When I started out in practice i felt like i knew a lot of things. I was eager to treat people. I was eager to see people feel better and perform at their best. Opening up inside of a gym has been an outstanding way to go. I met people that have helped me understand from the athlete side of view what training for hard competitions is like. I have learned what powerlifting is like. I have seen very strong people do incredible things. I have seen people new to exercising make great changes in their lives.
As I began practice I was told to keep overhead as low as possible. And in some ways I have done that. I have learned what working off of a budget is like. I have learned that certain things are worth having in office, while others can wait a little longer. From this I learned how to gain a small following via social media, mostly Instagram. What’s better than short videos showing what you do to demonstrate value in what you offer. Instagram and youtube are like playing the popularity game. If it looks better than someone else’s then you get more likes and more shares. The goal for us has been to help others, to educate and to mildly entertain. I used to do these daily or weekly thoughts from a doc. They were written on a whiteboard with a dry erase marker. They weren’t amazing and even appealing in their look. However its what I knew. I wasn’t one for talking in front of a camera, which has been still difficult to do sometimes.
Even writing this isn’t much of a strength for me. However, we write when we need to have more clarity.
Here is one of my more current thoughts.
Health is not a destination, but a direction. There is no finish line. We know that there will be a day when our number is up. We live as part of a society, a community. We need to work at not being a liability to our society. Work towards living better and enjoying life better. Living well is within our reach, we just need to do our part.
As a chiropractor I see people with conditions and injuries that I believe should be preventable. I would much rather spend my time teaching prevention toward injury than working on the injury itself. Prevention takes effort and time. Its work. However prevention of an injury takes much less time than treating the injury. Here is the truth: prevention makes you more resilient, more strong and more capable. And even if you get injured, a healthy-ish person heals better faster.
Here are a few things to think about and work towards.
First to Do Not’s:
Do not have Type 2 Diabetes
Do not have pain meds daily. In most cases its not a great preventive measure.
Do not drink your calories. Fresh clean water is best.
Do not sit for the same amount of hours as your sleep.
Do not eat out more than you eat in.
(there are more, but you get the idea)
Next, the Do’s:
Do exercise approx 30-60 minutes 5-7 days a week.
Make your own meals from real food.
Brush your teeth and floss daily.
Find ways to add novel movement to your body everyday.
Read good books.
Have a healthy relationship with yourself, then with others.
Use positive self-talk.
(again there are more, but its a start)
Life is a journey and being healthy makes that journey more enjoyable.
Until next time.
Dr. Steven Bird