taget tid og har skulle samle mod til at dele min historie. Det er et sårbart emne – også for mig! Jeg møder nemlig stadig en del fordomme, og det er ærgerligt.