A Menstrie woman is hoping to inspire others after combating her demons by challenging herself.

Samantha Brander recently took to the stage in a bodybuilding competition, a feat on its own; even if her borderline personality disorder, few extra pounds and the fact she tried to take her own life in 2014 are not considered.

“For a few years I struggled and suffered”, explained the mother of four.

“Last June I decided I wanted to try and challenge myself, I decided that I wanted to take part in a bodybuilding competition.”

Her hope was that by challenging herself to do something different she could end up in a better place in the end.

Samantha said: “Doing bodybuilding is a really hard mental battle as it is.

“And obviously, it is a lot harder for somebody who has mental health issues.

“So, there’s been a lot of ups and downs through it, you get to points where you are really-really low and there’s been a lot of times when I thought I can’t go on and do this anymore.

“But, I stuck it out.”

The battles did not stop in the gym, the diet or in her mind either.

Just as she went into “prep”, a couple of months leading up to a competition with a strict dietary and workout regime, Samantha received a blow when her grandfather passed away, something that was “extremely hard” to deal with.

Around Easter time, a friend of hers died.

“Why is all this happening to me”, she wondered at the time.

And added: “Losing people, to anybody, is a hard thing. With borderline personality disorder everything is either black or white, there’s no ‘in the middle’.

“But I tried to keep my head up and keep focus and then my dad’s partner’s son was killed when that wall collapsed [in Whitecross] – it just happened a few weeks ago.

“Basically, I lost three people who I knew during my prep from January to June, but I was that determined to succeed with this that I kept going.

“I had pneumonia, which knocked me down again, but I just kept getting back up stronger each time.”

During her prep time, Samantha lost around 2stone, training with Gregg Thompson at MXP Fitness.

She added: “There were days when I was really low and thought: ‘Why am I doing this, I can’t do this anymore’.

“Then I had this little voice in my head saying: ‘Can’t give up now’.

“When I came to two weeks out from my competition, I was ready to just throw everything away because I was so low, I had no energy, my kids were getting annoyed with me because I was grumpy with the slightest little thing.”

Her husband Campbell was great encouragement during this time and finally show day came at Perth Concert Hall for the Scottish National Bodybuilding Championships 2019.

Contestants were arranged in alphabetical order and with the surname Brander, Samantha was up first.

“The whole day I spent freaking out that I was going to be the first one”, she continued.

“But when I got on that stage, I just forgot about everything.

“All the way during posing practice, it was hours of posing practice, I never-ever smiled during it and my coach was kind of worried about it, that I was not going to smile to show the confidence.

“But I never took the smile of my face the whole time I was on the stage, everybody said that I looked so confident that you wouldn’t have known that I had never done this before.

“I was shaking like a leaf, but everybody said that you’d never have known.”

She did not achieve a podium finish, but that was never the goal, Samantha adding: “I was just so-so happy that I had actually achieved a goal, because I never in my life have been able to get on a stage in front of people.”

Samantha reckons tackling the challenge she set herself was worth it, explaining: “It’s put me in a better place mentally, having that structure [of training] and being able to achieve something with mental health problems.”

For others in a similar place she was in, Samantha suggests focusing on a goal, and seeking help, can help.

She said: “It always comes down to how much you really want something and I wanted to better myself.

“Just in October there I had posted on my Instagram a picture saying that I wake up every day wishing that I didn’t, which was generally how I felt.

“Whereas now, I just feel like I’m a different person, which came from doing this.”

Having people around for support, friends and family, is also an important factor.