Unapologetically BOLD: I'm not sorry for....
Being unstoppable with Dr. Theresa Larson
March 1, 2021
When life throws things at you, does it make you stop in your tracks and quit? or do you find ways to persevere and move past these momentary blows? In this session, Dr. Theresa comes with all her HOTness and talks about why she is not sorry for being unstoppable. We discuss past stories that could make many people stop in their tracks but for Dr. T, she pressed into the suck and redirected her course.
When life throws things at you, does it make you stop in your tracks and quit?

or do you find ways to persevere and move past these momentary blows?

In this session, Dr. Theresa comes with all her HOTness and talks about why she is not sorry for being unstoppable.

We discuss past stories that could make many people stop in their tracks but for Dr. T, she pressed into the suck and redirected her course.

About the Guest:
Dr. Theresa Larson aka Dr. T is a wife, mother, Marine Corps veteran, athlete, author of WARRIOR, professional paid speaker on human performance, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and business owner. She is hell-bent on giving individuals and companies (to include military units/families) the health and wellness tools they need to live physically free. Movement Rx's team currently serves: businesses, military units, veterans, adaptive athletes and their families. Because of the needs of who they serve, Movement Rx has become the home of exceptional digital healing programs, that focus on movement, mindset, and nutritional needs that people need in their lives right now during this #newnormal.

Working with Dr. T and her team is like having a Doctor of Physical Therapist, and Movement Coach in your back pocket at all times no matter where you are in the world. Personally, Dr. T has also learned the hard way of what can happen when you do not take care of yourself; now with her team she is giving people what they need and deserve- a high value health care platform at a cost that is jaw dropping that empowers people to take ownership of their health. The secondary benefit of this is productivity increases, morale increases, and musculoskeletal health costs decrease.

To Dr. T, TIME is the most precious commodity we have, so she don't want to waste yours, and she doesn't want to waste hers. A few of Dr. T's favorite things to do besides running Movement Rx alongside her husband Per Larson, is spend quality time with her two sons- Magnus and Aksel, and stay active- skateboarding, snowboarding, running, climbing mountains, lifting, pushing sleds, reading, listening to music, being around close friends, and being quiet.

[00:00:00] spk_0: show is brought to you by Safety FM. Welcome to unapologetically bold. I'm not sorry for If you're a person that is tired of apologizing for being you, you know the human part of you that sometimes feels like it has to be different at home versus work versus play. The human side that just wants to be hot, humble, open and transparent about your wants, desires and uniqueness. If you answered yes, this is for you. Join me, Emily Elrod as I dive into conversations with amazing guests about what you're not sorry for And creative and loving ways Let's get started. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another unapologetically bold I'm not sorry for. And I am blessed beyond measure today to have one of my good friends Dr T with me. Thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:01:02] spk_1: I'm excited. Emily, this is awesome.

[00:01:04] spk_0: This is gonna be such a fun conversation because the work that you do is it's just so impacting too. And also your life. And every time I talk to you, I learned something new. I learned that you were an author the other day. I'm like, but you're so humble, and I think It's really cool how it flows into what you're not sorry for. But before we get into that, tell people a little bit about yourself and who you are.

[00:01:32] spk_1: Sure, well, I am broadcasting this from sunny San Diego right now. I would like to throw that in there. Just like Anchorman. You'll find that kind of funny. Uh, so my name is Teresa Larson. I am a the roles I play. I am a physical therapist. I got my doctor in physical therapy. I'm a mom of two beautiful boys, Magnus, who's three, and Axel, who's five months old. We are a Scandinavian family, so I'm the shortest in my family at 61 So just put a picture that we are large family. Um, so I, uh, I am a wife to pair who is a Swedish Dutch man. We run a business called Movement Rx. This is one of our logos, but it's a human performance business that is, uh, in the corporate world. We bring movement and mindfulness to the corporate world as well as we work in the defence space with military units, uh, and a little bit in the fitness industry as well in terms of adapting movement. Those who have had permanent injuries, we work with them to by their new normal. Uh, and we actually are in this new normal right now, which is we're all learning to adapt. So adapting as part of our d n a

[00:02:48] spk_0: a man does that one

[00:02:50] spk_1: love to travel love to be quiet, which I don't get much of these days with the baby. But, um, I like to be quiet and be creative.

[00:03:01] spk_0: That's so awesome. And I think it flows into our thing about what you're not sorry for, because I think some of those things might be a enhancer to why you can be what you say you're not sorry for. So the show is called Unapologetically Build. What are you no longer apologizing for?

[00:03:21] spk_1: So I'm not sorry for being an unstoppable human. I have always been someone that goes after what I want and even what scares me like being a Marine officer scared me to be able to go into that kind of environment. But I did it anyway. Writing a memoir at the age of 33 scared me, but I did it anyway. And there was backlash from it. Right? There is backlash from things I wrote about people I wrote about in the book. Um, but I'm not sorry for that. Um, yes. There are other people that were part of my story. However, it's a story. I wrote a story about my life, and I'm not sorry for helping so many people. I'm not sorry for opening up about my addiction help other people opening up about theirs. Uh, you know, in business to as a business owner and a businesswoman, I've had to let people go. I had to fire people. I've had to let people go ahead and buy out of business partner, um, years ago. And I'm not sorry for that because they taught me so much more about what I didn't want. And now I know what I do want. And I have a wonderful team, um, and a wonderful teaming partner and doing the work I love. So, yeah, there's a there's a good start to it. We could go.

[00:04:47] spk_0: We got a lot of you know, you got a lot of directions there. I think the thing that I hear too, is that part of being unstoppable is using your momentum. You're not sorry for using your momentum and taking your failures or your setbacks. And using that because I said this to somebody is actually another podcast is some people take their mess and make it a bigger mess at times where others can take their mess and making a message and do something with it. And for me, this upcoming year, it's really like inspired Humanity is something that's really, like hit home that saying that quote And that's what I see from you is that you you're inspired by the humanity because you're going to face it.

[00:05:32] spk_1: Yes, well, that's that's the thing is I You know, whatever I put out in the world to whatever I want to put out in the world, the goal of it. The whole vision I have is to for to help people, to serve people, to help other people open up, right? Like, really, all we have in life is right now, like right now, is it right? Between you and me are talking and what's going on right here with us is our life right now, what our kids are doing, I'm not around them at the moment But, um, I want to bring my best self to this moment. And in order to be able to do that, I have to own you know, the fact that I have a past to which our memories, those are memories, things that happened. And it's better to look at the facts of what happened. And if the stories aren't that great, like grief, we tell, tell ourselves a lot of stories based on what has happened and you know whether it's so, I struggle with an addiction. That's the fact. It doesn't say anything about me. It says I struggle with an addiction and I can create the life I want. Like it doesn't own me. I'm not defined by that right? And, you know, even in the future, the future is there like it's there. But we can't actually touch it. Um, and that's going to happen. So what do I want to make my future to be? I don't have to let the past dictate my future, Uh, and so you know, when I put things out there in the world, I do it in the most authentic way, and it may or may not come across you know, writing a book like there's a readers that are like, Wow, this is a bunch of bs And there are the people that, like this is amazing. Everyone has their own filter they're coming into and looking at what you put out there. And the best thing is to own your filter like know what stories and what are facts and regardless of what people say or do like be, you own the dark and the light parts of you and go and bring that to the table. And there are going to be people that like it that don't like it, um, that agree with you that don't agree with you. But don't let that stop you from being you. And it didn't believe me. It doesn't come without heartache like it's still sometimes when people are like that's a bunch of Bs like Why would you do that? Or, you know, buying out a former business partner years ago. It's hard like it needed ending a friendship. Really. It doesn't mean we don't support each other, but it meant kind of ending a friendship. However, in order for us to each grow, that had to happen and I wish him the best. He wishes me the best, and now we can actually grow.

[00:08:17] spk_0: It's so powerful because there's again. There's so many things that can go with that because what I hear is the ability and you're even in on the class with me that I did with Davidson. It's all about owning yourself and and not letting. The emotions are not bad, and emotions are neutral like but not letting them take you over to the point where you are stopped. You can't move, you can't. You can't push past. You can't continue the work that needs to be done because I've seen so many people like entrepreneurs. Like, I was blessed to get to live with my father, being an entrepreneur and seeing how much suck there really is, like you probably have way more stuck than you actually have the awesomeness, but to see what happens on the end and how much of a generational effect that could be. But how easily you could be stopped

[00:09:14] spk_1: so easily. Yes, I mean, look at the amount of self help books out there. Really. I mean, and I'm a big advocate of a lot of the like the go getter books out there in the self help books because it just kind of especially not all of them. But some of them really reinforced. Um, just owning you. And that does come with the ups and the downs. And it's I think it's really important to learn to ride the waves. I call him waves, like surfing the waves of the ups and downs because, yeah, I mean, you have I Also my father was an entrepreneur to, you know, to be honest, Emily, like I he actually started his own business When my mom got sick with breast cancer so he could be home with her and then he would work nights, um, and run, do his work at night and then come home and be with us and be with her. And, you know, she passed away and he continued the work because he could then, you know, support us going to school, but also be home more with us. That entrepreneur life was really hard, but it allowed him the freedom to be home with us. And and you know, I'm not working nights necessarily like he did. And I'm not a single parent. Thank goodness that is a different. You know, there are a lot of single parents out there. It's very hard. And but being an entrepreneur in the midst of that, like he inspired me to, just he was an unstoppable human. He went after what he wanted. He created a business. Then he became a Catholic priest, went through four years of essentially getting a PhD in church. I don't know what you got, you know, being a second location, Catholic priest, a wife that's widowed. He could do that. He did that at the age of 58 became a Catholic priest and ran a church essentially for 10 years and then, you know, passed away riding a bike, doing what he loved, and it's the hard and heartbreaking. But he did what he wanted, like nothing stopped him. And I have. That is like an image and as a as a role model, and, um and he would always say, like, you know, you get near mud, Paul, that you get dirty. You you know the past is the past. You brush it off, get back up. And that's just kind of how I was raised,

[00:11:31] spk_0: and it's so powerful, too. And I'll say that like you, like, been blessed to have that family aspect in it, to be able to see what it was or have that inspiration. But even if you didn't have that, there's still things that you can know that you don't have to be stopped. Like if it's a passion. If it's something that like you want to do every day and you would do it even for free, I would try to find ways to explore it. So that makes me wonder about you. Like, when did you first feel stopped? And then you're like, I'm not good. Now. I'm not doing that at all.

[00:12:09] spk_1: Oh, gosh. Well, I've been stopped many times. Um, so, you know, I think in terms of I was stopped in the Marine Corps because I had an addiction. Um, I had an eating disorder, and you know that that stopped me from doing the work I stopped. I stopped myself doing my my leadership work in the Marine Corps because I had an addiction and I asked for help. Um, but ultimately, by asking for help, but very much unraveled this. What do I want. What do I need in my life? And it really brought me to where I am today. So But the first time I was the disease stopped me from being Santa Marine, right? Like I. But I like volunteer. Told myself to get help and do the things I needed to do to get healthy. Because other people around me were saying, You're killing yourself, Teresa. Like, do something. Uh, but, you know, I would say, is recently to those who are entrepreneurs out there who want to be or just, you know, want to be the your badass self, like your best self. Um, you know, something that stopped me was I got in a PT school. I graduated PT school. It took got my doctor. It took about three years, plus the prereqs about five years total to do prerequisites, NPT school. And then I started right into a business. Um, I worked business right away. I worked in a PT practice that was pretty traditional, supposedly sports performance. But, you know, unfortunately, the traditional PT world, the sports performance clientele can be few and far between, um and I about I would say, six months in. I just I found myself crying every day going to work like I was crying, going to work. I don't have Children yet or anything like that, but, um, my husband, my my husband and I my fiancee at the time we're getting married. We were going to get married, and, um, it just was like Like what? I just remember looking literally was like working on patients and looking out the window like this is really my life, you know, like, really, I'm making myself really sad at work. It just like it was kind of like out of a movie where it's just like the wallpapered walls. And here's my boss. That's saying the T. P s reports I felt like it was out of office, but it's actually like That's what I felt like my first job in PTSD. My boss was like, What are you two doing that person to Doug Lift? Well, that person is going to lift jersey barriers. They have a risk issue, but they need to learn how to dead lift, right? Like it's so weird in the P t world, where you just a lot of times you're just supposed to focus on that joint when you know that joint attached to other things. And if the person doesn't learn how to do these certain lifts and they're just going to continue hurting this plus other things. But I remember my boss being like, Why did you take that person to dead lift when they have a risk issue and like, well, they need to learn at a dead lift because they're lifting jersey barriers and, yeah, the risks, an issue with their low back is gonna be an issue, too. And it was this moment of, like, kind of f my life like this sucks. Like I I cannot believe that I am working in this environment and I, like, went home and cried, and I felt very stuck like I felt very stuck and, um, my husband and And it kind of felt like, Is this going to be my life? Like, did I really get my like, my doctorate to do this and be talked? You know, my boss was being my boss. I was just being him. But am I gonna, like, be stuck my whole life and it took my husband saying like No, you Why don't you just, like, think about what you would do if you created your own thing. What would that be like? And it took me a little bit, you know, it took me months. Um, I was like, I I think I need to do that. Like I need to do something. Because this whatever I am doing right now is just not working. You crying every day and you feeling like I'm going crazy, isn't isn't working. And so what I did was I just I put in my two week notice, Um, right before I went on my honeymoon or got married went on my honeymoon, and that wasn't well received. But, you know, again, it's like, this is my life. I need to go and do what I need to do. And over our honeymoon, my husband I figured out what I would do for my work. And here we are, So But it was It was this, like, six month long like OMG. This is my life, like, what am I doing? And I can't cry. I don't want to keep crying like this every day.

[00:17:01] spk_0: And I think it's important that you noticed that because I have. Whenever I started my own business, somebody like, Oh, that's so scary. I don't know how you how you could do that, but I need my health at the time was I'm a people pleaser like I'm trying to recover from it. Still suck at it. Um, but it was just the fact that I continually just with so much stress and wanting to perform. But then I felt held back and I couldn't do things. It was just so much, and I stepped out, and what they said to me is like, That's scary. They knew they hated their job, but they'd rather stay in that comfort that they had a perceived happy bubble, even though they were stuck, then moving forward. So that's my next question for you is what invitation would you give to people that are feeling stuck and the power of becoming unstoppable or getting unstoppable? I guess we'll say that to what? What? What's the power of that of moving forward and taking that momentum?

[00:18:05] spk_1: Mhm. Uh, well, it's It's a choice, right to follow by an action like people, it's, um as there's it's all too common that people want change. They want it. They have all these ideas, but they never take the action to do it. And so it's just like on a smaller scale, like if you're making a big change, like finding a different job or starting your own business. But it can be as small as like trying to get fit. People talk so much about it. They read all the books and they get all the cookbooks, but they never actually consistently stick with any type of routine. And so my suggestion is just it's action, right? Just start doing something. Whether you want to start a business, look into how and what? What do you wake up thinking about? Look into, like, physically start to look into how to do it? And then, you know, if it's getting fit, get some new shoes, get some new clothes, like actually go out for a walk, go out for a run. You know, so many people wait for motivation to do something, and as we know, if you're gonna wait for motivation, you're gonna wait your whole life. So start getting that dopamine fixed by actually doing something, and then that dopamine fix will come that motivation will come. And I think that's literally, you know, my back was to the wall. I'll say that when I was when I was in the clinic, you know, one in the Marine Corps. My back was to the wall because I was hurting myself and I didn't want to hurt others. But then in my back was to the wall again with, like, half of my life, like I don't want to live like that. Like living like Well, hopefully it changes someday isn't the way I want to live. I want to enjoy my life now, and I can create that. But it's not easy, like any path, like creating your own path. Getting healthy isn't easy. It's like you kind of I love the burn a brown concept of in the arena. Or think of it on the field. Living your life in the arena means there's gonna be people throwing stuff at you and there's It's hard and I'm laid face up in the arena many times. But at least I know I'm living. At least I know I'm going after it and I'm not in the stands criticizing others for putting themselves out there or saying I think there's this book actually said it very well of the dark side of Light Chaser's, which is I'm reading, I'm just finishing it now by Debbie Ford. And she talks about going to this seminar and this, really, you know, professional man was giving a seminar and he was really, like in a nice suit on and he he had all together, and he was trying to inspire others to create change in their life, right to be unstoppable. Essentially. And you know, Debbie, I went home with her friend and she's like, So how do you like the seminar? And her friend was like, Yeah, the guy kind of sucks like he's such a loser. Like, why would he be up there like he acts like he has it all together? And she's like, Well, look at his background like Look what he look who he is, what he's doing. He's in front of hundreds of people sharing how they can be unstoppable in their life, and she's like, and kind of look at you like you're you don't have a job, you don't. You complain about everything. You're overweight, right? All like just look at your life like, be realistic. Like, who are you calling a loser here? Like and it's not to be. It's like just take a hard look at your life. Like, what do you want? Where are you versus where do you want to go and start to take action to create that, get fit, find a new job, Start looking. Um, do what it takes to create the life you want right now it just starts, you know, just taking action.

[00:21:45] spk_0: Yeah, And it's the part of caring for yourself so you can care for others.

[00:21:49] spk_1: Yes.

[00:21:49] spk_0: And if you if you want to be unstoppable first you have to take that part and look at your inner self like what's still in your energy. What, stealing your joy, What's stressing you out? And if you don't deal with that stress, then you can't get to that next level or you can. But it's gonna be very difficult, and there's gonna be barriers in the way in my observation. And

[00:22:12] spk_1: so to talk about stress, though, stress can be a story very much. And so that's just something I think that you know, people can say right now, there's too much stress in my life. Well, so just start to look at the facts versus the stories you tell yourself, Look at the facts of what's going on, right? And be honest about what you can control what you can't control and start to look at this. So those facts are, you know, we're in a pandemic. Um, you work so many hours a day, you have two Children or whatever it is. And what are the stories that you're telling yourself? The world sucks. My relationship sucks or my job sucks. Well, that's a story like what is actually like, know that you can change that story, right? You can change it. So I think that's a really good distinction. There is that we can say stress as an excuse, but start to define, like, really, what are the areas that are creating more havoc in your life? Look at the facts of those and start to pick away at those versus like everything is just so overwhelming in my life. I can't do anything because it's too stressful. That's not true.

[00:23:15] spk_0: And I think that's important. And that's what we talk about is turning your stress into the strategy because stress is really just awareness. It's really hot and awareness that there's something you need to address, and my favorite thing is to kill the ants, and that's automatic negative thoughts is basically what you're talking about is put the facts to it, and I do this a lot with my husband because I can get really mad at him. Uh, doing is that he doesn't love me or that he doesn't appreciate me. But yet he writes me notes every day, and he knows it's my love language, you know, like So what are the actual facts, or am I throwing a pity party? And I think that's the part that really comes to. It is a lot of times we can go. Woe is me and we we can stop ourselves by doing that. And I also want to say there are times that you you need to you need to grieve. You need to grab what you need. You need agree, but don't let it stop you from your blessings that you can receive in life. So I think it's so important and I'm just I love you know I love you. I think you're so awesome. And I'm so blessed that you came on today. Um, so, Final Two part question. Yeah, people are apologizing. They're saying I'm sorry for being unstoppable because you might start comparing me to you or or they may. They may feel like it's just something that isn't Is it something they want to talk about? They like being unstoppable, and they know they're doing the work, but they're going to keep it to themselves. So what would you say to people that are apologizing for being unstoppable?

[00:24:51] spk_1: Uh, just literally. Whatever it takes to remind yourself to be to not apologize is the key. Like, write it down every day, Um, maybe even, like, have a rubber band around your wrist, Right? And every time you think about saying it to snap it, Uh, but, you know, maybe the cognitive behavioral therapy approach to it is like when you start to start to want to want to apologize. Who are you doing that for? Right, so you usually you want to please others. You don't want people to feel bad about what's going on in their life. And just remember, this is this is about you in your life. You're putting it out there to affect others. And remember your why people aren't going to like everything you say. And so just remember that when you say when you apologize, you usually it's because you're trying to please others when really the most important thing is, Are you pleasing yourself? And are you putting out there authentically what you want in the world? And so do whatever it takes, the rubber band snapping, clicking the fingers, writing it down or just taking a pause, mhm and moving forward like the pause is A is a lot of power. There's a lot of power in the pause.

[00:26:09] spk_0: There is a lot of power in the pause, and I'm going to tell you all of the things that I do nine times out of 10. A pause is probably one of the number one actions that people talk about, and there is so much power, the power and pause and power and gratitude. Those are the two things that I really think do so with that. The second part of that final question is people want to reach out to you. They want to get to know you more or want to just learn more about what you do. How can they find you?

[00:26:38] spk_1: Well, uh, so my company's website is a good start Movement dash Rx dot com. Um, I am on LinkedIn. Dr. Teresa Larson, D P T. S. You can check me out there. I'm on Instagram, too. And And Facebook. Um, so move either movement Rx or Dr Teresa Larson.

[00:27:00] spk_0: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. And thank you for all that will be listening in. You'll have an amazing

[00:27:06] spk_1: thank you, Emily. You're awesome.

[00:27:10] spk_0: Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of unapologetically bold. I'm not sorry for if this test shoot anyway, please, like and subscribe and share with your friends as we continue the message of being unapologetically bold by being hot. Humans who are humble, open and transparent. See you next time