Dr. Aziz runs on a San Diego beach and shares how he recovered from decades of chronic pain diagnosed as ankylosing spondylitis through mind-body work and coaching. He now runs marathons and offers practical steps like self-compassion and mapping your problems to show that sustained inner work actually changes your life.
Ankylosing spondylitis
15 years
About 21 years ago (from the time of the video)
15 miles
No matter where you're at, it gets better. I promise. I'm doing a run right now. I'm in San Diego along this beach. And I had to stop to share in this little video with you because you might be struggling right now. I work, you know, I hear from a lot of people who are struggling in confidence in their lives. They're stuck in a relationship that doesn't serve them, and they're scared to leave. They're stuck in a job that doesn't work for them, and they don't know what to do. They feel lonely. They can't create the relationship that they want. They feel uncomfortable being themselves around people. Their critic is just tearing them apart in their minds. This is the world that I'm in, helping people every day. And no matter where you're at, no matter how bleak it seems, I promise you, it gets better. It really does. If you're willing to grow, if you're willing to do the work. And the work is to see how you're not right with yourself, see how you're turning on yourself. The work is self compassion, self love, finding what's the way you turn on yourself and pick on yourself and starting to change those patterns and then taking risks in the world, seeing what actually happens when you put yourself out there, when you face your fear. And it gets better. And sometimes it's fast and sometimes it's slow. You know why I'm stopping during the run to shoot this little video? Because, man, 20 years ago, at this point, 21 years ago, started having intense chronic pain. Had to stop all sports, all running, everything. Went to all kinds of doctors, got all kinds of diagnoses, eventually got diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. Was given a medication to suppress my immune system. I took that medication for 15 years. I believed I was broken. I was scared to run. I was scared to lift anything. I stopped lifting weights. I stopped playing the guitar. I was just getting injured. Everything was getting injured. My wrists were getting injured, my feet were getting injured. My neck was getting injured, my jaw was getting injured. Everything was injured. I had diagnoses up the wazoo. And it was dark. It was bleak. Several times when I was in intense pain, I thought about ending my own life. I was like, I can't live another whatever years like this. If this is my life, this much pain, you know, forget this. But I didn't. I stayed in it. And I kept growing bit by bit. And at times I didn't even think it was possible. I was working on growth in other areas like, my confidence, but I was like, my health. Well, that's just my body. I got a. I really thought I got a broken body. This is what I was given. Maybe you think you have a broken body or you're broken socially or you're broken in love. Like, you can never. Oh, I got. Whether it was from birth or from your upbringing, like, oh, my parents messed me up and now I can never love. I can never have a relationship. Whatever the story is, it's just a story. And bit by bit, I healed and I grew and I discovered the mind body connection. There's a connection between the way I feel, my physical body and my emotions. And I grew into that. I did the same inner work. Let me read, let me study, let me apply. And then I got coaching. I believe in coaching. That's why I do it. I got coaching from people at the pain care clinic who really helped me make a huge breakthrough. Beyond the books I was reading, the next thing you know, I was running. Next thing you know, I was off my medication. Next thing you know, I'm running a marathon. Now I'm running 15 miles on the beach. And it. How I couldn't even imagine how good it would be. And that's just my physical area of my life. Amazing relationship, which I spent years being afraid to even put myself out there and talk to someone, let alone thinking I could have an amazing relationship with the partner. That's not someone you settle with, but someone that. It's like, oh, they're this and this and this. Like, it can be that good. And that's what I want for you. And that is your destiny if you stay in it. So don't push this away. Don't say, oh, that's bullshit. That's not true. That's not for me. That's lucky. Oh, he's got it this way. Like, I've been in the pit, and I know that when you're in it, it's hard to see. But listen to this. Like, watch this again and again. There is a way out. You will get out. Here is one thing I want to end this video with, which is something I deeply believe and something I tell myself now whenever I feel stuck or frustrated or, oh, that's not going to work. Every problem has a solution. Every problem has a solution. And whatever you're facing right now is just a series of problems. It might feel like an overwhelming amount of problems, in which case you can do something called a problem map, where you just draw out, you know, get a sheet of paper and write out. What are. You know, put circles and put, like, what are all the problems that I'm facing right now? Maybe you got 10 circles, maybe you got 50 circles. I don't know. But whatever it is, every single one of those problems has a solution. You just haven't found it yet. And as you progressively solve each problem, you get to new stages in your life. New things open up, and things get better and better and better and better. And guess what? There's still problems to solve. I still have a problem map, and we're always growing, so thanks for being with me. I'm gonna get back to my run. You're awesome. I love you. You can do this. Talk to you soon.
