This evening, I had a most inspiring talk with the legendary legend of living legends, Diamond Dallas Page, also known as DR. Dallas Page to me. He has given me such practical and simple advice, with no smoke and mirrors or slick tricks to self-improvement. Dallas Page is working on a new series of exercises using yoga techniques, but "this is not your mamma's yoga" as he says on his website, and he is not overstating that by any stretch (yoga) or not! For nearly two months, I have been practicing his WAKE UP dvd, which incorporates some pretty decent challenges and postures for first thing in the morning, all within 30 minutes. I have also tried different routines he offers in his very approachable way, as only Dallas Page can, several other dvds which have a lot of routines that I find interesting and challenging. Davey Boy would have loved this stuff, even though he was a die-hard power-lifter. Davey would really have been hooked for life on Dallas' diversified workouts and techniques. His Double Black Diamond DVD, which I have on loan to my very flexible and powerful son Harry, is about the toughest workout I have done, and these work-outs are not using weights.
I am still reeling from my phone call, and just getting ready for my bedtime, as all the kittens and my dog are waiting for me to climb into bed with them, so I will just briefly say a few things more things that DR. Dallas Page has told me, which I believe keep me motivated a lot more than anything I have read in fitness magazines. He said to me, "How do you want to look and feel in five years, Diana?" I answered, "Better than I look and feel now." Then he asked me, "Diana, how do you want to look and feel when you are sixty-five?" I replied, "I want to be healthy, not just look like I am, and I want to look healthy, Dallas."
He suggested that I might very well become one-hundred years old and if that was the case, or however old (or young, as he phrased it) I live to be, would I want to be struggling with my health or be mobile and respectively healthy and happy? I, of course thought that probably wouldn't happen--me living to be one-hundred years old, but after thinking about it over a few days, and then many more times since, I realise it could happen, but no one knows how long they will be here, so why not prepare for it every day live better. My father lived to be eighty-eight and my brothers Dean and Owen each lived only to see their thirty-fourth birthdays.
If we are here for many more years or just a few, I decided Dallas was absolutely right in suggesting that if we are here for another day or many years, why not try to make the most of our time here. I have my bad days and my good days, and sometimes I don't want to do much other than sleep and even wallow in self-pity. When that phase gets out of my system, I think about what Dallas said and I am inspired to do my best until I can't. Whether it is because I have to go to sleep or because I am missing someone who I can't ever see again, I understand I have my ups and downs, but my ups are taking care of me so much better lately that I can recover from my downs much easier. I am doing well on my up days and those get better all the time too; if I am going to live to be ninety-five, then I will be ready (more ready at least) for it when the time comes, in better ways than if I just let myself go. I don't want to be suffering for any of my remaining life, and that can be helped along by taking better, sometimes the best even, care of myself now, while I am able to, when I am able to.
I am now enjoying the wheat-free and dairy-free lifestyle, which I gradually accepted after meeting Dallas Page at this past Wrestlemania, and he promoted this way of eating with enthusiasm, but without pressure. He showed me pictures of people whom he helped, and seeing is believing for sure. They were incredible--the pictures showed tremendous positive changes in people, not only in their drastic weight loss, but also in their flexibility and in how they looked. They definitely were changed for the better. I was captivated by the way in which Dallas Page talked about his friends, these people he helped. He was inspiring and I wondered if he perhaps had not missed his calling in this life to be a minister or a motivational speaker, without the yelling, as some do speak loudly when they 'motivate'. It didn't happen overnight and sometimes things sneak by me that are not supposed to, but I have been virtually wheat and dairy free for about six months, and I really do feel better. This is all because I was fortunate enough to spend a few minutes with Dallas and my son Harry, only a few months ago and his words made so much sense to me.
No, Dallas Page did not miss his calling as a motivivational and inspirational speaker, for he is motivating people everywhere he goes laready. I probably would never have met him had he not become the wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page, so I am truly grateful that he became a wrestler, as well as everything else he has accomplished in his fulfilling and not easy life. I am one of the many fortunate fans who has met him and since, been coached by him over the phone to see how I am and to continue to encourage me. He told me how much he cares about his fellow wrestlers and his fans and about people in general, and if anything he says or promotes or creates works to benefit a better life for any of us, then he is happy. He is sincere when he says this and I am sincere in writing this about him. He is a really nice guy! He lives what he speaks and also eats what he speaks about too. For that matter, he stretches what he talks about as well. He is real and very nice for real.
I am better in my health and well-being in general is greatly improved over the past few months. My diet had drastically changed, I have incorporated yoga into my fitness routines, I train in jiu jitsu with my son Harry and daughter Georgia, and I am watching my children grow up and persue their truest dreams. Why wouldn't I want to live to be one-hundred, if this is how great life can be. It can be, and tonight it is a really good place to be. I am really grateful to see tonight how truly blessed I have been.
