What happens after an injury, loss, or major change? How do you adapt to this new normal state? How do you find strength in the face of adversity? How do you accept this new change without always wishing to be like before? My guest, Dr. Theresa Larson, helps me answer these questions. She says our minds are a war zone and adaptation will occur no matter what, but there is a choice to to optimally adapt or maladapt.
Dr. Larson (DPT) is a mom, wife, sister, friend, and TEDx Speaker who happens to be a former Marine Corps Engineer Officer, combat veteran, and professional softball player. While that sounds like a resume of a strong person, it was the other moments where she developed her strength. Dr. T made it through the death of her mother at the age of 10, the loss of her father, and learned to suffer skillfully while battling an internal war with bulimia in the middle of an actual war. It’s here she learned strength, positive adaption, and her call to help others.
You see, her greatest strength isn’t in which she has done. Her greatest strength was in asking for help. Our stories are unique, but the struggle is universal. The mission of this episode is to deliver info to people who need it. To those who have gone through loss, trauma, or a major change in their life and needs to find their new normal again, this episode is dedicated to you.
Get Up Strong,
SHOW NOTES:
Intro: The Butterfly
4:40 Where does your weakness come from?
Can you measure strength? Cellular level and the mind.
12:30 Knowing yourself as a person vs athlete
13:50 Early lessons in strength. A lesson from mom when she knew she was not going to go on:
Life is unfair Theresa, and life has to go on. I’m going to die, but your life has to go on and blossom.
27:20 Is strength teachable?
29:30 Battling an internal battle (bulimia) in the middle of an actual war.
Forgiveness doesn’t change your past, but it opens up your future.
On the convoy, when am I going to next throw up.
46:54 No one is going to hold your hand. Life goes on. I need to make those choices and stick up for myself, against myself. My mind is a war zone.
47:20 TED Talk: What is a Warrior? What made me a warrior was not that fact that I was at war, or a professional athlete. It was the fact that I asked for help.
55:36 Ownership and healing yourself
59:40 What is your why? Physics of the why.
1:06:13 Your first step in regulating your emotions is stabilizing your attention. You can stabilize your attention by bringing it right into your breath and stilling your mind. -SM
1:15:30 The Mind Trigger
1:17:30 Adaptive Athletes – Fitness, Breath work, Community – Ways to recover your strength
1:18:50 LOVE Principles: Lead yourself first, Oxygen (breathe), Vulnerability, Elasticity (you can change)
What are you doing for the world? A practice in gratitude through service reflection.
1:42:58 State and Liberty: Code “STRENGTH” for 15%
Dr. Theresa Larson’s Podcast:
WEBSITES:
DrTheresaLarson.com movement-rx.com TheSisuWay.com
SOCIAL MEDIA:
The Sisu Way 