Stroke Survivor Bootcamp with Dr. Phil: "Consistency is the Key to Living"

In this episode of "Stroke Survivor Bootcamp", Dr. Philip Lamoreaux, OTD, OTR/L, CPT, talks about how consistency is the key when it comes to stroke recovery.

NOTE: Be sure to check out some of the helpful worksheets that can be accessed by clicking here, or by going to www.StrokeSurvivorBootcamp.com.

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Hosted by Dr. Philip Lamoreaux, OTD, OTR/L, CPT, Stroke Survivor Bootcamp is a practical, hope-forward podcast for stroke survivors and caregivers, built to help you understand what’s happening, ask the right questions, and take back control one step at a time. Each episode blends real-world hospital and rehab guidance with clear, compassionate coaching so you can turn fear into a plan and progress into momentum.

For more information on signing up for a one-on-one Stroke Survivor Bootcamp session with Dr. Phil, just go to www.StrokeSurvivorBootcamp.com

Created & Produced by Christopher Ewing
Hang On to the Dream Foundation

Written by Dr. Philip Lamoreaux, OTD, OTR/L, CPT

Listen each week to the Stroke Survivor Bootcamp podcast with Dr. Phil, the OT Professor, where he will share with you practical tools, real stories, and the mindset to keep moving forward on your road to recovery! 

If you are a stroke survivor, sign up for one of Dr. Phil's Stroke Survivor Bootcamp sessions.  These sessions are proven to help stroke survivors regain more mobility following a stroke.  Just go to www.strokesurvivorbootcamp.com for more information.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:26

One of the most miraculous things that I get to witness in a boot camp is what happens when someone gets pushed outside of their own boundaries. Now, not recklessly or randomly, and not just harder for the sake of going harder, but with skill, safety, intentionality, and with enough challenge that the body, the brain, and the person are forced to respond differently and adapt. And when that happens, something actually shifts. Someone walks farther than they thought they could, someone climbs stairs that they've avoided for multiple years, someone moves faster than they actually believed was safe. And in that moment, you can see it in their face. The ceiling that they were living under and that they thought existed was never actually a ceiling. And that moment is so amazing. And I'm not gonna minimize that moment, and I'm not going to call it hype. But here is the thing. That moment is what we call proof. And what you do with the proof is the whole ball game. So today we're talking about the least glamorous but most important word in recovery. And that word is consistency. The comments expressed in this program are the personal opinions of the participants and not meant to diagnose or treat any medical condition that you may have. Please consult your doctor or healthcare professional before making any changes to your current medical routine. I'm Dr. Phil, a licensed occupational therapist and certified personal trainer with over 10 years of experience working with stroke survivors, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury in the inpatient neurorehab setting. I teach at UNLV and I spend a majority of my time focusing on stroke survivor recovery and helping individuals regain their life after stroke. And all that it takes is just one step at a time. Now, if you're interested in doing a boot camp, what I need you to do is go to www.stroke survivorbootcamp.com and fill out a request form. From there, I will get in contact with you and we will get started on the process of having this moment that I just talked about where really you get to see what you are actually capable of. Because unfortunately, the way that therapy is currently done, everybody likes to keep you in a box. They like to put a ceiling on your potential and where you can go. And then you stay within that and you don't actually realize how far you can go. Now, that is not every single case. So there are many individuals out there who do give great therapy that actually help you see more of your potential. The thing that I keep running into is that that is not always the case, which is why this podcast actually exists. I do this because I want to make sure that you survivors and care partners are educated on what is necessary and what you're actually capable of, because it's really hard to find good information and good opportunities. And if you're worried about, well, I can't I can't make it to you or I can't go somewhere, I also come to you. So go to www.stroke survivorbootcamp.com and fill out a request form and let's just chat about it and let's get started. Okay, so let me tell you what I actually mean when I say someone gets pushed outside of their comfort zone, because this is the focus of what today's podcast is going to be all about. So every individual that is living on this earth right now lives inside of a self-made uh house. Think about it like a house. But it is something that actually feels real, like very real. And it's really the system that you have put in place or that every person has put in place that keeps you functioning at the level that you're currently functioning at right now. To you know, usually it's done in a way to protect yourself from something happening that you know you're not prepared for. And so every single person lives in a self-made, uh, self-made home that uh very rarely grows once it's built. And the the whole focus, like I said, you know, that it's built out of what you believe you can do, it's built out of what your family believes you can do, it's built out of what therapy has actually exposed you to. It's built out of what your environment actually demands from you day to day. And it's built out of what your nervous system has been asked to tolerate. And I think probably the most powerful thing that is built out of is what your identity has adapted to be, especially since after stroke. So here's the line that I want you guys to sit with. Sometimes people do not need a new body before they change, although that'd be really nice. What they need is a new demand placed on the body that you already have. Now, that is something that can happen or that can be applied to not just stroke survivors, but to everybody. If I, you know, Dr. Phil, want to increase my ability, I have to allow a new demand to be placed on my body so that my body can adapt. If I want to get stronger, I want, I want bigger muscles, I want better definition. Well, I need to be putting my body through something that makes it so that it's actually willing to adapt and become stronger, bigger, more defined. And this is what a good boot camp actually does, or a good a good therapist, in my opinion, is that the good therapist or boot camp, I'm not gonna hand you a new body. Uh, I wish I could, but I can't. And then what I do is I place your body and you in a new demand, in a way that you haven't had your body have to rise to that occasion with. And I have you spent a lot of time at that new demand, and then the body is going to adapt. But the way that I place that demand on you is going to be something that makes you go outside of the structure that you have currently built and that you are living in. So I wanted to take a moment here and I wanted to kind of outline and describe what uh your current structure, your current house that you've built in your mind, what that's actually made up. So, you know, I want to make it concrete, and mainly because this can sound very abstract and hard to hard to see. And so the thing that I want you to recognize is that this is an invisible system that nobody can see. Now they can see the they can see the behaviors that are associated with it, right? So they can see that if I have built my house to prevent me from trying to run, well, they will see that I don't ever try to run. And so it's it's going to show up in a lot of different ways. And one way is it's going to be showing up in certain sentences. But I wanted to focus on a couple of different categories, different areas. So there's physical structure. There, you know, the physical structure, if we're looking at it from the side, you know, from the perspective of or an analogy, right? Of a house that we've built, um, there's a part of it that is physical. There's a part of it that's emotional, there's a family part of it, there's a therapy part of it, there's an identity part of it, and then there's an environmental part of it. Now, physical will show up in ways of like, this is as far as I can walk, or I can't do that. It usually is something that is relating to what you physically can or can't do. And it usually comes up when somebody challenges you to do something and you go, Well, I don't think I can do that. That's a physical structure that you have built, or part of the building that you've built in your mind. Then there's emotional structure. And this is gonna sound like I'm scared to do that, or I'm worried, or what if I, what if I, what if I, what if I fall? What if I do things? Or what if I what if I uh make a mistake? That's gonna be your emotional structure. Now, sometimes, and and generally, there's a family structure. Family structure is gonna be, you know, oftentimes, you know, not to not to to state this in a in a negative way, but um you know, care partners will put a family structure on you. And it's gonna be that, you know, as the family member, I don't think you should do this, or I don't think you can. And that is something that can be very, very uh, very hard, but uh is is definitely a piece of the puzzle. Then there's a therapy structure, and this is gonna be one that everybody should relate to in one way or another. And that is that you know, things like don't try this without me. Um, don't, you know, we're we're gonna do this because this is where you're safe. Um, don't try to walk without a walker. You know, those types of things. Now, sometimes that's warranted because really, if you did try to walk without a walker, it would possibly be a really negative outcome. But it's still a barrier, it's still a structure. It's part of this house that's been built. Now, there's the identity structure, which sounds a lot like I'm not that person anymore. Or maybe you used to play basketball all the time, and now you don't. And so playing basketball, you know, just isn't something that you feel like is something you are actually capable of. And you look at it and you go, I just I'm not that individual anymore. And then lastly, is what we call the environmental structure. And this is gonna sound a lot like avoidance. And it sounds like I stay away from stairs, crowds, uneven ground, speed, or anything that makes me tired. I stay away from an environment that pushes me to a limit. And that is that's really, really difficult to uh to to follow um or to experience because you really feel those things, but usually it has to be you're trying to stay away from some part, and that's gonna be the environmental structure. And guys, I I hear what you I want you to hear what I'm saying. Now, a boot camp, something that I go and I do, it's not just something that's gonna challenge physically or emotionally, it's not gonna just challenge your family structure that you've built, or your therapy structure, or your identity structure, or just your environment structure. Guys, a boot camp is going to challenge the entire structure at the same time. And what that does is it changes, changes the structure, and it shows you that hey, you actually can build on so many rooms, and you can make this mansion as big as you want it to be, but that is gonna be up to you. So, one of the things that I've noticed when I've done these boot camps and I've increased the demand on an individual's self-made structure is that there's actually quite a bit of change that happens to the individual. So I want to talk about why this change actually looks like it's so miraculous. And it looks miraculous because a boot camp is going to compress or put together the actual ingredients that are needed for adaptation in just a short time. And it's a very intense window. So it's going to bring together all of these ingredients that are needed to change the structure, the house that you have, at least to see that you can actually change it from what it currently is. And really, you get real-time skilled handling from an individual who knows how to progress and how to protect. And you get emotionally meaningful tasks, not just abstract exercises. You get immediate feedback, you get far less avoidance because avoidance is not really on the menu. Guys, avoidance is going to make it so that you stay in the house that you currently have built. And you get the care partner in the room watching what is actually possible, family, friends. And underneath it all, you get to build and create a different story about what you can do. So when someone walks farther than they thought they could, or climbs stairs that they've avoided for years, they move faster than what they believe was safe or even possible, or tolerates intensity that they were never asked to tolerate before one of these moments with me and with a boot camp, with anybody else that works with me. That moment, that experience, is amazing. And I don't want to minimize that. You know, what that what that actually means. But I don't want to call it hype. It's it's not it's not a hype moment. And I don't want to act like it's just temporary motivation, although that may be something that somebody could experience. And it could come across as somebody just gets motive motivated just for a moment, and then it kind of dies down. Because the reality is when you get into one of these life-changing moments where you actually see that the house that you've built can grow, it feels amazing. It's huge, it's like this, it's like a huge um you know, light that uh shines on you when you've been in the darkness. And you know, uh it feels amazing. The moment can sometimes feel very sacred, it can feel very life-changing. And it's really, if we think about it, it's because this house that somebody has built in their mind, the house actually changes. And the floor plans that you thought you had to live with actually change. You find out, oh my goodness, I could actually build a pickleball court attached to my house if I wanted. It just it's up to me. And that is one of the coolest things that really comes from this experience. So I'm gonna say this very clearly. Boot camps don't fake change. Boot camps reveal change that the old structure couldn't access. Let me repeat that. A boot camp isn't faking change. A boot camp reveals change that the old structure couldn't access. Or essentially, a boot camp isn't just talking about building a new house or a new, you know, new set of imaginary boundaries. It actually shows you what it can look like and that it is possible. It can come across as a high, but the way I like to look at it is it's actually a reveal. Now, here is where I have to tell you the hard part. This is the part that really this entire episode is built around. And the reason I have to tell it to you is because I love what I do so much, and I think this is a piece that people just they don't want this to be the truth. And and I'm not just talking about stroke survivors or or care partners, I'm talking about every single human being for the most part in this entire world does not want what I'm about to share to be what is reality, including yours truly, myself. It's something I've been thinking a lot about with my own progression and my own journey in trying to bring this stuff to you guys. There's these big, big revealing moments where I see the future of what this can potentially be. But that miracle, that moment, it is just revealing the capacity of what I can do. And much like a boot camp, oftentimes, I am just revealing your capacity, and then I want to do the best that I can to set up a an uh plan, an environment, a strategy so you can keep progressing after I'm not there. But there is a gap. And I'm gonna I'm gonna show you the gap specifically with boot camps. So when I work with someone, they have this massive amount of motive motivation, right? They've paid me money, they've you know, they have people watching them, you know, if there's a if there's a live, um, there's family members that are cheering them on, other stroke survivors. Man, I there is not a more motivating situation that exists right now than that. And you may walk farther, you can climb stairs, you climb way more stairs than you thought you would ever have to do, in many cases. Just come to St. George and you'll find out. Um you may move faster, your care partner may finally see possibility. But let me tell you what the next step is after the boot camp. You then have a choice at times to walk to go get the mail. When nobody is watching, when nobody is cheering, you have the opportunity to walk to go get your coffee in the morning. You have the opportunity to walk down the street and back up. And nobody is watching. Not one person. Nobody's giving you reinforcement. Nobody's saying, oh my goodness, you're building your house and it looks so amazing. You may have the opportunity to use an escalator or the stairs. You may have a room upstairs that you are now capable of going up, but you have a pretty nice setup downstairs. Nobody's watching you. Nobody is really checking up on you. And it's not glamorous. As a care partner, you know, you watched you watched me not rescue your loved one. Push them to do something. And now, when nobody else is watching, do you rescue? Do you rescue too early? It's a really tough thing. But do you see the do you see the commonality between these? Between all of these. You experienced something amazing and it was in a hyped-up environment and it was just it was so incredible. But then there's that moment after that you are the one that then has to make that choice because you, you, nobody else, you want to see that change. Guys, I will tell you right now, that is one of the most difficult things about bringing this to you. When I get the opportunity to come and work with somebody for the first time, and I get to put it on a live, and from there, I have thousands of people that stop through and they watch this incredible experience. But then, interesting thing happens. What happens, or I go and I see and work with somebody, and there is no TikTok live. Nobody gets to see it. Nobody gets to experience this incredible journey except the individual. And oftentimes I sit there and I go, Am I actually making a big enough difference? Am I actually fulfilling the capacity of what I've been able to see of what I can do? And then there's the motivation of, do I actually even want to go and do another one if there is no glamorous? Guys, these are all things I mean, I'm I'm I'm transparent. You guys know that. Is that really what I want to do? Like, do I, Dr. Phil, want to go through the suckiness of nobody seeing that I'm going through the suckiness? So as we go through this episode, there's a there's a line that I want you guys to I want you guys to just keep saying or keep coming back to, and that is the breakthrough shows you what is possible. The breakthrough shows you what your capacity is, but consistent, everyday, unglamorous, unrewarded work is what creates lasting change that continues as you move forward. So it's not just that, okay, I now have the plans, and actually I help start building it. You now have to go through the painstaking experience of building walls on this new part of your house that you want to see, but yet nobody is there to give you kudos, except maybe your care partner. But even then, that's really difficult. So when I look at this and I look at our journeys that every single one of us is going on, and then I apply it to stroke survivors, you know, these big moments, these big reveals, they're easy, actually. When I get to come and work with you during a boot camp and I get to show you this miracle that you didn't think was possible, that's easy for me. And honestly, it's easy for you. But the normal every day, instead of letting your care partner go and get the mail, you going and get them getting the mail every day, even though you're fatigued and tired. You going and getting up and getting yourself dressed, you you deciding that you want to go and play uh mahjong or bridge or something with a with a group of friends that you haven't seen in a long time, but you're tired, which is true. It's those moments when nobody is watching. Nobody that saw what you were capable of at least is watching. It's those moments that I'm focusing on in this episode as the most important pieces to anybody's journey, whether you are a stroke survivor or not. Now that's gonna bring me back to this uh to the focus of this entire episode. Guys, boot camps have glory, they have breakthroughs, and the first time someone does something that they thought was gone forever is glamorous. And there is a ton of emotion in that, there's power in that, but consistency doesn't ever feel like that. Guys, consistency is the walk after the boot camp. It's the next time you get up and you go with your spouse to go shopping. It's the next time you decide I'm gonna go to the gym. It's the next time you go, you know what, instead of taking the escalator, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take the stairs. Instead of saying, I can't travel, you actually plan and go through and do a travel, even though it's going to be exhausting. It's gonna be when nobody is filming, when nobody is clapping, and no one is there to remind you how powerful you actually are. Guys, consistency is quiet. And even more, it can feel like a massive weight and can oftentimes bring a feeling of depression. It's really interesting how it does that because when we go and we try and there's no external reward for the work and crappiness that we're going through. Guess what? At that point, we can feel like it's impossible. We sat, we stand there and then we see this structure. Let's go back to my, you know, I want to build a pickleball, you know, indoor pickleball court. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking at these, this the frame. Maybe I've gotten the frame up because that's what we did in the boot camp. But now what I have to do is I have to go in and do the insulation, I have to do the outside walls, I have to do the inside walls, I have to do the sheetrock, I have to do, you know, all the all, you know, the roof, I have to do the trusses, I have to do all of these pieces. And when I look at all of that, I get overwhelmed. And when I try, I try to put up the outside wall, it keeps falling, doesn't look that good, it doesn't feel the same as it did when I was working with Dr. Phil or with somebody else who pushes me. And it's very quiet. And you can sit there and you can go, oh my gosh, this sucks. But that's actually what it's supposed to be. Guys, when we are by ourselves, nobody else is watching, and we do something, that's when we find out if we actually really want it. And oftentimes, when it comes to those moments where we are down and depressed because what we're seeing isn't what we thought we were gonna do, or what it could do, or it's not coming as fast as we want it to. That's easy to have a negative. It's easy to look at it negatively. I do it, everybody does it. The thing is, without the crowd, without the emotion, without the awe, oftentimes a boot camp can create a miracle moment, but the thing that I want you to realize is that consistency of showing up, making the decision to do it again, day after day, when you don't want to, it makes the miracle actually livable. So let's write that down. A boot camp creates the miracle moment, but consistency after makes the miracle actually livable. So the question is, why does consistency feel so unimpressive and feel so down and feel so unmotivating? And I'm just I'm gonna share with you what at least my opinion is. It feels unimpress unimpressive because it doesn't always produce an immediate visible change. And usually it does the opposite. It shows where when you don't have the support or you don't have the structure, what you do is you see you see the mistakes. You see the fact that you haven't, you know, let's say we're building this house, you have a hard time swinging the hammer. Or you, you know, you don't put the nails in very straight. Like it, you start to see that when you had the support of Dr. Phil or somebody else, when you have that actual support, it starts to feel like you can't you make too many mistakes, and that is not actually possible. It's really, really interesting. Consistency is going to feel like repetition and it feels like boredom, it feels like fatigue, it feels like a hundred small choices that don't seem to matter, feels like delayed results. And oftentimes I don't even see the results. At least I don't. And it feels emotionally flat, it's not that big rush. Feels like doing what matters on a day that gives you zero proof. It is actually working, isn't it isn't worth it. And here's how I am personally trying to change it. And I want you to try to change it. People do not usually quit because consistency fails. They quit because consistency stops feeling miraculous. You don't quit because it stopped working. And in fact, it was working. I think back to even just my own physical goals that I had set. And I was, I was, you know, physical, uh, what I was eating, what I was doing, was I was I was crushing it. But I stopped because it stopped feeling like it was a breakthrough. But now I'm sitting here and it's been years since I did that, and I go, man, look at look at myself. And the work that actually made the change, it was ordinary. At least it felt ordinary. But that's the nature of it. You know, the dramatic experiences that I paid money to go have to push myself physically, those dramatic experiences, they they're gone. And now it's just every single day consistency. But that's where the house actually gets built. So I've hounded this enough, I think. And what I want you to think about, or the way I want you to restructure the way that you go about this, is something that you've likely heard before, but I want you to be thinking about what I can do to get better just 1% today. And I just think about it. I want you to write it down, tell somebody about it, speak it into your phone, something. And I want you to imagine that you get 1% better. Now, just a little fun fact: 1% of a day is 14 and a half minutes. 1% of the day is 14 and a half minutes. Every single person, including myself, can give 14 and a half minutes to something that you want to improve. So, what I want you to be doing is be asking yourself, did I make one small decision in the direction of the person that I'm becoming or the person that I was just shown? Am I doing one percent today? That isn't about, you know, some big miraculous change, but it's about the direction that I'm wanting to go. It's putting up one more outside wall. Maybe that's all that I do today. And sometimes that 1% can feel like a full walk, and sometimes that 1% is choosing the stairs. One time it could be telling your care partner to just let me do it. I'm gonna try it again and again. And it doesn't have to be anything dramatic, usually it's not, usually it's something that nobody sees. But it's about getting up and living 1% more in your day. And, you know, the thing is that everybody has all this motivation after a boot camp because, man, they've seen some all some of these the most amazing changes in their lives. But then there's always some form of like a lull that happens after. And it's not because the person, it's not because the the person actually is doing less, it's not because the person doesn't see what they're capable of. It's the things that I've been talking about. You it's it's the same thing as like if I you know, if I eat, okay, so we'll we'll take addiction for a minute. I know I went there. Um if I if I want to drink, let's say, let's say alcohol, if one drink makes, you know, gives me a feeling of relief. After about, oh what, maybe three to six months, that one drink doesn't do the same. So now I gotta go to two, and then three, and then four, just to have the same exact feeling. And the problem is, is that physically it feels like if you keep going, uh maybe that's a maybe that's a uh maybe that's an issue. But the reality is you have to keep moving, even when it doesn't feel like like miraculous. That way you can build the structure that you can now live in. Every single person that I've seen that's done a boot camp that actually put in consistent daily work, every single one, I've seen a year later, and they are doing things that they didn't even think was within their realm of possibility a year before. It happens, but it requires doing the daily, consistent, boring maybe, work and difficult doing things when you just didn't feel like you should or you you could. And I think that's such a hard conversation to have with people, including myself. I mean, this is a conversation I'm having with you guys, but I mean, for myself, like I just I've struggled. I I've struggled even having this conversation because I know that's the answer. But then why don't I do it? And so here's my commitment to you. And I would like for you to make the same commitment back. Starting today, I want you to pick one thing that you're going to do that you can sit there and go, you know what, that's 1% better. And I want you to do that thing every day for a week. So for me, I'm gonna say I'm gonna do 15 minutes. 15 minutes a day minimum. Monday through Saturday this upcoming week. And I'm going to push myself physically in ways that I haven't. Because that's that's the goal that I want. I know what my capacity is. So it's time to build them up, build them a house. I'm Dr. Phil, and I'll have more right after this.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Hi, my name is Peter. I had a stroke back on February 7th, 2024. I had magic stroke. I mean I couldn't walk. When I had my stroke, I would always tell my my wife and my daughter. It looks like I'm gonna be in the wheelchair the rest of my life. Sorry, it just brings back movies. And one day my wife was on TikTok, and there's another stroke survivor that she seen at a boot camp with Dr. Phil. So my wife decided to sign me off. So I wanna say my experience with Dr. Phil was amazing. I mean he's an amazing individual. I mean at that time when he came, I was still using a wheelchair. I've come a long way now where I can walk and I don't use a chair anymore. I don't use a cane, go outside by myself. You know, I walk outside on my own now. I try to help out around the house. It's helped me with my walking, my you know, building more confidence, doing different things. I don't feel like I'm gonna fall. I think he's an amazing person. He brings you more back to life.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

Hey, this is Dr. Phil. If you're a stroke survivor and you want to regain motor function, improve mobility, and build real confidence in your recovery, then I want you to check out one of my Stroke Survivor Bootcamp training sessions. These are intensive, hands-on experiences designed to push performance, improve function, and help you get back to doing more of what matters in your life. Go to www.stroke survivorbootcamp.com and let's get you back on track one step at a time. So in closing with this awesome podcast that I've I've I've loved talking about, I want you to recognize a framework that I am trying to bring to you. Okay, now this framework has really four phases. Phase one is to disrupt. When you do a boot camp, that is disrupt. I disrupt your old structure, the way that you built it and that you think it should be. And really, I disrupt and show you a new pattern that you can use to make it so that you do not feel stuck. Phase two is reveal. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna then reveal what your hidden capacity is. So after I disrupt what your current pattern is, I'm gonna reveal what your hidden capability is. And the question is what can this person do when challenge, support, and intensity are actually brought into the equation? You can do so much, and I show you that. Phase three is repeat. This is the one that is one of the hardest. We repeat it over and over, first during the boot camp, and then it's something that you are you are asked to do after. But it has to be done consistently. And then phase four is actually rebuild. And you rebuild your life around this new capacity, meaning that you interact, you do more in life, you live more because I've shown you what your capacity actually is. You can walk to the mailbox and back every day. Most of the time, you tell yourself you're too tired, myself included, and you just say, I can't. And if you truly can't, let's have a conversation to figure out why. Most of the time it's because well we haven't been doing it, number one, and number two, because we're not sleeping. That can play a massive role. And then you do it, and you make it a part of your normal life. You live more. So the four phases disrupt, reveal, repeat, and rebuild. That is the map. So let's make it real. If you are a stroke survivor, here is your job. Don't reduce what you experienced during the boot camp or what you are going to experience during the boot camp. Don't reduce it into just a memory. What I want you to do is to change it into evidence of what you are capable of. And you do this by asking yourself four questions. What did I do that I thought I could not do? What old structure did that challenge? What is one piece of that breakthrough I need to repeat this week? And where am I letting fear actually rebuild the old ceiling? Bringing back living in that old house. The last one was pretty sneaky, by the way. Watch for it. If you're a care partner, here's your job. Don't protect the person back into the structure. Don't don't put boundaries on them. When we see what their capacity is, do your best to support it. Because we want them to be living in a bigger house. Because that's less burden on you. And it's a more fulfilling life for the individual. And if you're a therapist, listen very carefully. Your job every single time somebody sees you is not to be doing the mundane, everyday thing that they're supposed to be doing. No, that's their job. That's not skilled intervention. Your job is to continually break the current structure that they are living in over and over and over. Break it and show them that they can live in a house or a mansion as big as they want. If you do that, you need to then leave the everyday working up to them. Because if you show them what they're capable of, the thing I continually see is that people actually do more work outside. And really that's what you want. So if you're a therapist and you're listening and you want to learn how to do this, you want to learn how to gain the skills to be able to do this, the knowledge, the evidence, reach out to me either at www.strofe survivorbootcamp.com or through my social media at the OT Professor on TikTok or Instagram. And let's let's set it up. I do in person. I also have uh continuing education um that are approved by AOTA from all the way from 2.5 CEUs to 28 and a half. Just depends on what you want. Now guys, I'm gonna end it here. The miracle of a boot camp. The miracle of being pushed outside of your boundaries, outside of the house that you've built. Is that you as an individual realize that you are not stuck and not in this not in this uh place you have no hope. You find out that you can actually take control. But when you get these moments, it needs to be more than just a memory. It needs to be something that you repeat. Use the structure that I've that I give you in a boot camp. Use the structure that you've seen me do, the structure that you've seen me talk about, or heard me talk about. And be consistent. Because remember, a boot camp can disrupt the structure that you're living in. It will reveal capacity that fear, routine, low expectations, underdosing for you therapists actually kept hidden. But consistency, which is the focus of this entire podcast, is what protects that breakthrough long enough for it to actually become something real. Something that you just do automatically every day. So here's your line for the week. The one that I want in your head on the ordinary days, the flat days, the days with no crowd or no applause. My boot camp created a miracle moment. It revealed what I was able to do. But consistency doing it again today is what's going to make the miracle livable. So guys, go make it livable. And come back next week on Stroke Survivor Bootcamp, where we will continue to talk about the things that make it so that recovery is something that you actually can love. One of my favorite phrases is learn to love the suck. Because the suck is actually where change actually can continue to happen. Sometimes the suck is that it's just as boring as I'll ever get out, or is that it's not something new, but it's doing it again and again. That is a lesson for myself as much as it's a lesson for you. Now, if you're interested in a boot camp, go to www.stroke survivorbootcamp.com or follow me on social media at DOT Professor. That can be on both TikTok or Instagram. And until next time, just remember, all of this, even if it seems overwhelming, it really just comes down to taking one step at a time. I'm Dr. Phil, and this is Stroke Survivor Bootcamp. Breathe in.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

Count it out. Every scar is a round. Every stomach still stepped you.

SPEAKER_02 53:24

Sweat on your face means you still have to be able to do it.