Strength Is Built When You Show Up
Speaking on the theme Against All Odds at Speaker Slam® in Toronto on Jan 27, 2026, Mark Salatino took the stage with a five minute story.
Transcript
Saturday morning with the sun bouncing on top of my head, my hand shaking and my heart pounding as I open the door to the kickboxing studio for the very first time. What was I doing? This introverted, non-sporty, 60 pounds, overweight, highly anxious. Who is this guy? And yet I opened the door and walked in. One of the instructors, Michael, walked over and got things started. He is showing me uppercut this, right hook that. But I didn't have a clue what all those moves meant.
Slowly, class by class, I started to get the moves. I was so excited that I bought the month membership and another month and another month. I started to see the shift and change in my body as I learned new things, built strength, endurance, and discipline. My real love for that studio was bashing away at the heavy bag. With each kick and [snorts] punch, I could feel the weight of depression falling off of me. You see, for the last 20 years, I was struggling with depression and anxiety when I started my kickboxing journey.
This place is where the studio I can rebuild and release. When my thoughts were weigh me down. When the voices of anxiety start to scream and get loud again. That's where I go back to the heavy bag. That's where I start to find hope. But hope is expensive. All of a sudden, I was starting spiraling downwards again with money worries with unpaid this and unpaid that. I started to think, could I pay the membership the following month, but my dad stepped in with this quiet brand of wisdom.
He offered some financial support that carried me through. My relief was huge. With hope, Dad, and a heavy bag, I could keep going. But see, anxiety was making me go in loops and loops and loops. But I knew I could do more. I started challenging myself. climbing the can tower, complete a 5k run and a half marathon. Who is this guy? This nerdy guy stuck on his computer and being bullied by his voices of anxiety. Now, every time I hear that voice of anxiety, I go straight for the heavy bag or I would go for a run.
When I kick the heavy bag, when I punch it, everything gets lighter. Studies show rising levels of anxiety and depression throughout society. Here's the question to ask. Would those levels drop if everyone had access to a heavy bag? Be honest. Would you feel lighter if you could kick something? It was six years, a thousand classes and 60 pounds ago that I stood outside that studio door for the very first time. I remember that mark. But this mark standing in front of you today is different.
I can feel it now. I can uppercut with skill, right hook, roundhouse kick with the best of them. Now when my voices of anxiety gain loud, I go straight to my heavy bag and know from deep inside that I can rise up against all odds and keep winning. One punch at a time, one kick at a time, one day at a time. Thank you.
Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.