you
how many of you feel you’re a warrior
raise your hand if you think you’re a
warrior
handful of you okay the other you the
rest of you is probably probably
thinking like lady you’re mad like why
would you ask me that first of all the
prerequisites to be a warrior obviously
to be a badass maybe a military member
maybe a professional athlete maybe a
leader of a company but definitely not
me I couldn’t be a warrior well I’m
going to here I’m here to tell you
you’re wrong being a warrior is not
those things the definition of a warrior
is taking ownership of yourself taking
ownership of your life a adjective for
warrior is resilient a resilient person
someone who’s adaptive to change can
adapt to change so you see that’s a
picture of me in my uniform a picture of
a wounded athlete I work with in the
middle the friend of mine they’re on the
your guys’s right but what they look
like and what they do doesn’t make them
a warrior what makes them a warrior is
how they’ve taken ownership of their
life how we take an ownership of our
life and who we are as humans so
what I want to get into you is my story
here I want to take you back about 12
years so 12 years ago I was 24 years old
and this is about 10 to 12 years ago I
was stationed in Fallujah Iraq and I was
the first lieutenant in the Marine Corps
it was very hot and it was a hot zone we
were it was in 2005 and it was during
the first Iraqi election and my job as
the first lieutenant in the Marine Corps
was to I was a platoon commander so I I
was in charge of 50-plus Marines most of
the mail there’s three women in my
platoon my job out there was to run
supplies to forward operating bases
around Fallujah army marine Navy Delta
Force the works so my job was running
was running supplies as well as finding
landmines through engineers so when we’d
find a landmine we’d call him the
explosive ordnance disposal unit to help
us out the other part of my job was I
was a court for female insurgents so
because I was about twice as large as
most of the female Iraqis and when they
capture a cell if there was a couple
woman in that cell I would be in charge
of taking them back to their village so
that was my night job and then I had a
day job running convoys and sometimes
that would turn in tonight so I was so
very very intense time but very awesome
I was a woman in combat before women
were even acknowledged to be in combat
by Congress but I refuse to sit on the
sidelines
I really wasn’t supposed to be out of
the wire but I refuse to sit on the
sidelines it was one night the night
before the Iraq first Iraqi democratic
election in 2005 which is right before
Thanksgiving for us that I’m getting
ready for a very large convoy
I have over 100 Marines in my command
now my platoon plus a couple others so
Marines I hadn’t worked with and our job
was to go run jersey barriers around
Fallujah city for the first rocky
election and around Fallujah but
Fallujah was kind of a dump at that time
like the roads were scattered with trash
me it was a war zone so the likelihood
of coming across land mines or IEDs was
high but it was at night so a little
more scary very intense I was scared but
I didn’t show it I couldn’t show it I
know all the Marines were probably a
little scared to uh getting ready for
this I to give a big op order that we
give out before any convoy and the OP
order lasted about a half hour because
you have to go through all your
accountability checks and I think I
probably said the f-bomb 40 times when
you’re talking to a bunch of 18 year old
to 22 year old male Marines and some
females you kind of have to use the
language that they use so accentuated my
my um my thoughts so that night though
the irony of what what was happening to
me was it professionally I felt on point
I felt like a badass I was good to go I
was an A+ Marine I could do no wrong I
was ready for more missions like this
but on the inside I was struggling
pretty hard I was 24 years old and right
before I had gone out to do the soft
border and grant ready for this night
mission I had thrown up multiple times
self-induced and this has been a problem
this whole entire deployment ever since
I actually entered the Marine Corps but
it was getting a little bit worse and
50% of my brain that night I couldn’t
stop thinking about the next time I
would self induce vomiting or when I
could exercise the food I’d ate away and
then 50% of my brain was on the mission
you see the irony in that I’m there in
battle I should be focused 100% on this
mission but all I could fifty percent of
my brain was focused on this addiction
that had been created and it was that
night it was kind of a come-to-jesus
moment that I had that I was not okay
this food issue that I tried to brush
off because I didn’t take it seriously
was was a problem I may I could hurt
somebody if I wasn’t completely focused
I could hurt somebody or I could hurt
myself and I have people that love me
and that rely on me and I I can’t
this food issue whatever it is and I
didn’t I didn’t want to acknowledge it
was an eating disorder yet but this food
issue that I had in this exercise
addiction I didn’t I knew it was a
problem and it was much deeper than just
a food issue or an exercise issue it ran
much deeper than that the stem of it
what I learned later on comes from the
soul you your lack of belief in yourself
and Here I am on paper I could do no
wrong I feel like a total badass so that
night after eight hours of running
jersey barriers around Fallujah city
having to stop twice to call an
explosive ordnance disposal unit that
next morning I walked myself into my
company commanders office and I was like
sir I need help I have this issue with
binging and purging and I think I need
some serious help for it and my company
commander is many individuals who don’t
understand what it eating disorder is to
include myself asked well what does he
have a hard time going to the chow hall
eating brownies well no sir like I I use
it as a coping mechanism much like an
alcoholic uses alcohol or drug addict
seeks their drug of choice I think it’s
it’s a problem like it’s something that
I crave and I don’t and it’s not healthy
and I need actual
national help and so at that point so my
company commander then went ahead and
asked me do you want a a desk job we can
send it to cottom and do a desk job or
Ramadi and do a desk job like no I I
don’t a desk job I want actually
professional help like I don’t think
just continuing to work in this
environment is healthy for me I don’t
want to hurt someone else I was at war
with myself and I was already at war and
Iraq too I didn’t need both wars and I
don’t believe the Marines deserve 50% of
my brain when we’re out on him a very
intense mission so from that point on it
was at that moment and I didn’t realize
this until later but that was the moment
I became a warrior I took ownership of
my life I stuck up for myself at that
moment though was when my battle really
began so the irony is that I was in Iraq
but the battle that was the most
difficult was the one that I was about
to face which was coming home being
medevacked home and being looked at as a
failure one moment could do no wrong one
moment of failure one moment of
disappointment a disappointment with an
eating issue I didn’t understand eating
disorders very well I just knew I had a
problem and you this food issue I had
was it appeared like a good addiction
just like an alcoholic and the military
knows what to do with alcoholics when it
comes to an eating disorder or something
different they don’t
it was hard facing the Marine Corps this
this organization I loved and I gave a
lot of my time too it was hard facing
some of my family members who did also
didn’t understand facing society right a
common comment a comment I would get is
have a hard time going out to eat or
what kind of foods are you struggling
with it’s not about the food so it was
it was definitely a long road of
recovery and I’m still in recovery but
again
it was that moment of asking for help
when my warrior journey happened I did
all of these badass things but what
mattered is that I was finally taking
ownership for my life and my health
because my health mattered and so did my
Marines so the first medical
professional I saw coming back from Iraq
was a psychiatrist who fully admitted
like hey I don’t really know much about
eating disorders or what you’re dealing
with but it seems like you have an issue
with taking you know loving yourself and
what I’d recommend is that you get
pregnant because you’ll love your body
then and yourself okay well I have a
boyfriend that’s also not really healthy
we’re not getting married and uh even if
we were like not ready to have a kid and
I don’t believe that’s the way I’m gonna
learn to love myself and what does that
even mean
we’ve never been told like hey you need
to love yourself be gentle with yourself
I’ve been told that so many times got it
okay what does that even mean what is
the action of loving yourself and being
gentle with yourself mean so over the
last 10 to 12 years I’ve developed these
principles in my life that have happened
from mentorship and just trial and error
and realizing that the Western medicine
model of mental health care and even
physical healthcare wasn’t for me so I
was going to find my own way of keeping
myself healthy so the first concept that
came about right when I got out of the
Marine Corps was lead you first so this
is my father who’s sitting looking at a
lake in Pennsylvania and the lead you
first concept so these four principles
I’m gonna talk about the acronym for
them is love so LOV II so the first one
is lead you first my father would always
tell me like Theresa you you can’t
really effectively take care of someone
else unless you can take care of
yourself or he’s ever heard that or you
can’t truly give to the relationship and
tell you can give to yourself I have an
8 week old newborn
I can’t effectively love him take care
of him unless I’m taking care of myself
as a mom too and I wanted to be a damn
good mom so I waited for a while so this
lead you first you know is is
technically can be accumulated into self
care how do you take care of yourself
every day what kind of maintenance on
your body do you do what kind of
maintenance on your mind do you do every
day to keep you healthy for those that
you love your family the people that you
teach people around you so I think it’s
important it’s not a selfish thing to
put yourself first and give yourself
some healthy time each day the second
saying the second principle is open open
to change so for me I had to change the
trajectory of my life so once I asked
for help right I went from this
lieutenant that could do no wrong – all
right we got a you’re going to get out
we’re going to discharge you like we
don’t know what to do with you I had to
change no matter how I felt about that
decision right I did I wasn’t gonna be a
general in the Marine Corps anymore
that’s what I wanted to do like I am now
having to find any path and if I hadn’t
chosen or been open to change I would
not be here standing it here in front of
you so mentally physically I had to
change so mentally I started to do
breath work and meditation I had to seek
out help mental health help which is a
strength it’s not a weakness just like
you do with physical fitness so seeking
a trainer someone who knows about the
body it’s a strength not a weakness but
I didn’t I had to cultivate that
mentality over time I did change my
mindset I just slowed down and asked
myself what do I really want first is
what does my dad want one of my brothers
want what does society want what looks
sexy like what do I want in my life and
I realized I loved fitness and medicine
I wanted
to be that bridge between the two worlds
so hence I became a doctor physical
therapy but I do not do traditional work
in the physical therapy world and I
would never have thought ten years ago
twelve years ago when I left Iraq to now
I’m a physical therapist which took me
five extra years of school because I did
not do anything in undergrad that
remotely looked like science or medicine
and but to this day right now I’m doing
a digital rehabilitation and more work
online with people to help people across
the country across the world and that’s
very freeing for me I realized from this
slowing down that freedom and
flexibility where values that I wanted
in my life and needed and so doing
one-on-one care all the time that wasn’t
it was it’s nice but it’s not freeing
for me I wanted to use my skill set and
my experience to treat people across the
nation and I would never have thought 12
years ago that that was possible but I
was open to the possibility of changing
my life but I had to slow down so the
third principle is cultivating
vulnerability so many of you may have
heard the brené Brown talk on
vulnerability but vulnerability has been
very a very big part of me being able to
be up here and share my story I could
send up here and talk about mobility and
movement and stability and all that cool
stuff but I wanted to share something a
little bit deeper than that why I do
those things four years ago I started a
adaptive strength class which is for
wounded veterans or those with permanent
wounds so it just so happens sending
goes a lot of veterans so I see a lot of
marine and Navy individuals who have
mild traumatic brain injuries or missing
limbs Salvage limbs emotional disorders
such as addictions or have been sexually
traumatized so they’ve come to my class
and been able to share our story in the
beginning a little bit about themselves
and then we train and we sweat together
we build each other up we work on
movement you
a lot of times once you go through rehab
it’s like what’s next how do I like do
the things I love to do if I want to
CrossFit if I want to do a Spartan Race
like my physical therapist or strength
coach didn’t know how to help me get
there that’s what that class was for I
was like all right let’s get you strong
let’s teach you how to move in an
environment that makes you excited and
gets you sweating together and but I
still didn’t share my story until one of
the athletes who is a Special Operations
and radio guy came to see me in my
office my private practice he’s a Navy
SEAL and we spent an hour mostly talking
he was struggling with alcoholism he was
struggling with where it where’s his
tribe he couldn’t go back to meet a Navy
SEAL which he loved and he’s 26 years
old what was he gonna do next
he felt lost all he wanted to do is be a
Navy SEAL and he did that and now he has
a mild traumatic brain injury and he’s
not allowed back on his team so what
does he do next
he was very inspired by the different
approach I took to PT and so I was like
well hey you want to become a physical
therapist this is the route I’d
recommend going it would be awesome
but we need to find a new tribe for you
and that’s kind of what adaptive
strength ended up being for him but he
struggled with alcoholism and I told him
the first time I actually opened up to
one of my athletes like hey I I
struggled with an eating disorder which
is much like what you you’re struggling
with and it was hard I got out of the
Marine Corps and I didn’t have my team
anymore my platoon that was like my
family and I had to find something
different I had to change my life and I
have no one holding my hand to do it so
I’m here to be with you and hold your
hand if you need it because I want to
give people I wanted to give people they
didn’t get but they’re not getting and
and hopefully that that scenario for him
he’s going to pay that forward as well
but that was the first time I actually
shared my story because I was
embarrassed about having an eating
disorder and I’m no longer embarrassed
about it because I know that many many
people struggle on the spectrum of
addiction
and struggle with mental health mental
health shouldn’t be a stigma we should
work on our mental health just like we
work on our physical health but I had to
be vulnerable create an enduring mindset
this is the fourth principle of love
loving yourself so that man on the left
is my father not aerodynamic by any
means okay six four two hundred forty
pounds he’s a Catholic priest uh he was
second vocation Catholic priests so I
lost my mom when I was ten he loved
doing hundred mile bike races loved them
I don’t know why I am NOT an endurance
person but he loved it so but he was the
one that was like a voice in my ear an
angel in my ear all the time like finish
this do this going back to school is
tough I dated guys that were like why
would you went on to school like you’re
thirty like you want to have kids uh not
yet
not ready no uh and my dad was just a
voice in my ear like keep going get your
degree like once you get your degree you
can do many different things create your
own path but just finish but it took
time to get my degree it took time for
me to change my mind to change my mind
it took time for me to develop a strong
meditative meditation practice but he
was a strong voice in my ear this woman
here on the right my friend Lisa MOFA a
former marine lawyer diagnosed with
adrenal cancer four years ago the moment
she was diagnosed was not the moment her
life ended for her it was when she’s
just started to live for four years she
battled this thing very rare cancer she
didn’t give up she lived her life to the
fullest she hung out with the right the
people that loved her she did the things
that she wanted to do she traveled
everywhere
she taught me so much good friend of
mine a part of my adaptive strength
class just passed away this last Friday
an amazing woman and now guardian angel
for many so the enduring mindset
enduring mindset is key
anybody can focus and change for a week
– but what about years and years and
years
what about knowing what you want values
you have in going after it and knowing
that like starting a new business can
take three years to even make money or
five years to develop a following that
you need to do whatever you want to do
takes time so these four principles love
are the actionable things that allow you
to allow have allowed me to love myself
and potentially can help you to they’ll
lead you first open to change
cultivate vulnerability in your life and
create an enduring mindset so this is me
looking at myself in the mirror very
intensely what do I want take action
towards love now the last question I
have for you guys is who here thinks
they’re a warrior or could have or could
be one after listening to this okay good
there’s more of you that’s good that’s
very promising but you have to believe
it right do you want to take ownership
for your life can you take that first
step forward of taking ownership of your
life and you’re a freaking warrior so
the miracle of all this is that for me I
could change I could change my path I
could change my mind I can literally
physiologically change the way I wire my
brain I can change my body I changed my
trajectory and I’m still changing it I’m
still tweaking it by no means have I
arrived the madness for me would be not
choosing to change thank you
you
how many of you feel you’re a warrior
raise your hand if you think you’re a
warrior
handful of you okay the other you the
rest of you is probably probably
thinking like lady you’re mad like why
would you ask me that first of all the
prerequisites to be a warrior obviously
to be a badass maybe a military member
maybe a professional athlete maybe a
leader of a company but definitely not
me I couldn’t be a warrior well I’m
going to here I’m here to tell you
you’re wrong being a warrior is not
those things the definition of a warrior
is taking ownership of yourself taking
ownership of your life a adjective for
warrior is resilient a resilient person
someone who’s adaptive to change can
adapt to change so you see that’s a
picture of me in my uniform a picture of
a wounded athlete I work with in the
middle the friend of mine they’re on the
your guys’s right but what they look
like and what they do doesn’t make them
a warrior what makes them a warrior is
how they’ve taken ownership of their
life how we take an ownership of our
life and who we are as humans so
what I want to get into you is my story
here I want to take you back about 12
years so 12 years ago I was 24 years old
and this is about 10 to 12 years ago I
was stationed in Fallujah Iraq and I was
the first lieutenant in the Marine Corps
it was very hot and it was a hot zone we
were it was in 2005 and it was during
the first Iraqi election and my job as
the first lieutenant in the Marine Corps
was to I was a platoon commander so I I
was in charge of 50-plus Marines most of
the mail there’s three women in my
platoon my job out there was to run
supplies to forward operating bases
around Fallujah army marine Navy Delta
Force the works so my job was running
was running supplies as well as finding
landmines through engineers so when we’d
find a landmine we’d call him the
explosive ordnance disposal unit to help
us out the other part of my job was I
was a court for female insurgents so
because I was about twice as large as
most of the female Iraqis and when they
capture a cell if there was a couple
woman in that cell I would be in charge
of taking them back to their village so
that was my night job and then I had a
day job running convoys and sometimes
that would turn in tonight so I was so
very very intense time but very awesome
I was a woman in combat before women
were even acknowledged to be in combat
by Congress but I refuse to sit on the
sidelines
I really wasn’t supposed to be out of
the wire but I refuse to sit on the
sidelines it was one night the night
before the Iraq first Iraqi democratic
election in 2005 which is right before
Thanksgiving for us that I’m getting
ready for a very large convoy
I have over 100 Marines in my command
now my platoon plus a couple others so
Marines I hadn’t worked with and our job
was to go run jersey barriers around
Fallujah city for the first rocky
election and around Fallujah but
Fallujah was kind of a dump at that time
like the roads were scattered with trash
me it was a war zone so the likelihood
of coming across land mines or IEDs was
high but it was at night so a little
more scary very intense I was scared but
I didn’t show it I couldn’t show it I
know all the Marines were probably a
little scared to uh getting ready for
this I to give a big op order that we
give out before any convoy and the OP
order lasted about a half hour because
you have to go through all your
accountability checks and I think I
probably said the f-bomb 40 times when
you’re talking to a bunch of 18 year old
to 22 year old male Marines and some
females you kind of have to use the
language that they use so accentuated my
my um my thoughts so that night though
the irony of what what was happening to
me was it professionally I felt on point
I felt like a badass I was good to go I
was an A+ Marine I could do no wrong I
was ready for more missions like this
but on the inside I was struggling
pretty hard I was 24 years old and right
before I had gone out to do the soft
border and grant ready for this night
mission I had thrown up multiple times
self-induced and this has been a problem
this whole entire deployment ever since
I actually entered the Marine Corps but
it was getting a little bit worse and
50% of my brain that night I couldn’t
stop thinking about the next time I
would self induce vomiting or when I
could exercise the food I’d ate away and
then 50% of my brain was on the mission
you see the irony in that I’m there in
battle I should be focused 100% on this
mission but all I could fifty percent of
my brain was focused on this addiction
that had been created and it was that
night it was kind of a come-to-jesus
moment that I had that I was not okay
this food issue that I tried to brush
off because I didn’t take it seriously
was was a problem I may I could hurt
somebody if I wasn’t completely focused
I could hurt somebody or I could hurt
myself and I have people that love me
and that rely on me and I I can’t
this food issue whatever it is and I
didn’t I didn’t want to acknowledge it
was an eating disorder yet but this food
issue that I had in this exercise
addiction I didn’t I knew it was a
problem and it was much deeper than just
a food issue or an exercise issue it ran
much deeper than that the stem of it
what I learned later on comes from the
soul you your lack of belief in yourself
and Here I am on paper I could do no
wrong I feel like a total badass so that
night after eight hours of running
jersey barriers around Fallujah city
having to stop twice to call an
explosive ordnance disposal unit that
next morning I walked myself into my
company commanders office and I was like
sir I need help I have this issue with
binging and purging and I think I need
some serious help for it and my company
commander is many individuals who don’t
understand what it eating disorder is to
include myself asked well what does he
have a hard time going to the chow hall
eating brownies well no sir like I I use
it as a coping mechanism much like an
alcoholic uses alcohol or drug addict
seeks their drug of choice I think it’s
it’s a problem like it’s something that
I crave and I don’t and it’s not healthy
and I need actual
national help and so at that point so my
company commander then went ahead and
asked me do you want a a desk job we can
send it to cottom and do a desk job or
Ramadi and do a desk job like no I I
don’t a desk job I want actually
professional help like I don’t think
just continuing to work in this
environment is healthy for me I don’t
want to hurt someone else I was at war
with myself and I was already at war and
Iraq too I didn’t need both wars and I
don’t believe the Marines deserve 50% of
my brain when we’re out on him a very
intense mission so from that point on it
was at that moment and I didn’t realize
this until later but that was the moment
I became a warrior I took ownership of
my life I stuck up for myself at that
moment though was when my battle really
began so the irony is that I was in Iraq
but the battle that was the most
difficult was the one that I was about
to face which was coming home being
medevacked home and being looked at as a
failure one moment could do no wrong one
moment of failure one moment of
disappointment a disappointment with an
eating issue I didn’t understand eating
disorders very well I just knew I had a
problem and you this food issue I had
was it appeared like a good addiction
just like an alcoholic and the military
knows what to do with alcoholics when it
comes to an eating disorder or something
different they don’t
it was hard facing the Marine Corps this
this organization I loved and I gave a
lot of my time too it was hard facing
some of my family members who did also
didn’t understand facing society right a
common comment a comment I would get is
have a hard time going out to eat or
what kind of foods are you struggling
with it’s not about the food so it was
it was definitely a long road of
recovery and I’m still in recovery but
again
it was that moment of asking for help
when my warrior journey happened I did
all of these badass things but what
mattered is that I was finally taking
ownership for my life and my health
because my health mattered and so did my
Marines so the first medical
professional I saw coming back from Iraq
was a psychiatrist who fully admitted
like hey I don’t really know much about
eating disorders or what you’re dealing
with but it seems like you have an issue
with taking you know loving yourself and
what I’d recommend is that you get
pregnant because you’ll love your body
then and yourself okay well I have a
boyfriend that’s also not really healthy
we’re not getting married and uh even if
we were like not ready to have a kid and
I don’t believe that’s the way I’m gonna
learn to love myself and what does that
even mean
we’ve never been told like hey you need
to love yourself be gentle with yourself
I’ve been told that so many times got it
okay what does that even mean what is
the action of loving yourself and being
gentle with yourself mean so over the
last 10 to 12 years I’ve developed these
principles in my life that have happened
from mentorship and just trial and error
and realizing that the Western medicine
model of mental health care and even
physical healthcare wasn’t for me so I
was going to find my own way of keeping
myself healthy so the first concept that
came about right when I got out of the
Marine Corps was lead you first so this
is my father who’s sitting looking at a
lake in Pennsylvania and the lead you
first concept so these four principles
I’m gonna talk about the acronym for
them is love so LOV II so the first one
is lead you first my father would always
tell me like Theresa you you can’t
really effectively take care of someone
else unless you can take care of
yourself or he’s ever heard that or you
can’t truly give to the relationship and
tell you can give to yourself I have an
8 week old newborn
I can’t effectively love him take care
of him unless I’m taking care of myself
as a mom too and I wanted to be a damn
good mom so I waited for a while so this
lead you first you know is is
technically can be accumulated into self
care how do you take care of yourself
every day what kind of maintenance on
your body do you do what kind of
maintenance on your mind do you do every
day to keep you healthy for those that
you love your family the people that you
teach people around you so I think it’s
important it’s not a selfish thing to
put yourself first and give yourself
some healthy time each day the second
saying the second principle is open open
to change so for me I had to change the
trajectory of my life so once I asked
for help right I went from this
lieutenant that could do no wrong – all
right we got a you’re going to get out
we’re going to discharge you like we
don’t know what to do with you I had to
change no matter how I felt about that
decision right I did I wasn’t gonna be a
general in the Marine Corps anymore
that’s what I wanted to do like I am now
having to find any path and if I hadn’t
chosen or been open to change I would
not be here standing it here in front of
you so mentally physically I had to
change so mentally I started to do
breath work and meditation I had to seek
out help mental health help which is a
strength it’s not a weakness just like
you do with physical fitness so seeking
a trainer someone who knows about the
body it’s a strength not a weakness but
I didn’t I had to cultivate that
mentality over time I did change my
mindset I just slowed down and asked
myself what do I really want first is
what does my dad want one of my brothers
want what does society want what looks
sexy like what do I want in my life and
I realized I loved fitness and medicine
I wanted
to be that bridge between the two worlds
so hence I became a doctor physical
therapy but I do not do traditional work
in the physical therapy world and I
would never have thought ten years ago
twelve years ago when I left Iraq to now
I’m a physical therapist which took me
five extra years of school because I did
not do anything in undergrad that
remotely looked like science or medicine
and but to this day right now I’m doing
a digital rehabilitation and more work
online with people to help people across
the country across the world and that’s
very freeing for me I realized from this
slowing down that freedom and
flexibility where values that I wanted
in my life and needed and so doing
one-on-one care all the time that wasn’t
it was it’s nice but it’s not freeing
for me I wanted to use my skill set and
my experience to treat people across the
nation and I would never have thought 12
years ago that that was possible but I
was open to the possibility of changing
my life but I had to slow down so the
third principle is cultivating
vulnerability so many of you may have
heard the brené Brown talk on
vulnerability but vulnerability has been
very a very big part of me being able to
be up here and share my story I could
send up here and talk about mobility and
movement and stability and all that cool
stuff but I wanted to share something a
little bit deeper than that why I do
those things four years ago I started a
adaptive strength class which is for
wounded veterans or those with permanent
wounds so it just so happens sending
goes a lot of veterans so I see a lot of
marine and Navy individuals who have
mild traumatic brain injuries or missing
limbs Salvage limbs emotional disorders
such as addictions or have been sexually
traumatized so they’ve come to my class
and been able to share our story in the
beginning a little bit about themselves
and then we train and we sweat together
we build each other up we work on
movement you
a lot of times once you go through rehab
it’s like what’s next how do I like do
the things I love to do if I want to
CrossFit if I want to do a Spartan Race
like my physical therapist or strength
coach didn’t know how to help me get
there that’s what that class was for I
was like all right let’s get you strong
let’s teach you how to move in an
environment that makes you excited and
gets you sweating together and but I
still didn’t share my story until one of
the athletes who is a Special Operations
and radio guy came to see me in my
office my private practice he’s a Navy
SEAL and we spent an hour mostly talking
he was struggling with alcoholism he was
struggling with where it where’s his
tribe he couldn’t go back to meet a Navy
SEAL which he loved and he’s 26 years
old what was he gonna do next
he felt lost all he wanted to do is be a
Navy SEAL and he did that and now he has
a mild traumatic brain injury and he’s
not allowed back on his team so what
does he do next
he was very inspired by the different
approach I took to PT and so I was like
well hey you want to become a physical
therapist this is the route I’d
recommend going it would be awesome
but we need to find a new tribe for you
and that’s kind of what adaptive
strength ended up being for him but he
struggled with alcoholism and I told him
the first time I actually opened up to
one of my athletes like hey I I
struggled with an eating disorder which
is much like what you you’re struggling
with and it was hard I got out of the
Marine Corps and I didn’t have my team
anymore my platoon that was like my
family and I had to find something
different I had to change my life and I
have no one holding my hand to do it so
I’m here to be with you and hold your
hand if you need it because I want to
give people I wanted to give people they
didn’t get but they’re not getting and
and hopefully that that scenario for him
he’s going to pay that forward as well
but that was the first time I actually
shared my story because I was
embarrassed about having an eating
disorder and I’m no longer embarrassed
about it because I know that many many
people struggle on the spectrum of
addiction
and struggle with mental health mental
health shouldn’t be a stigma we should
work on our mental health just like we
work on our physical health but I had to
be vulnerable create an enduring mindset
this is the fourth principle of love
loving yourself so that man on the left
is my father not aerodynamic by any
means okay six four two hundred forty
pounds he’s a Catholic priest uh he was
second vocation Catholic priests so I
lost my mom when I was ten he loved
doing hundred mile bike races loved them
I don’t know why I am NOT an endurance
person but he loved it so but he was the
one that was like a voice in my ear an
angel in my ear all the time like finish
this do this going back to school is
tough I dated guys that were like why
would you went on to school like you’re
thirty like you want to have kids uh not
yet
not ready no uh and my dad was just a
voice in my ear like keep going get your
degree like once you get your degree you
can do many different things create your
own path but just finish but it took
time to get my degree it took time for
me to change my mind to change my mind
it took time for me to develop a strong
meditative meditation practice but he
was a strong voice in my ear this woman
here on the right my friend Lisa MOFA a
former marine lawyer diagnosed with
adrenal cancer four years ago the moment
she was diagnosed was not the moment her
life ended for her it was when she’s
just started to live for four years she
battled this thing very rare cancer she
didn’t give up she lived her life to the
fullest she hung out with the right the
people that loved her she did the things
that she wanted to do she traveled
everywhere
she taught me so much good friend of
mine a part of my adaptive strength
class just passed away this last Friday
an amazing woman and now guardian angel
for many so the enduring mindset
enduring mindset is key
anybody can focus and change for a week
– but what about years and years and
years
what about knowing what you want values
you have in going after it and knowing
that like starting a new business can
take three years to even make money or
five years to develop a following that
you need to do whatever you want to do
takes time so these four principles love
are the actionable things that allow you
to allow have allowed me to love myself
and potentially can help you to they’ll
lead you first open to change
cultivate vulnerability in your life and
create an enduring mindset so this is me
looking at myself in the mirror very
intensely what do I want take action
towards love now the last question I
have for you guys is who here thinks
they’re a warrior or could have or could
be one after listening to this okay good
there’s more of you that’s good that’s
very promising but you have to believe
it right do you want to take ownership
for your life can you take that first
step forward of taking ownership of your
life and you’re a freaking warrior so
the miracle of all this is that for me I
could change I could change my path I
could change my mind I can literally
physiologically change the way I wire my
brain I can change my body I changed my
trajectory and I’m still changing it I’m
still tweaking it by no means have I
arrived the madness for me would be not
choosing to change thank you
you
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