Dooley Noted: 8/15/14
Your central nervous system is packed with a pharmacy. Some of the most effective agonists of happiness and pain reduction are located right inside your cranial cavity.
I used to be addicted to my own pharmacy.
I would run through pain and injury to get to mile 12. I thought the pain was the penance I paid to feel euphoria.
At that mile 12 mark, my pain would dissipate. I felt as if my feet didn’t touch the ground. I floated on air.
I would get this injury. Then that injury. It was par for the course: I was a runner. An athlete. And athletes get hurt.
One day, I got really hurt running. I started decreasing my mileage. I no longer felt the euphoria.
I found some people that showed me how injury was not par for any course.
I got some strength and stability. It took a while to learn I didn’t have to train through pain.
The chemicals you access with the internal pharmacy are like taking from a savings account. You can take from it, but you might want to replenish what you withdraw.
I don’t work out to take from the bank of my pharmacy. Now, I work to build up my account, not to deplete it.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley