I have exciting news. WARRIOR, my memoir is coming on April 5th.
I am extremely proud of this book as it took years to put together, and a lot of healing in the interim.
WARRIOR tells the story of my life.
In fact, WARRIOR tells the story of all of my lives.
Because in my thirty plus years I feel like I’ve lived ten lives.
It shares my journey of being a tomboy, living in a log cabin where I helped care for my mother who I was very close too, and who died of cancer when I was ten.
I was a talented athlete. I won accolades in high school, and pitched on the softball team for Villanova University. I was voted All-East Pitcher of the Year, Academic All-America, and later I pitched professionally in Italy.
I became a fitness contest participant and winner, and model.
I served in the United States Marines Corps, won leadership awards, became a platoon leader, and served in Iraq, leading 150 Marines on several dangerous missions.
And…I was world class at being cruel to my mind and body- telling myself I was not good enough when I didn’t win a game, when my body was not as fit as I wanted it to feel and look, when I didn’t get good enough grades, when I was made fun of in school, when anything external allowed me to feel less than perfect. To top it off, I also became a world-class bulimic, sometimes throwing up sometimes seven times a day.
Yes, for years I fought my own war, struggling to balance several of these lives at once, while hiding that one secret life. Finally, to overcome that secret war, I learned that I needed to call up every ounce of strength I could muster, strength I never knew I had. I learned then that your true strength lies within you.
In WARRIOR I take you with me into all of my lives in intimate and vivid detail. I examine every important relationship I had, no matter how personal, difficult, and, at times, painful. I take you into my Marine training and deployment into the guts of the Corps, learning hand to hand combat, mountain warfare training and becoming—not without difficulty and some hilarity—a Marine Corps engineer and platoon leader, and then dealing with sexual harassment, arriving in Iraq, and finally facing my eating disorder head on and deciding to return home via being medevaced.
We all face wars inside us. Our foes are self doubt, regret, loneliness, loss, fear of failure, and the need to be in control. Our weapons are love for ourselves, good friends, exercise, healthy eating, rest, quiet, and living in each and every moment. Choosing to use these weapons means you are in the arena battling for your life each and every day. The glory goes to you, just being in the arena, and knowing there will always be critics (even yourself) wanting you to fail, feel less than, etc.
I continue to live my daily life in a male dominated world as doctor of physical therapy and strength & conditioning coach. I’ve realized my calling. I run a physical therapy practice and I run a CrossFit class for wounded warriors and adaptive athletes, helping them develop strength and improve their movement. I am the instructor, but these inspiring men and women teach me way more than I could ever teach them. I work with a mother of two, a former Marine, who wages her war with adrenal cancer and does not know when her last day on this earth will be. I work with a young veteran who lost his leg above the knee in Afghanistan. I work with a double amputee who served in Iraq. I work with a Naval Officer who was sexually assaulted by one of her peers.
They share their stories, they reveal their vulnerabilities, they give me their hearts. We laugh, all of us, and we cry sometimes. They curse, not at their plight, but at not being able to do one more rep or push themselves for thirty more seconds. Yet, I tell them. You haven’t done that one more rep yet. We work together, we cheer each other on. This is my new team, the team I lead, the team I pitch for now.
I tell them that asking for help makes you strong.
Asking for help makes you a warrior.
I am a warrior.
I wrote this book because I think I can help.
I believe my story to be many peoples’ story, perhaps the story of someone you know, or perhaps even your story.
Here is what Kirkus Reviews wrote in a rave review:
“By turns honest and heartbreaking, Larson’s book is a celebration of inner strength. It is also a poignant reminder that the mark of a true warrior is not just someone who fights wars, but who also knows how to “ask for help” in times of crisis. A courageous and inspiring memoir.”
I used to believe that I had to be perfect. I used to believe looking fit and winning games meant I was good enough. It took me a lifetime and living several lives to find out that no such thing as perfection, and strength is so much more than what it looks like.