Fabiana Pelucio: How Tragedy Inspired a Drive to Help Others
/By Jill Farr
Pivotal moments can happen at any moment in our lives, but sometimes the stage we’re in when they occur can make their effect particularly dramatic.
Falling in love at fourteen isn’t better or worse than having it happen at forty, it’s simply different. Similarly, loss of a loved one can affect us deeply at any age, but there’s something deeply impactful about losing someone important to you when you’re very young.
When Fabiana Pelucio was four years old, one such loss dramatically changed her life.
“My six year old sister suddenly died in front of me,” Fabiana says. “One minute we were playing and the next I was watching my sister lying on the ground turning blue. All I could say was ‘Stand up and walk, just stand up and walk!’ I got emotionally paralyzed from this incident. It took me 36 years to understand the demons in my head.”
But as so often happens, tragedy and the resulting pain inspired a drive to help others, and led to a passion that not only transformed Fabiana, but the lives of those she has come to touch in adulthood, first as a physiotherapist and now as a personal trainer.
“In essence I have come to understand that since that traumatic incident where I was only 4 years old I have always had the need to help people physically,” Fabiana says. “That fueled my choice of studies while growing up.”
“Since moving to Australia I have moved my focus into fitness as a Fitness Model and am undergoing a personal training course to gain credentials.”
Fabiana is a relative newcomer to the fitness model world…and unique in that she decided to pursue this path a little later in life than most.
“In 2014 I decided to do my first show,” Fabiana says, “Not knowing what to expect but wanting to experience something new.”
“I decided to compete in bodybuilding as a fitness model for the first time to celebrate my 40th birthday to try challenging myself as I embarked on the next chapter of my life.”
“I competed in the Sydney IFBB show & placed 3rd…then I felt this fire inside to continue this. So I decided to compete in the ANB Australia Sydney titles in which I placed 1st in both novice and over 30’s divisions. Then I went onto the ANB Australia Nationals and placed 1st in both divisions. I was blown away by this experience as there were women on stage that were world class athletes. I started to believe in my ability even more. I received my ANB/UFE pro card and qualified to compete in the world titles in Canada. As the current Australian Fitness model I was chosen to represent Australia on the prestige world stage in Canada Toronto at the UFE show recently in November.”
“My journey as a fitness model was a great start to connect to myself, finding the purpose to fulfil my life and giving myself the chance to break through my limitations to follow my inner desire.”
The level of training that Fabiana has undertaken has not only yielded physical results; she believes that strengthening the body can also heal your emotions.
“I consider myself a very spiritual person,” Fabiana says, “So the most rewarding aspect of training has been an awakening process of finding a real connection to my deep inner being because I believe in emotional and physical relationship. Now that I’ve met the real me, it gives me the motivation to keep committed to my strength.”
“Training sort of gives me the feeling of dating your soul mate where you have butterflies in your stomach on every date!”
That sort of connection doesn’t happen overnight, and Fabiana knows as well as most women that finding the time to devote to the sort of training needed to accomplish it takes commitment.
“As women we wear multiple hats in the family and it can be hard to juggle everything at once, but my advice is always to get started. They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Go for walks, take the stairs, join a gym, make a get-fit club with friends; whatever stage of life you are in it is never too late to turn things around but you have to tap into your inner fire.”
In a full circle demonstration of how the most crippling moments can give birth to some of the deepest strength, Fabiana has taken the instinctive urging she felt as a child in the worst moment of her life and transformed it into a call of encouragement to others.
“’Stand up for yourself and Walk’, that’s a quote I always say,” Fabiana says. “Reconnect to your true self and your inner desire. Regardless of the situation you may be struggling with in life, what matters is getting back you. Standing up from your struggles, learning from them and walking on to the next day believing in yourself with goals in mind. Believe you will get up stronger!”
“As a liberated 40 year old woman I decided to see how would feel to experience my dreams, something that I believed it was possible to achieve. Instead of saying “If I was____, I could” why not say, “I am willing to give myself a chance to experience this”, believing that is possible to create a different life’s story.”
“No matter what it takes for you to walk again both emotionally or physically, use your past pain to empower you by learning from it and channeling your weakness into your strength! You just need to take the first step.”
