Portuguese Montrealer Steve Furtado is taking his experience as an entrepreneur, along with his personal challenges like being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and losing his mother, and turning them into a powerful narrative of overcoming adversity. Furtado will be taking part in SpeakerSlam, North America’s largest inspirational speaking competition, on July 16. Furtado’s story began in 2018 when he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
That was the first day of his life that he says he felt “blessed with the curse, but also I was able to realize that I was lost as a person. “I was able to look at myself and say it’s time for change. “I was always telling myself that brighter days were coming ahead, you know?” He adds he was “in divorce proceedings, fighting for custody of my kids.
I was mentally and physically and emotionally drained. “The biggest challenge is sometimes we get overwhelmed, right? “Even though my specialty is mindset, you know, there’s still the inner struggles that we deal with that only allow us to stretch ourselves. “But stretching ourselves is also the key to growth.
” As Furtado was going through his divorce proceedings, he says “that was a very, very dark moment. “It led to a place where we found out she (my mom) had stage 4 cancer. “And by July, seven months later, I lost my mom.
” The loss of his mother led him to feeling alone. “It also allowed me to realize that being alone is a great place to continue to of.
