Inspiring Sydney: Justan Singh on Thriving with Crohn’s

His childhood was marked by repeated hospital admissions and emergency surgeries. From the age of eight until his early twenties, Justan regularly found himself rushed to Westmead Children’s Hospital, often facing another operation and another long recovery.

At school, Justan struggled academically and socially. He was teased because of his appearance and his Indian background and often felt different from those around him. Living with a chronic illness also meant dealing with fears and embarrassment that few other children could understand.

Yet, despite these experiences, Justan says he learned an important lesson early in life: finding moments of joy could help him survive the hardest days. One of his happiest memories was returning home after a stay in hospital. His mother would prepare a clean house, make his bed and cook him homemade hot chips. Then he could relax and watch SpongeBob SquarePants.

Those simple moments became precious.

“My motto is always to find a way to laugh,” Justan said. And this, he says was because of his upbringing in a yogic religion, and the meditation and smiling taught him to be virtuous.
Today, Justan’s journey is no longer simply about surviving Crohn’s disease. It is about learning how to thrive with it. After years of struggling with his identity and trying to hide the things that made him feel different, Justan eventually reached a turning point.

“The hardest thing was actually rejecting myself,” he said.

For him, the greatest challenge was not only the surgeries, medication or physical symptoms. It was learning to accept himself. That journey of acceptance eventually led him to confront one of his greatest fears: being seen in public with his colostomy bag.

One day, Justan went to Bondi Beach and walked along the sand with his shirt off and his colostomy bag visible. He put his happy music on his headset and walked on. He expected people to stare and judge him. Some people did look but then they simply moved on.

“That was it,” he said. “I’d just broken through the biggest barrier and beliefs I’d ever had.”
The experience changed the way he saw himself. Rather than focusing on what his disability prevented him from doing, Justan began focusing on what was still possible. He describes it as concentrating on the “4,300 things” he can do rather than the “700 things” he cannot.

“If I keep focusing on the things I can’t do, I’m losing focus on all the things I can do,” he said.

That philosophy now guides his work and his message to others living with chronic illness and disability. Justan believes that while people cannot always control what happens to them, they can focus on what is within their control, including their perspective, their choices and the people they surround themselves with. He adds that overthinking was one barrier he had for accepting himself for what he is.

He also encourages people to rethink the idea of boundaries. Rather than seeing boundaries simply as a list of things other people should not do, Justan believes they can be viewed as the conditions that allow a person to thrive. He believes that boundaries were not so important in the past because people had more breathing space to think autonomously and focus on how they could thrive instead of chasing the norm. And he chose to focus on boundaries that make him feel good.

“What are the things that make me thrive?” he asks.

It is a question that has helped shape his own life. He says that he has a manual, a word document of the things that are the opposite of boundaries, things that really make him thrive. He hands them to his friends, and he asks them to do these to get the best out of him. It has worked perfectly well.

Justan is now sharing his experiences with others through his growing online community and resources for people living with chronic illness and disability. His mission is to help others discover that their circumstances do not have to define the limits of their lives. His message is one of hope but also of honesty.

“There is no magic solution” he says.

Transformation takes time. He compares living with chronic illness to walking through a dark tunnel with a small light in the distance. The answer is not to suddenly reach the end. It is simply to keep taking the next step.

“One step after another,” he said.

For Justan Singh, that journey has taken him from a childhood dominated by hospital rooms and isolation to a life built around self-acceptance, confidence and joy. And his message to anyone facing their own difficult journey is simple:

“You can thrive with whatever you have.”

Justan can be found on Instagram at @thriving.with.crohns, where he shares resources and encouragement for people living with chronic illness and disability. He has a book and a course coming up where he teaches people of turning a disability into their blessing. He requests those in need to DM him for resources and links to access material that can help.