A journey to 'self-validation and purpose'

COUPLE AUTHORS BOOK DOCUMENTING HUSBAND’S CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES

Jason Gabak

From her days growing up in Elbridge, Lori Ann King’s life has taken her many places. From Central New York to Colorado back to New York State and most recently King and her husband made a move to the Southwest when they decided to relocate to New Mexico after her husband Jim retired from his work as a personal trainer.

Throughout all of these moves there has been one constant in King’s life, writing.

Turning aspects of her own life into prose, King has had work published in multiple outlets including the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series as well as publishing her own books such as “Wheels to Wellbeing: A Practical Self-Care Guide to Living a More Balanced Life,” “Transform: Building the Mindset to Change Your Body and Your Life,” and “Come Back Strong, Balanced Wellness after Surgical Menopause.”

Most recently King teamed up with her husband for a new work titled “Raging Love: An Athlete’s Journey to Self-Validation and Purpose.”

Like his wife, Jim, has pursued many paths in his life.

Jim is a U.S. military veteran, a West Point graduate, a certified personal trainer, 1992 American Drug-Free Deadlift national champion and sport nutritionist. The book, published by Europe’s leading sports publisher, Meyer & Meyer Sport, explores Jim’s journey from playing sports to achieving the ultimate success by becoming a powerlifting national champion and setting an unofficial world record.

According to a press release from the couple on the new book, it was when Jim stepped away from the ball, resolved his anger issues, and began assisting others in their journeys to greatness that he found peace and happiness.

“Having been driven my rage for so many years, it is easy for me to spot when athletes are running from something or over-using their sport as an outlet for anxiety or discontent,” Jim said. “My goal is to inspire them to find peace and happiness earlier in their life and hopefully, with less struggle.”

According to the press release, Jim spent a lifetime filled with a deep ache and emptiness inside as he constantly strove to prove his worth. This left him exhausted and isolated. So often he used sports to outrun his pain.

Rage stemming from childhood traumas served him well in sports, but not so well in his life and relationships.

He worked hard to release the demons of his childhood, he said. “Being oppressed made me more sensitive to others living with oppression,” Jim said. “Racial discrimination helped me become more compassionate toward all human beings regardless of their color, age, race, gender, sexuality or other difference.”

The book is described as something akin to the hero’s journey following Jim as an athlete rising to fame as an angry, chronically injured powerlifting champion who discovers that success does not equal happiness. After the hollow victory, he fell into a state of unease and discontentment, and then rose again, finding happiness and purpose. In the book Jim and his wife explore including Jim’s challenges and struggles with bullies, physical limitations, childhood abuse, disappointments, oppression, and racism—and how he evolved and adapted over seven decades all while learning to serve and develop the talents of others in a story they call a tale of perseverance and purpose, evolution, discipline, forgiveness and self-love. This latest book in very much inline with King’s other works. Many of these themes have also been prominent in King’s own books. For instance she recalled growing up in Elbridge King recalled that at the age of 10 she told her father the one thing she wanted for Christmas was for him to quit smoking because she was afraid she was going to lose him. She went so far as to write the message, “PLEASE STOP SMOKING! I’m afraid you’re going to die,” on a poster. According to King this made for an emotional Christmas morning but at the time it seemed her wish would go unmet.

But a year later King’s father would grant his daughter’s wish, something she said has had a positive effect on both their lives ever since.

King’s story can be found along with more than 100 other personal stories in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Is in the Air.”

King is a two-time contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Her first story in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, “Choosing Joy, came out in 2019’s “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, Live

Happy,” and is about the devastating surgery that changed her life overnight and how she took responsibility for her health and mindset to be more positive and live with joy.

King also detailed this experience in her first book.

At the age of 43, Lori Ann King had to undergo a full hysterectomy, an experience that changed the course of her life.

“I went into surgery expecting one result and came out with another,” King said. “I went into surgical menopause. This was very difficult. It was much earlier than most women go through it and in some ways more intense.”

But King, who has spent much of her life focused on health and wellness, decided to try to put words to her journey and share it with other women who faced the same set of circumstances she did.

The result was King’s first book, “Come Back Strong,” which details her experiences as well as shares her insights into how she coped with these changes in her life and the path to living her best life.

An Elbridge native, King is the daughter of Mary Lou and Richard Foster. After graduating from high school, King went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in recreation in Colorado before returning to the area to pursue graduate studies at Syracuse University.

She said writing is something she had long held an interest in and through her work in the health and wellness world she had started blogging.

When the opportunity to share a piece on her experience with surgical menopause came up, she found that her story contained more than the standard blog generally contains.

“I was doing a lot of writing, a lot of blogging and I came across a blog run by a woman in Africa,” King said. “She asked me to share something on my experience. I started writing and I ask how long she wanted it to be. She wanted 400 words and I had 4,000.”

King decided to keep writing and see where the words took her. “I was really happy with the work and I wanted to see where this would go,” King said. “She understood and told me to keep going. Coming full circle we eventually made an excerpt and shared it on her blog, but it turned into a full book.”

The book is currently available on a variety of formats including paperback and digital versions through numerous outlets such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble among others. “It is exciting to have this journey and now to be able to stand here and have a copy of my book in my hands, it is an amazing feeling,” King said.

Even more impressive to King has been the response she has received so far for her work.

“I have had really good feedback,” King said. “I have had a lot of people tell me they have enjoyed the book or they have learned something from it or they could relate to it. That has been incredible. I never expected to have such a great response to this.”

After her first book came out, King said she had more writing planned in the future as well as appearances for readings and talks about her current work.

From her book to her latest entry into the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, King hopes other women can continue to relate to her message. “I want women to know they can take control of their situations,” King said. “They can take control of their lives and we can live the kind of life we want to live.” SWM