It is Called Hope

Categories: Uncategorized Dec 11, 2013

We often get letters and stories from people all over the world (no joke) explaining how Original Strength has helped them. Some of the stories are just awesome. Stories like "my low back doesn't hurt anymore!", and "I can now get up and down off the floor without needing someone else's help." Other stories are more heart touching, like this one:

"Hey guys,

I'm sure you get a lot of these, but I just wanted to send you an encouraging message about one of my clients. She is an 87 year old lady who is trying to walk again. The only way she can is by leaning heavily on a walker.

However, at 87, a lot of things are starting to go. She has a hard time writing, gets confused easily and frustrated. I ask her how her week is and she doesn't usually have anything positive to say because she is aware of everything she is losing.

We have been doing cross crawling in a chair for a while and this week she finally had something positive to say. She said that any time she gets frustrated, can't get out of her chair, can't write properly, or just gets confused, she does her knee taps and is able to do whatever it was she was doing. For her, this is life changing. She cried because of how thankful she was to be able to do normal things again. It is giving her hope that she will walk better. And that hope can do powerful things for the brain. So thank you.

These small little things make everything we do worth it. Dorothy is one of those clients that can change your life. What capabilities we have to move are precious, and she shows us this. While most of us in the strength world continue to look for things to increase our rep max, or that little cue that will help us better our performance, Dorothy uses them to tie her shoes on her own, remember a phone number, or to pick her feet up to walk. I apologize for such a long message, but I guess I just wanted to drive home the point that your message is worth more than its capabilities to reach out to the strength community, and that I hope someday you will be able expand that reach to more than just us." - Makayla Ann Whitney

Makayla, if you are reading this, Thank you.

Does this story not melt your heart? Dorothy is realizing hope. Her hope of a better life, through better movement, is not only possible, it is happening - even at 87 years young.

I'll be very honest. Original Strength was born out of my own frustration and irritation with my own body. At 35 years old, I felt like I was chasing my tail trying to rid myself of nagging "issues". I believed I was supposed to be resilient, but I sure didn't feel very resilient. One night, a prayer of desperation turned into an answer of blessing and hope, but not just for me.

I had no way of knowing how powerful the resets would be, how powerful they are. I had no way of knowing how much hope they would grow in others. And that is where the real power is: In Hope.

You want to see something powerful? Look at this video:
https://youtu.be/vwIQ1sJFYSM

This is Jacob. He is a 17 year old warrior with cerebral palsy. Jacob's parents were told, by his physical therapist, that he would never get any better. His PT was wrong. Jacob is now doing things that are nothing short of amazing. He is rolling, crawling, and laughing. He is now able to do things for himself that he needed his parents to do before. Do you know what Jacob has that his PT did not have? Hope. Jacob and his parents have hope.



ALL of us were meant to be resilient. ALL of us were made to move. ALL of us should be as strong as we were made to be, especially as strong as we want to be. AND, ALL of us know someone we want to help. Maybe a parent who doesn't move as well as they used to, or maybe a friend whom you are watching literally "limp" through life. I can tell you this without hesitation: There is Hope for them, for you. Teach someone how to "press reset", teach someone how to reclaim their Original Strength. Give them hope.

---