Dooley Noted: 10/9/2018
40 Things I Learned by Age 40
As I turned 40 today, I reflected this morning on what I learned in this past year. Hopefully you will enjoy!
1. Breaking a lease costs thousands. Doing it for a dog probably saved much more than that in emotional expenditure.
2. Check your free credit score every year and make sure to get rid of the negatives. You’ll never know when you need to make a big purchase, so bring the interest rates down.
3. Broccoli sprouts are fun to grow and illuminate health with sulforaphanes. I felt a difference in my breathing and energy in one week!
4. Even health warriors get sick. Let people around you help. I’ll never forgot how the teaching team of NKT Australia rallied up to help me get through a tough 6 teaching days with a respiratory infection.
5. Rose oil can be used for perfume and doesn’t bother patients that are sensitive to perfume.
6. I like pizza better without the cheese! (Jonathan can’t eat dairy.)
7. I had discounted how much dairy contributed to my acne. I barely touched dairy this year and had very minimal skin breakouts.
8. CBD oil may not get you high like THC, but it has almost all of the health benefits and has made a huge difference in my chill factor, my sleep, and my workout recovery.
9. 300 swings daily for over 8 months doesn’t seem like much. And it wasn’t, really. But that 8 minute a day commitment added up to better cognition, less anger, improved breathing, and more focus.
10. What you do consistently matters most. (See #9)
11. Filtering water with reverse osmosis and adding in salt is so much more thirst quenching than basic tap water.
12. No matter where we’ve traveled in the world, we keep elucidating that people don’t know anatomy as well as they may think. And, people are scared to dive in. But if you work on things that are desirably difficult, you’ll become the practitioner you’ve always wanted to be.
13. Scars matter. They really, really matter. If you have them, tell your movement practitioner so they can include them in treatments.
14. I had a patient with more imaging findings than I could even read in the visit. But she had no pain. She came to improve her strength and posture. So stop solely using imaging findings to explain pain.
15. The biomat, an infrared heating pad powered by – yes – crystals, can help with chronic pain management. And before you get all combative about crystals – it’s FDA approved. It’s a game changer for meditation.
16. I flew well over a hundred thousand miles this year, and the one time I got ill was when I didn’t take Airborne on a 21 hour trek to Australia. Planes are incubation chambers for pathogens. Armor up.
17. If you don’t let go of what people have done in the past, you’ll beat yourself up with it your whole life. Let it go, then let them go. And it’s ok to keep some safety space.
18. Charcoal doesn’t just help with food poisoning. It’s the best face wash I’ve ever experienced and really does make your teeth whiter!
19. The #MeToo movement has made me so appreciative of the men in my life who have helped build me up instead of breaking me down.
20. The kettlebell is still the absolute, without a single doubt, best workout tool besides my own body.
21. Hang. Put a bar up in your living room or office. Brachiate. It matters. You’re a primate. You need it. Undo the computer slouching on occasion and hang.
22. Pay off the student loan debt as soon as possible. Even at low interest, it adds up.
23. Citibike keeps you fit and is faster than the subway and cabs. Even when you think a cab will be faster, it really, really won’t be in Manhattan.
24. Using argon shampoo completely stopped my itchy head. I thought everyone with hair had an itchy head! Yeah – they don’t. Only people with dry scalps have to worry about that!
25. Even if you aren’t talented in massage, rub your husband’s back for him! (I’m trying to get better but he is REALLY good!)
26. Acupressure rings stimulate the fingers and help with recovery from jammed, sore fingers. Use these with Battle Balm and its like a new hand!
27. Doing 6-7 monthly online study groups for NKT and ID has been helpful to others, but it has made me think more clearly, study harder, and be more accountable to my techniques.
28. Anatomic textbooks and models have mistakes. Get solid in your knowledge so you can find them.
29. Running gets a bad rap. I do it with my dog every day. But you must be strong enough to endure running. Most people aren’t, and they get hurt and blame running. If you’re an endurance athlete, get a strength base so you can endure.
30. Tendinitis/tendinopathies respond the most quickly not to rest, but to tendon neuroplastic training (TNT). Don’t rest. Don’t push into pain, either. Learn heavy, slow resistance to improve load capacity in a non-painful range of motion. And use a metronome.
31. When you want to be the strongest you can be, push back at the resistance. You want success? Pay the daily rent. Slow progress is still progress.
32. I didn’t have to travel with a kettlebell this entire year because they are quite literally EVERYWHERE now. Finally!!!!
33. I get food poisoning much less now that I cook my own food. What the heck are people doing to our food?
34. Living too close to work means you can end up never quite leaving work. Off to the suburbs we go!
35. There’s something about someone handing me a free coffee on occasion that makes me always want to buy coffee there. Providing free content on occasion drives people to attend your courses and learn even more from you.
36. The deeper and deeper I study anatomy, the more and more every course I take makes sense. Knowing the fundamentals inside and out strips everything of its complications.
37. TaiJi Quan requires more athleticism and foundational strength than sport I’ve tried. I’m in for the long haul.
38. There is no place on planet that respects educators – and colleagues – more than Taiwan. I look forward to July every year!
39. What you are avoiding is exactly what you need.
40. My husband says all decisions are made from either love or fear. I’m choosing love more and more and finding it ignites happiness I had left uncovered.
Enjoy what I learned!
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley