#358: Motivation in Motion: Her Inspirational Journey from Paralysis to Olympic Weightlifting

Kevin Lowe: You can always start right now to becoming stronger, more resilient, and ultimately unstoppable. My friend, I can guarantee that this is the episode that you needed to hear right now.

Kevin Lowe: Welcome to episode 358.

Kevin Lowe: Hey, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and you are listening to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Kevin Lowe: Welcome back to another awesome interview here on Grit, Grace, and Inspiration. Today is certainly no exception.

Kevin Lowe: Kim, welcome to the podcast.

Kim Rahir: Well, thanks for having me, Kevin.

Kevin Lowe: Oh, my goodness. Well, it is an absolute honor. And I have been looking forward to this so much.

Kevin Lowe: And Kim, you have you have such an amazing story, such an inspiring story.

Kevin Lowe: And I guess the best place always to begin is kind of back at the beginning.

Kevin Lowe: And you can, you know, take it from where you want.

Kevin Lowe: But basically, I know that, you know, a big part of your story kind of begins around the year like 2008. I'd love it if you just kind of give me, you know, the story surrounding kind of that time in your story.

Kim Rahir: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I can't believe it's, you know, that long ago.

Kim Rahir: That's coming up on 16 years in November, at least that's when it started.

Kim Rahir: Not that I want to go back, though.

Kevin Lowe: No, absolutely.

Kim Rahir: So I was, we had just moved country again. I lived with my husband.

Kim Rahir: We were both journalists with three small kids. And we moved every four years from country to country, which is very exciting, never boring.

Kim Rahir: But of course, it's challenging also, especially when you drag along kids.

Kim Rahir: But we had arrived in Germany, which is my home country.

Kim Rahir: And we lived in Berlin, had been living there for a year. And for the first time also in all our time together, I had a full-time job.

Kim Rahir: I was employed too, because we were both journalists, but my husband had got the assignments and I started as a freelancer wherever we went.

Kim Rahir: So, you know, we were in my home country. I had a full-time job, three kids.

Kim Rahir: We lived in a beautiful house and it felt like, you know, that was it.

Kim Rahir: I had made it. I had sort of fulfilled my dream. I'd always wanted to prove that you could have a family and a career as a woman, which when I was raised was not like, you know, a given at all.

Kim Rahir: I was raised in a, you know, like socially very conservative Germany where the word career woman was an insult when I was a teenager.

Kim Rahir: And it was always assumed that you had to choose either you had kids or you had a job.

Kim Rahir: And I would, you know, never want that and accept that.

Kim Rahir: And here I was and I had both and I felt like now I had made it.

Kim Rahir: And then from one day to the next, like literally, I was struck down.

Kim Rahir: I was out of it all. It started by me seeing double.

Kim Rahir: I was picking up my kids from school, we were driving and I was driving a car and I was seeing double and I thought, oh my God, something's really wrong.

Kim Rahir: Now this came on the heels of just, you know, like a flu infection that I'd had a few days before, but, you know, like any, any mom of small kids would do, I was back on my feet right away.

Kim Rahir: And then there I was seeing double and I knew this time I had to go to the doctors because, you know, that's no small thing. That's something happening in the brain.

Kim Rahir: And went to the doctors and I was sent straight to the hospital where I was to stay for six weeks because they had to do all kinds of checkups.

Kim Rahir: They couldn't really find what it was.

Kim Rahir: And on top of like the weird eyes, after three weeks, I was completely paralyzed from the hips downwards.

Kim Rahir: No sensitivity whatsoever in my legs.

Kim Rahir: And that was just so scary. It was so scary, especially because they, I mean, they thought it was something autoimmune, but they couldn't really name it because my symptoms were all over the place.

Kim Rahir: And they love, you know, having that symptoms in those boxes.

Kim Rahir: So like the eyes would have been a Miller-Fisher syndrome and legs were like a Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Kim Rahir: And there I was in the middle of this, always having like students in white coats around my bed because I was such a weird case, which, you know, contributed also to me feeling a bit dehumanized, actually, because already you don't have any power in a hospital.

Kim Rahir: You can't decide like anything, not when the light is on in your room, not when you're going to sleep, not when you're waking up, nothing at all.

Kim Rahir: When you can't walk, you can't even decide when you're going to have a shower or when you're going to the toilet.

Kim Rahir: And then on top of this, I was there sort of exposed like a study case to students once a week. And I even said, can you please, I don't really want this anymore.

Kim Rahir: And then they sort of always talked me into, you know, allow that one more time.

Kim Rahir: My life had changed like from one day to the next, from one day to the next.

Kim Rahir: Everything that I had taken for granted, taken as a given, was gone.

Kim Rahir: I couldn't walk. I couldn't look after my kids. I couldn't go to work.

Kim Rahir: I couldn't do anything, basically. That was really, really tough.

Kevin Lowe: Wow. You know, I always say it's crazy how everything in life can change in the blink of an eye.

Kim Rahir: Absolutely.

Kevin Lowe: Now, during this time, you went in seeing double is what prompted you to go to the doctor.

Kevin Lowe: And then you mentioned while there, you then basically became paralyzed from what the waist down.

Kim Rahir: Yes.

Kevin Lowe: How did that come on? Was it something did you just wake up and all of a sudden realized you couldn't feel your legs or how did that happen?

Kim Rahir: No, that was very gradual, actually. you know, it was my immune system attacking my own nerves and it was mostly the sensitive nerves in my legs that it started like sort of gnawing away at.

Kim Rahir: And first it was just a weird feeling in my feet.

Kim Rahir: Like that's the thing with neurological conditions. You always have sensations that you shouldn't have.

Kim Rahir: And my feet felt weird. Then I realized that I couldn't properly flex my leg muscles you know it was like very very slowly first it was weird sensations then it was like limitations things I couldn't do and then at some point I just had lost all control over my legs that it took about like you know I'd say like two weeks first week started after one week in hospital.

Kim Rahir: And that's also quite scary when you see yourself you know feel yourself getting worse every day And they treated me with all kinds of stuff with, how do you call this, cortisone and then immune globulins and all sorts of things.

Kim Rahir: And because they were also a little bit desperate because they were not sure what was going on.

Kim Rahir: So when I felt the feeling come back in my legs, we didn't really know what had helped because they had tried so many different things. Could have been one or the other.

Kim Rahir: I'm glad, you know, I was just happy to get better.

Kim Rahir: But was still not very very clear what was going on i could leave the hospital i was in a wheelchair i could sort of stand i was very wobbly and it took me about six months to walk normally again and after i had left hospital they then after a while decided that this was indeed a guillain which is a syndrome that happens a lot to soldiers and when I look back now you know my.

Kim Rahir: Fulfilling my dream and having a full-time job and three kids and all that I think I was a bit stressed out actually I was soldiering along a little bit and, I'm not going to say this is what caused my illness, but it somehow, you know, fits the description.

Kim Rahir: And I remember one day I was at home. I still couldn't walk properly.

Kim Rahir: It was like an icy Berlin winter outside. And I saw a couple on the sidewalk.

Kim Rahir: They were walking along and they both had such grumpy faces.

Kim Rahir: They both looked so angry. And I was sitting inside and I thought, how on earth can you be so angry when you can walk?

Kim Rahir: Come on, you don't even know how lucky you are.

Kim Rahir: And this sudden insight when I thought these people have stayed with me ever since.

Kim Rahir: Every step I take today, I'm grateful and I know that it's a gift.

Kim Rahir: So looking back, it sounds so crazy, but I'm actually grateful for this experience.

Kim Rahir: It was very dark. It was very frightening.

Kim Rahir: It was totally defeating. You know, I felt utterly helpless and powerless.

Kim Rahir: But now I know that it's taught me so much about life, how to look at life and how to enjoy what I'm given and be grateful for all the blessings, you know, small blessings, they say. For me, there's no small blessing.

Kim Rahir: Everything that I can do today, I'm really grateful for. And that makes it so much more enjoyable, you know.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Now, during this time, what was even just the emotional toll on you as far as being a mom?

Kevin Lowe: Because obviously, you weren't able to take the kids to school or care for them like you had been. How was that on you?

Kim Rahir: It's very painful to have your kids come visit you and you're lying in a hospital bed. It's just pure pain.

Kim Rahir: But you can't show it, right? You can't show your pain.

Kim Rahir: I didn't want to show my pain. I didn't want them to feel pained, you know, on top of being so, well, they weren't unbalanced, but sort of their routine, everything had gone away too.

Kim Rahir: I mean, they were still going to school, but it was not me and they were still getting their dinners, but it was not me who made them.

Kim Rahir: So I didn't want to show my pain, but I felt it like very badly.

Kim Rahir: And, you know, that's, I remember my oldest son, I mean, Berlin is a huge place.

Kim Rahir: My oldest son, he was 10 at the time and he was already traveling by himself to school.

Kim Rahir: And one day, I mean, this was before smartphones also, I was just at the onset, you know, I think he had smartphones existed.

Kim Rahir: A lot of the stuff in hospital would have been easier probably.

Kim Rahir: Anyway, he sent me a text message and said, can I come see you?

Kim Rahir: And then he took like, you know, public transport all across town just to come see me after school. even today when I think of this, you know, I feel like tearing up because it was just so...

Kim Rahir: So heart-wrenching, you know, to know that your kids are missing you.

Kim Rahir: There's also this other aspect. When I got home for Christmas, there was a tree, there were presents, there was food, and I hadn't done any of it.

Kim Rahir: So this feeling that so many moms have, and this is something I really want to tell all the women out there who feel that if they don't do everything.

Kim Rahir: You know, nothing's going to work, that everything depends on us, every single thing.

Kim Rahir: And that the world's sort of somehow going to stop if we don't do what we have to do every single day.

Kim Rahir: And that moment taught me that, yes, I was like out totally from one day to the next, but the world kept on turning and there was still Christmas and we still came together and there were presents and there was food even without me doing it.

Kim Rahir: And that's a big relief actually when you realize that you are not indispensable, that you can take time off.

Kim Rahir: We never do this when we, you know, like voluntarily, but learning that, you know, everything will still work okay if you're not there.

Kim Rahir: I think it's really, it's liberating and it's empowering because it gives you the strength to say sometimes, no, I can't do this. This is just too much.

Kim Rahir: I need some time here to do something else or to do something for myself.

Kim Rahir: And I wish, I really wish to carry this message to all women out there who think that the world rests on their shoulders because it's a heavy load to carry.

Kim Rahir: And I wish, you know, for them to get it, to get this insight without having it demonstrated to them so brutally as it was to me.

Kevin Lowe: Absolutely. You, your mindset and the way that you see life, it's really beautiful.

Kevin Lowe: It's really powerful. And the way that you can see, looking back on it now, the blessings that you gained from such a terrible experience is, it's really amazing.

Kevin Lowe: I guess what my next question is, is after this six-month period, did you ever have symptoms like that come up again?

Kim Rahir: Not the same, but unfortunately, that was not the end of my autoimmune saga because, well, after I got more treatment after that, after six months I could walk again, but I still went into the hospital once a month to get infusions and everything.

Kim Rahir: But then after a year, I was told that yes, absolutely, this was a one-off and I didn't need any treatment anymore. And I was now just a normal, healthy person.

Kim Rahir: And I can't describe how overjoyed I felt to call my husband on the phone.

Kim Rahir: We both cried with joy and I thought this is, you know, this is a gift.

Kim Rahir: I'm not, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to, you know, live every day, every moment with my kids and enjoy every, every bit of it.

Kim Rahir: And then a year, another year later, I felt my left hand going numb.

Kim Rahir: And this thing that I say with neurological stuff, you feel stuff that you shouldn't be feeling. So I knew that sensation wasn't right and I got more checkups.

Kim Rahir: And this time they said, oh, yeah, this is different.

Kim Rahir: This is not the kind of immune attack that you had before. This is an attack of your system on the white matter in your nerves.

Kim Rahir: And, you know, this is MS, this is multiple sclerosis.

Kim Rahir: And you can imagine that I thought this was like a really low blow because I had just overcome this other thing which was really kind of traumatizing and I thought I was so so happy so relieved so overjoyed to have left that behind me and then they said oh no you know go back to square one and by the way this time it's worse and this time it's not a one-off this time it's for life so the darkness that I had felt for the first time it came back it came back and it was even scarier,

Kim Rahir: but I had learned certain sort of approaches and attitudes.

Kim Rahir: And I think they got me through this.

Kim Rahir: I didn't allow myself to look at the future, at the big picture.

Kim Rahir: I didn't. It was too scary.

Kim Rahir: I really focused on what I could do in the moment. I had to accept lifelong treatment after a fight with my doctor, because that's what they give you for multiple sclerosis. But I had just this hand thing that was numb.

Kim Rahir: The rest had been stopped then by an infusion.

Kim Rahir: And I could walk, I could move. And I just decided that I was going to just live every single day like this, the way I felt, thinking that I was okay and not scare myself with thoughts of the future.

Kim Rahir: And I think that helped me tremendously. I think when you have a diagnosis like this and you start imagining what's going to happen, even in two weeks or in two years or in 20 years, you can be so paralyzed with the uncertainty of it that you will forget, you know, to live your life.

Kim Rahir: And I decided, no, I'm going to just live every day because right now I'm okay and I'm going to make the most of that.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin Lowe: So in this journey, this medical journey that we're on, where does exercise and in lifting weights, how does that even enter the picture?

Kim Rahir: Yeah, it's quite interesting. I mean, I had been a gym goer before all that happened, but I went to the gym like most women did, you know, like with this idea of achieving a certain body shape or staying fit in a very general way.

Kim Rahir: And after my ms diagnosis i felt this desire to go back to the gym first of all and then to go there to become strong like i wanted to become insanely strong physically strong and i think this this came from feeling so powerless when i was in hospital and i came from, wanting to make the most of what I had in the moment. As I said, I could walk, I could move.

Kim Rahir: I had just, I mean, my left hand is numb to this day, but that's about it.

Kim Rahir: And I really felt this need to be strong also to be able to trust my body again, to count on my body again.

Kim Rahir: Because with autoimmune diseases, there's this bit of a feeling of betrayal that you can't trust your body. It's doing, you know, like stupid things.

Kim Rahir: Why, you know, it's supposed to protect you, not to attack itself i mean this is with hindsight i just felt this need i wanted to go to the gym and become like really strong and this is how i sort of explain where this might have come from this desire but it's what i did and i bought a book one of the first books out there i think it was from the late 90s one of the first that said women you know should lift heavy and because it's just as important for them as for anybody else and i followed that book the workouts

Kim Rahir: the the instructions for proper form everything to a T and I got so much better it's hard to.

Kim Rahir: You can't overstate how much better I got and I think it's because of something that we know now we have science on this now but this was like 10 years ago where this was still all sort of evolving strength training is is like an elixir for your mental health you walk out of there and you have a, you feel positive, you feel good about yourself, you feel good about everything and you feel good about what you can do.

Kim Rahir: And I think this helped me get better, like spectacularly. And even, you know, my neurological checkups, they took like two minutes.

Kim Rahir: You know, I had to check in every six months with a neurologist and they saw me the way I walked in there and they knew that I was just fine.

Kim Rahir: So much so that we, I know we moved again between all these things.

Kim Rahir: The first episode was in the Berlin, the multiple sclerosis diagnosis was in France. and then we moved to Spain where we live now, And after three years of watching me thrive, I really must say it like this.

Kim Rahir: My Spanish neurologist said, well, you know, if you want to, you can stop your treatment. And I did.

Kim Rahir: And that was like seven years ago. I have been without relapse and without treatment for seven years.

Kim Rahir: And that's also when I felt, even though I, you know, I'm not claiming you can cure a mess with strength training, but I felt that was this approach that I had used instinctively.

Kim Rahir: I was on to something there was you know the benefits were like so incredible for you know for overall health for mental health and it had gotten me back to living a normal life without having to inject myself three times a week that's when I got the courage up to fulfill something that I'd been dreaming about for a while which was like sleeve journalism become a health coach and you know shout it from the rooftops if you want to be happy and healthy just go strength training and most things will take care of themselves.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Wow. So in this kind of fitness journey and you talk about the just profound impact that it had on you, were your doctors surprised at this?

Kim Rahir: Yes, absolutely. I mean, the very first one who gave me the diagnosis, when I asked him about exercise, he told me to be careful.

Kim Rahir: And I don't know what he meant by that, actually. And I think it was a way of saying, I don't really have an idea of what you're talking about.

Kim Rahir: But I don't want to take any responsibility. So I'm going to just scare you a little bit by telling you to be careful.

Kim Rahir: And then, you know, for the rest of that, you're on your own.

Kim Rahir: And then the next guy who was looking after me was this Spaniard who is also a bit of an expert in MS here in Spain.

Kim Rahir: And when I told him that I was actually, that I had started weightlifting, because over my journey from normal lifting in the gym, I switched to Olympic weightlifting, which is something totally different.

Kim Rahir: And again, you know, it's just, it's this sport where there's just two movements of putting, you know, the barbell over your head.

Kim Rahir: And it got me totally hooked because it's so much fun and very technical and challenging.

Kim Rahir: And when I told him that I was doing that sport, he was amazed and he thought, that's fantastic.

Kim Rahir: And he also told me, you could be an inspiration to so many people, so many patients.

Kim Rahir: He said, please keep doing this. This is great. this is fantastic.

Kim Rahir: And I'm very grateful that I have met this guy.

Kim Rahir: We moved to Spain. I looked for a neurologist and I, you know, I went, I Googled and I found him and yeah, he's, he's super supportive.

Kim Rahir: And he, he also gave me this idea of, you know, sharing, spreading the word.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Okay. So you mentioned one little detail that I think me and everybody else was like, Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Say what?

Kevin Lowe: You weren't just like lifting, doing some little arm curls with the little 10 pound dumbbells.

Kevin Lowe: You went on to Olympic lifting.

Kevin Lowe: That's crazy.

Kim Rahir: Yes, it is a bit crazy, but it's one of the best things I've ever done.

Kim Rahir: So, you know, I was training in the gym.

Kim Rahir: We had just gotten to Spain. I was working with a personal trainer.

Kim Rahir: He was very, very glad to work with me because, you know, most women still go to the gym to spend half an hour on the elliptical one and sort of avoid anything that includes heavy metal.

Kim Rahir: So I was working with him and he one day said, would you like to try Olympic weightlifting?

Kim Rahir: I think he had just started himself somewhere just to try it out.

Kim Rahir: He was a guy who tried all sorts of things, you know, like rugby and kite surfing and what have you. And then he was into Olympic weightlifting and said, do you want to try this?

Kim Rahir: And I said, yeah, why not? And my memory of this, this is the first thing I'm going to share because that's really funny.

Kim Rahir: I had a memory of Olympic weightlifting because when I was a kid, I watched the Olympics with my dad.

Kim Rahir: And because I think Germany had weightlifters, that's why we watched it.

Kim Rahir: Otherwise, I don't see why we would have been there in front of the TV.

Kim Rahir: And my memory was of like really big, often like fat guys in weird, weird leotards.

Kim Rahir: Very like heavy and hairy and like lifting insane amounts of weight over their head that's the memory i had and still i said yeah i'm gonna give it a try why not because i thought that was you know could be fun and i tried and i totally sucked at it because i can't begin to describe i mean i could talk about this for hours so you need to stop me but it's you know it's not only physical it's also physics you have to outsmart gravity because you need to put the barbell overhead so to make it as.

Kim Rahir: As light as possible, like, you know, easy to lift as possible.

Kim Rahir: It has to be very close to your body.

Kim Rahir: It has to be close to your center of gravity.

Kim Rahir: Otherwise, you know, just imagine holding a heavy weight, like, you know, on an outstretched arm far away from you or close to your body.

Kim Rahir: You can, you know, imagine how that feels.

Kim Rahir: It has to be close to your body, but in order to travel up, you know, with some speed and ease, it also needs to travel vertically.

Kim Rahir: Vertically it's really important yeah because that's the most efficient way of lifting it up but then your body isn't vertical and especially because you need to bend your legs and and then straighten them to to give the thing a push you know it's not vertical at all so you have to find a way to sort of move the barbells close to your body as vertically as possible and then give it a good shove overhead so it's it's challenging but i loved it because it's you know it's more than just strength.

Kim Rahir: And it's also something I think I appreciate it so much because you have to be totally in the moment.

Kim Rahir: You cannot think of anything else while you're doing it.

Kim Rahir: You need to focus 100% on this one movement that you're about to do.

Kim Rahir: And I think that's what hooked me, which, and then it led me to joining a pure weightlifting club.

Kim Rahir: So I left the commercial gym, went to a weightlifting club.

Kim Rahir: After two weeks, they asked me if I was, if I wanted to compete.

Kim Rahir: And I said, what? You know, I was 55 at the time.

Kim Rahir: And then I thought, yeah, what the hell? You know, why not?

Kim Rahir: Okay. I said, I'm going to compete. And I'm pretty sure that in my 30s, I would never have said yes. I would have thought, oh my God, just another sort of obligation, another stress factor, another thing to do.

Kim Rahir: And then, you know, nerve wracking and you could fail. You know, but...

Kim Rahir: After everything I'd been through, I was just like, what the hell?

Kim Rahir: Yeah, let's have some fun and see how this goes. And it's amazing.

Kim Rahir: It's so, you know, the first competition I ever did, there was a regional meet.

Kim Rahir: And I thought I was going to, I felt like crying all the time.

Kim Rahir: Because, not because I was sad, but the emotions were so strong of excitement, of nervousness, of fear, of, you know, wanting to go.

Kim Rahir: It was just so intense. And that's something, I mean, I don't suggest that everybody start competing in Olympic weightlifting, but, you know, looking for situations where you are challenged and where you're happy to rise to the challenge, especially when you're in your 40s or 50s.

Kim Rahir: You need to do that because it makes you feel so alive.

Kim Rahir: It really adds zest to life.

Kim Rahir: And you have to learn how to fail. I mean, of course, you know, you don't make every lift and you have to learn how to fail.

Kim Rahir: And I think it's very beneficial.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Oh, my goodness. You're amazing. This is absolutely incredible.

Kevin Lowe: The fact that you didn't just get into weightlifting, but now you're doing in a club. And so with the club, I assume that that means you got right into doing competitions.

Kim Rahir: Yes, because that's a competitive place. It's a club for that.

Kim Rahir: And it's wonderful because it's like a family and I lift with guys who are 18, some are 25, others are in their 40s.

Kim Rahir: You know, nobody cares how old you are and everybody's got their own challenges.

Kim Rahir: And the cool thing with weightlifting, the training is worked out in percentages.

Kim Rahir: So, you know, you've got to go there and the coach tells you to, you know, I don't know, do five series of snatches at 75% of your personal best.

Kim Rahir: So the relative intensity that you're training at is the same for everybody.

Kim Rahir: The guy who lifts, you know, 400 pounds, he works at 75% of his best.

Kim Rahir: And me, I lift a hundred pounds and I work at 75% of my best.

Kim Rahir: So we sort of in this together and we, and there's no, you know, like no snobbism.

Kim Rahir: Nobody would ever say oh you you know you're an old woman and you only live very no we know you know we know that we're doing the same so so.

Kevin Lowe: So now you're the person in one of those goofy leotards that you talked about earlier yes

Kim Rahir: I mean that's a bit of that's a bit of a downside i mean they look much better these days than they look then because then i think they had like like their upper their torso was somehow naked.

Kim Rahir: I don't know why that was the case.

Kim Rahir: Or maybe they were like very low cut or something. No idea.

Kim Rahir: And now it's not quite as bad. Now it's, they look a little bit better, but it's, you know, nothing you want to really be seen anywhere else.

Kevin Lowe: Oh my goodness. I love it. Now, how old are you today? I know you said you got started when you Yes,

Kim Rahir: I'm 60 today and in, hang on, we're what? Yeah, in four days, I'm turning 61.

Kevin Lowe: Oh my goodness.

Kevin Lowe: Wow. So here you are at almost 61 years old.

Kevin Lowe: You are still in the gym, still lifting weights.

Kevin Lowe: I mean, talk about an inspiration to others of what is possible.

Kim Rahir: Oh, absolutely. And this is something I so want to shout it from the rooftops.

Kim Rahir: And I think this is why my story needs to be shared also.

Kim Rahir: Because, I mean, I was unable to walk. I had no legs, no functioning legs.

Kim Rahir: And now I'm competing in weightlifting. So I know how I felt in the moment.

Kim Rahir: I didn't know at the time if I was ever going to walk again.

Kim Rahir: And I know there's so many people out there who have problems.

Kim Rahir: And it could be just dodgy knees that make you think there's so many things you can't do.

Kim Rahir: Or a frozen shoulder or a sore back or whatever it is. or maybe you're carrying too much weight and you don't feel like you can move.

Kim Rahir: No matter where you are, you can always start doing something.

Kim Rahir: And this is also what my whole approach when I work with my clients now is based on that.

Kim Rahir: We find the place where you can start.

Kim Rahir: Don't go looking for stuff on YouTube. There's fantastic workouts there, but they are probably not made for you if you were in your 50s and you have high mileage knees and you haven't done, you know, exercise in a while.

Kim Rahir: If you find your sort of point of entry, as I also like to call it, the one that's right for you, no matter how low you might feel, this point of entry exists.

Kim Rahir: And then from there, you can start getting stronger, building momentum and like, you know, increasing your quality of life, like manifold.

Kim Rahir: And you don't even need to go to a gym for that because that might be the second objection that comes up like i know i hate gyms i don't want to go to the gym you don't have to you can get stronger like in the comfort of your own home and that's what i do with my clients they start with literally 15 minutes a day at home and it you don't even have to get out of their pajamas to do that, We take it from there. So wherever you are right now, if you feel that there's nothing you can do, you know, forget that thought. There's something you can do right now.

Kim Rahir: And no matter how small, but it will be like the first building block of, you know, of your castle.

Kim Rahir: And, you know, even if it starts with a little pebble, you know, this is one step in the right direction and you can always do something.

Kevin Lowe: Absolutely. Well, before I ask you more about what you're doing today, I want to ask you, back when you got started lifting weights and then even kind of up to today, what has been the response from your family, from your kids, that mom is now competitive weightlifting?

Kim Rahir: Oh, well, I think they love it. That was not even a, they didn't take a beat.

Kim Rahir: I don't know if you say it like this or pause think oh my god what's mom doing it's it was just, wow that's cool wow that's amazing it was not quite as I mean that's my kids my husband he had to sort of get used to the thought and I think there's a but it didn't I mean it didn't take him long or anything and there was absolutely no resistance which is really important because I know that many women get resistance from their environment when it comes to these things but But this, you know,

Kim Rahir: this cultural aspect that you're sort of talking about is really, it's really important because it's physical strength is not part of the sort of virtue catalogue for girls or women.

Kim Rahir: And that's something I want to change too, you know, we need to be strong, physically strong if we want quality of life and, you know, our own power, our independence until we're very old.

Kim Rahir: We just, we need physical strength.

Kim Rahir: And even though it's not, it's not our first thought, you know, how are we raised as girls?

Kim Rahir: I don't know about young girls today, but in my generation, it was like, you know, you want to be pretty, you want to be smart, you want to be slim, but like, you know, you want to be muscular and strong was not really part of that.

Kim Rahir: And that's why it's so hard to adopt, to embrace, you know, that ideal or that goal.

Kim Rahir: But it's the one that's going to give you everything else that you desire.

Kim Rahir: So here I am spreading the message.

Kevin Lowe: Yes, look at you, you little trendsetter.

Kevin Lowe: Now, such a powerful message. I want to ask you kind of a deep question is, do you ever deal with fear of if things come back?

Kim Rahir: To be honest, not really. It's a very weird thing.

Kim Rahir: And I've been thinking about this a lot because I am acutely aware every day that all of this could end tomorrow.

Kim Rahir: It's not you know and it's not we all have this rational knowledge in our head we know that tomorrow is not guaranteed we could die in an accident we could be i don't know in an earthquake or whatever but i'm not talking about this this sort of rational insight i really know in my bones from my experience that you know this can all end tomorrow it could anything could happen i could not be able to lift tomorrow that's just a fact that i and and i feel it in every fiber of my body but it doesn't make

Kim Rahir: me afraid it makes me more determined to make today you know the best day it can possibly be and to you know live everything that i can live today to the fullest so i don't i I don't know if that's, is there some denial in what I'm doing?

Kim Rahir: Maybe, maybe, but I'm not, I'm, I'm really totally aware that this is, you know, not a given forever, that this is actually a very fragile sort of state of, of happiness and health.

Kim Rahir: But instead of sort of scaring me, it just gives me this determination to make the most of it right now.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Lowe: I absolutely love that. You know, it kind of goes back to the way in which we all can choose how we see the glass, whether half full or half empty, you know, and if you have that choice to make and you're really wanting to make the most out of every day, why not choose to see it as half full, you know, and that's so powerful.

Kevin Lowe: Now, today, what are you doing?

Kevin Lowe: Where can people learn more about what you're doing and really just kind of stay plugged in with your world?

Kim Rahir: Well, what you can do if you want to find out about what I do in my work with women, help them to become strong and lean, you can check out my website, which is with my name, Kim Raheer.com.

Kim Rahir: And there's also a free health and strength assessment on there that you can take because remember that point of entry I was talking about that will give you a very good idea of where you are at right now with your health and strength and when you fill that out I can I'm sending you some pointers and tips on you know what you could do next to get started if you you know don't want to engage like that right away you can just start you can lurk a little bit on on Facebook with my My name also, Kim Raheer,

Kim Rahir: where I'm sharing lots of stuff, you know, info, helpful tips, and some of my weightlifting adventures too.

Kim Rahir: Same on Instagram, by the way. You know, just with my name, you can find me.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, amazing. Well, I'll be sure that anybody interested, I'll be sure that all of that information and links, all of it is in the show notes for easy access.

Kevin Lowe: Kim, it's been a pleasure getting to meet you today, to get to hear your story.

Kevin Lowe: And more than just your story is getting to be enlightened by your perspective on life.

Kevin Lowe: I think you are one of those real-life superheroes for the fact that you see life differently and that you were faced with this thing, and yet you chose to persevere.

Kevin Lowe: You chose to keep going And look at where you are today. It's such a beautiful story.

Kim Rahir: Thank you so much.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, I have one final question and then I'll let you go.

Kevin Lowe: But my final question is, is for somebody listening today who maybe they're going through their own struggles, whether it's something physical, maybe mental, something that hasn't been a position in life, maybe back where you were during those six months.

Kevin Lowe: What would you say to them to give them a little bit of hope and encouragement?

Kim Rahir: I want to say there's only one question that you want to ask yourself in order to get better and to feel better.

Kim Rahir: Do not ask, why is this happening?

Kim Rahir: Who is to blame? How did this happen?

Kim Rahir: Or why is this happening to me? Or don't even ask what's going to become of me.

Kim Rahir: Ask this one single question. what can I do right now that will make me just a little bit better and there's always something that you're going to find and that could be the smallest of things like listening to bird song having a glass of water or calling a loved one whatever it is but if you ask that one tiny question what can I do right now that will get you on a path of doing something instead of pondering and fearing, and it will create momentum and it will help you get out of the place you're in right now.

Kevin Lowe: Wow. Kim, you're amazing. You are absolutely incredible. Thank you once again for being here.

Kim Rahir: Thank you so much for having me. You're such a lovely host.

Kim Rahir: And I know that the feelings that I've been talking about, you know, all about them.

Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, for you listening today, I hope that you're smiling as big as I am because this woman today, wow, she just brightened my day and I hope she did yours as well.

Kevin Lowe: If today's episode resonated with you, if it made you think of somebody who could use a little boost to their day, maybe consider sharing today's episode with them.

Kevin Lowe: That would mean the world to me. And I know that it would mean the world to them. Until next time, of course, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this was another interview here on Grit Great.

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