Dr. John A. KingIndigenous Australian. 100% Human. Neo-Noir Novelist. Poet. Speaker. Performance coach. More than a Survivor. Terrible Golfer, Awkward Dancer🕺

Tuck Your Chin And Throw Punches - #dealwithit - living well with PTSD

2 Mar 2018 · 1 min

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1:01

In this monologue, Dr. John A. King recounts one of his final boxing matches, where he faced a challenger 20 years his junior who came from a modern, air‑conditioned gym. The coach warned him that the younger opponent would be fast and aggressive, but also reminded Dr. King that he had trained longer, in harsher heat, and possessed “old man muscle.” The coach’s simple instruction was to “tuck your chin and just throw punches.” Dr. King won the bout, but more importantly he extracted a broader life lesson: when you feel trapped or overwhelmed—whether in the ring or dealing with PTSD—sometimes the simplest, decisive action (tucking the chin and throwing punches) is enough to get by. He frames this anecdote as a metaphor for resilience and coping strategies for living well with PTSD.

Chapters

One of the last fights I ever had was against someone who was 20 years younger than me. He'd come up, he wanted to fight this old guy he heard about who had this old brick gym. And he came from an air-conditioned gym, he turned up with his entourage, and it was on. This kid would go on to be the Everlast champion. So we're in there and the coach pulls me aside and says, listen, it's going to hurt. He's gonna come after you. He said, but he's only trained for 2-minute rounds, you've trained 3 minutes. He's trained in air conditioning, you've trained in 115-degree heat. He said, what I want you to do is tuck your chin and just throw punches. You can make it. You've got old man muscle and you've got something to prove. You know, I won that bout, but I got out of it something far greater. I got a life lesson that when you're on the ropes and you don't know what else to do, Just tuck your chin and throw punches. And sometimes that very simple thing is all we need to get by.