Training the brain

Hello High Heelers

You will all be highly jealous to hear that I was privileged enough to hear Tim Noakes speak to our Exco team last week. For those of you who don’t know who Tim Noakes is, now’s a good time to use that wonderful search engine called Google. We do love Google – and we also love Tim Noakes.

I must say the experience was mind blowing. You know when you’re sitting in a talk or a lecture where you just can’t write or think fast enough to absorb all the wonderfulness that is being shared? That was me. I was scribbling madly trying not to miss a word. Possibly the most poignant learning from the session is that our bodies are actually able to manage a lot more than we think they can. He showed us physiological evidence that the body, and its muscles, can literally handle anything we put our minds to provided we override our brain’s ‘stop’ mechanism and push through the discomfort. (Please note that this is my summation of the learning – Tim Noake’s put it a lot more eloquently!)

The main example he used was of the swimmer, Lewis Gordon Pugh, who swam in the freezing Arctic and Antarctic oceans shattering world records and bearing highly uncomfortable temperatures that literally froze his muscles. Pugh had to push all thoughts of pain and death out of his mind in order to complete these highly challenging (and near impossible feats). But he did it. He made it through alive and showed that he was able to turn off his brain’s warning system in order to complete his record-shattering victories.

Personally, I believe I could be part of Dr. Noakes research as well. I have had many occasions where I have very cleverly pulled on a pair of delicious high heels and realised by ten o’clock in the morning, that I cannot live another second or walk another step for fear of my feet imploding and my life ending. In such shoes, us High Heelers often reach a point where we are impossibly uncomfortable. The bruising has started, blisters have burst and even each thought behind each step hurts (never mind the actual physical motion). It’s completely intolerable. And yet, we keep the heels on, we focus on putting one foot in front of the other and we keep walking – smile on face and hair in place. No one would know the difference unless we went ahead and confessed High Heeled pain.

You know, we are able to override our brain’s warning mechanism and can suffer through fear of ‘death by blisters’ to ensure that we appear cool, calm, collected and professional. And sometimes we need to put out a brave front. Sometimes we’re in so much pain that it feels completely overwhelming.  But in times like that, guess what? We can do it. If we can wear feet-destroying heels and look great doing so, we can actually handle pretty much anything, as we’ve conditioned ourselves to hit the ‘override button’ and to keep on going forward.

So, if you’re having a challenging time this week. Feel it, be in it and sort it out. But at the times when you need to walk ahead, wear your pain discretely and smile. Know that you can. Not only has Tim Noakes proved it, but you’ve proved it to yourself time and time again.

Take control of your mind this week and stand tall no matter what you’re going through. Have a wonderful week!

Cheers,

Jo

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