Jennifer Aniston and boyfriend Jim Curtis are discussing his past health woes.
On Wednesday (September 2), the couple appeared on stage together at the 92nd Street Y in New York City to celebrate the release of 50-year-old hypnotherapist’s new book, The Book of Possibility.
During their conversation, Jim spoke with the 57-year-old Friends actress about how difficult it was for him when doctors found lesions on his spinal cord in his 20s that led to partial paralysis and chronic nerve damage.
“I’m not saying here that if the doctor tells you to do something, you should get up and leave,” Jim told Jennifer and the audience, according to Us Weekly. “What I’m saying is you don’t have to live as the victim. You don’t have to live in your suffering. It can become your power.”
While he noted the key to moving beyond a health challenge is “accept it and love it,” Jim admitted that his diagnosis was difficult for him to accept. He also confessed that he wouldn’t always be truthful when people asked why he walks with a limp.
“I would say I got into a motorcycle accident,” Jim said. “I was so shameful that I had a medical condition. [I thought] I was broken in some way. I thought the motorcycle accident was at least a little macho.”
Jim went on to share that he was able to “overcome” those feelings through “self-acceptance and self-love,” although it was certainly “a long journey in which I realized I could have done it quicker.”
“There are people who are just suffering because they don’t know what the next step is or they need a little bit of inspiration,” he explained. “That was an easy choice for me.”
Jennifer then asked Jim what advice he might give to someone who was “stuck” in the “rat race of life.”
“I’m not a proponent for ‘drop everything and leave,’” he noted. “That [acceptance] was 25 years in the making for me.”
“There’s a reality of life too. You have rent to pay and medical bills to pay and kids to feed, all of your stuff,” he continued. “But I will say this: you don’t have to let fear stop you from living your dream. You can manifest at any time by placing your focus on the outcomes that you want.”
In a recent interview, Jim spoke about his relationship with Jennifer, her famous friend group, how they handle arguments, the example she sets for others, his issues dealing with mobility and transforming your life. Check out the highlights here.
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