"Built to Move" With Dr. Voyles: Who's Going to Carry the Boats?

One of the toughest men to ever walk the earth, David Goggins, wasn't always that way. 

Before he became the David Goggins the world knows today, he was overweight, out of shape, and drifting through life without much purpose.

Then everything changed.

Goggins lost 100 pounds in just three months to become eligible for the U.S. Navy. He went on to complete some of the most demanding military training in the world, including multiple Hell Weeks, and became a Navy SEAL. He has run eight 100-mile races on eight consecutive weekends and pushed his body and mind farther than most people ever imagine possible.

He's an extraordinary human being.

But what's most inspiring isn't what he has accomplished—it's where he started.

In his book Can't Hurt Me, Goggins describes the moment his life changed. He was working as an exterminator, weighing nearly 300 pounds, and realized he was settling for a life far beneath his potential.

That night he watched a documentary about the Navy SEALs and something clicked.

He decided he wanted more from himself.

From that moment forward, he trained relentlessly, changed the way he ate, and committed to becoming someone different. His life changed because his perspective changed first.

Is that really so different from the rest of us?

One of Goggins' most famous questions is:

"Who's going to carry the boats?"

During Hell Week, SEAL candidates carry heavy inflatable boats over their heads while exhausted, cold, and sleep-deprived. Everyone is tired. Everyone hurts. Yet someone still has to lift.

When Goggins asks that question today, he isn't really talking about boats.

He's asking:

Who's going to step up when life gets hard?

Who's willing to do the work?

Who's willing to become the person they're capable of being?

That's a question all of us eventually have to answer.

I think about that often in chiropractic. Healing isn't passive.

It takes showing up to appointments, doing the exercises, changing habits, moving more, sleeping better, and making choices that support the life you want. None of those things are always easy. They require consistency long after motivation fades.

As chiropractors, we don't challenge people because we enjoy making life difficult.

We challenge people because we see what they're capable of becoming.

We believe your body was designed to function better than simply surviving.

So let me leave you with the same question.

Are you where you want to be?

Are you giving everything you have to become the person you're capable of becoming?

Because no one else can carry your boat.

Only you can.