#167 SET THE EXAMPLE

Who do you look to set an example for you?  It’s different people for different things, right?  You might use Lincoln for leadership.  Jack LaLanne for fitness (I’m dating myself).  Stalin if you want to be a homicidal sociopath.  Mother Teresa for perfect giving human.  Bruce Jenner for world class manly man athlete turned woman.  Hey, we all need role models. 
           
            So who are you modeling for?  What are you modeling?  How’s that going?  These are loaded questions that can go far too deep for a one page article, but they are intended to get you to think about the fact that what you do and how you do it makes a difference to someone important to you.  To misquote Sting, “Every breath you take, and every move you make.  Every bond you break, every step you take, ‘someone’s’ watching you.” 
 
            So here’s where this article becomes about me, my favorite subject J.  I didn’t really get that patients were watching me until I was 39 years old.  For the benefit of newer patients, I’m going to relate a bit of my sad hypocritical story.  Let’s say you smoked your whole life and now you have to see a lung specialist for treatment of emphysema.  He might be a great doctor but how much confidence would you have if he took a smoking break in the alley behind his office?  He would be a bad example for you in this pretend scenario, right?    
 
            I have spent 30 years telling people to get adjusted regularly, to exercise routinely, to drink 64 oz. of water daily, to manage weight responsibly, to maintain flexibility, etc…  In other words, to live a healthful lifestyle.  But I did not do that for the first 13 of those 30 years.  I was a bad example.  Then one day in 2000 God said, “Tag you’re it.”  Briefly, I passed out while driving my family on a Memorial weekend trip.  Luckily, I knew that extreme dizziness and chest pain was not a normal sensation so I managed to get the car to the shoulder and in park just before I lost consciousness. 
 
            Long story short.  I did not have a heart attack.  I was 50# fatter with borderline hypertension doing nothing that I was telling my patients to do.  And it changed that day.  Not all at once.  One thing at a time.  First drinking water.  Next, getting serious about my own chiropractic care.  Next was losing some of the weight.  Next was beginning to exercise.  Next was losing some more of the weight.  Next was supplementation.  And on and on.  So over years, not months or weeks, but years, I transformed myself into a much healthier person today at 56 than I was at 39.  Although I’m far from the best example, I’m making my best effort, which is all any of us can ask of ourselves.
 
            The real point of this story is that I have had the same problems that most of my patients have had.  I’ve seen just about everything in 30 years, but when I experience it myself it becomes more real because now it’s personal.  So when I tell you to do something to help your spine or your health, it’s something I’m already doing.  Conversely, I’m not going to tell you to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.  Why waste your time and money with something I wouldn’t waste mine on right?  And if I find something good for my spine and health be certain that I’m going to tell you about it too.  And from this has evolved my 3 Tool +1 model of treatment that we went over in your report of findings.  Now it’s your turn to set the example for your loved ones, one thing at a time.