Dooley Noted: 12/9/2014
The best day of my life started with a migraine.
I don’t get them thrice weekly, like I did at the beginning of this decade. Acupuncture and movement therapy knocked them down to once every other month or so.
But it happens. And I can’t tolerate migraine medication. So, I don’t take it.
I think I’ve been gifted with too much energy.
Sometimes my body can’t focus it.
It used to manifest in anxiety. I conquered that.
It currently manifests in migraine.
So on the morning of last Saturday’s Strongman Spectacular, I was debating not going.
It was my worst migraine in 2 years.
The thought was awful. I saw myself wasting my day, laying down in pain, pitying myself.
Gross.
So, my boyfriend and I headed to the seminar.
Immediately, I felt better as I saw my beautiful friends and a few new ones I would make.
A doctor of sports psychology asked me why I craved strength.
I talked about seeing my dad at around 1.5 years old, stopping a moving car that was about to hit another car.
I knew early on that we have immense potential.
Mr. Chris Rider, professional strongman, solidified that as he bent steel in front of my eyes – with his hands.
When I saw my friends start doing the same, I believed I could do it, too.
We did. I did.
We all had a skill that was easier or more challenging for us.
Eric and Kathryn rocked almost everything.
Tom rocked the horseshoe.
Kristin and Christina annihilated the phone books.
But I struggled with the 1.184-page Las Vegas phone book.
I saw my friends do it. I knew it was possible. They cheered me on.
As I grunted and sweated, carnal yelps left me. I am inexhaustible. But I felt the energy of that migraine rise to my head and threaten to derail me.
Several minutes in, I felt myself start to give up. The lies started firing out of my mind like machine gun bullets.
“It’s too hard.”
“My head hurts too much.”
“It was easier for everyone else.”
“I’m not strong enough.”
But I remembered how Chinese medicine describes migraine – as energy ascending to the head.
So, I got out of my head.
I felt every ounce of my focus zone in on that phone book.
The room was empty. There was no thought but making that book yield to my hands.
Then, I felt that book cave in to me.
I have never experienced anything as powerful as that moment.
And the migraine left me.
People that don’t crave strength don’t know how good it feels.
I’ve been painfully thin and ripped. It didn’t feel like this.
I’ve been overweight and lazy. It didn’t feel like this.
This is human potential to make the impossible probable.
After that phone book, I realized I have barely tapped into my potential.
We all have this enormous power, waiting for us to break down the door.
Some of us let the mind lie to us. I almost did. I had my entire life – until Saturday.
Now, I’m wondering what else I can do in this life.
Catalyst SPORT is bringing my new strongman skills coach, Mr. Chris Rider, to New York on Sat May 23, 2015.
The registration link is coming soon.
Mark your calendar Move your plans. Change your life.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
P.S. All I want for Christmas are your phone books and playing cards. Seriously.
