cafe of life – Page 2 – We Only Get One Chance

I AM HONORED

I am honored.

Getting “written up” as a child was not such a good thing. Getting “written up” as an adult is quite a compliment. I am honored to be part of a Today’s Chiropractic Leadership online in a section called “Innovators and Entrepreneurs”

To read the article, click >>>THIS LINK<<<

I am honored to be acknowledged in the same section and on the same page as some of my greatest mentors.

I am honored to be considered worthy enough to grace the pages with some of the greatest and most influential world changers.

I am honored to be on the same page with some of my good friends and colleagues.

I am honored to be respected and acknowledged by LIFE University, the world’s largest and most influential college in the chiropractic profession.

I am honored to be able to serve Fenton, the community I grew up in.

If you are reading this, I am honored to be part of your life in some way big or small.

I am honored that you have allowed me to serve your family and check and adjust your babies.

I am honored I have been the one called to your bedside as your are delivering your babies or are within minutes of bringing them into this world because you understand how important that first adjustment is.

I am honored to be part of such an incredible profession, one that assists with core healing from deep within.

I am honored with every single referral you send and have sent my way.

I am honored to be chosen as an instrument to facilitate healing and be able to use my head, hands and heart as my tools.

I am honored to own and run my beautiful office Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic.

I am honored to have such an incredible team working with me on a daily basis.

I am honored that my own family visits me to get their spines checked on a regular basis.

I am honored to be your chiropractor.

HUMILIATED

I am absolutely humiliated!

A patient walked into the Cafe of LIFE last Wednesday afternoon and asked me where I was earlier that day and why I wasn’t here when my office hours said I would be here.

“What do you mean? I am always here for our office hours Wednesday morning is 7:30a-10a.”

“That is not what your business card says.”

When we looked closer, our business cards have our office hours as “7:30am-1pm”. For months.

Sometimes when reviewing a proof for those kinds of things, the brain will look at something, skim right over an error and make up something completely different. That is exactly what happened.

So in essence it has looked like we just high-tail it out of here whenever we feel like it on Wednesday during that time slot. And if you know me like most of you do by now, I would NEVER do that.

She continued, “Yeah I was talking to my mom and she said ‘well she must just come and go as she pleases.’ You really don’t seem like that kind of a person to me.”

Um…I am NOT that kind of a person and I am not that kind of professional! I feel a lot of responsibility to all of you and there are a lot of people that rely on us. I was born with punctuality and responsibility woven into my fabric, that is just how I am.

So needless to say we looked over all our thousands of card that I ordered just a couple months ago and realized they were all wrong. In the meantime, every person that has come into this office, we always tell them, “Make sure to grab a card at the front desk, our hours are on the back.”

OH. MY. GOODNESS. I am seriously humiliated.

Yes I am only human and there are humans involved in the making and printing process of these things and mistakes can happen.

And by now I am sure you can imagine just how very GRATEFUL I am to this lady who brought this mistake to my attention!!!

The last thing I want to do is look like a slacker, and especially when I am not.

To all of you out there reading this that we may have confused and misled, I apologize and am so humiliated. Live and learn, right? You can bet I will have many different sets of eyes on all future materials like that.

BVI SAILING PICTURE DIARY

In order to have seen many of the pictures of our BVI sailing trip, you would have to have been a friend of mine on Facebook or have come into the Cafe of LIFE. There are quite a few asking about my trip so I wanted to put together a little BVI Sailing Picture Diary for you to take a glance at some of what we did with our 10 days on our sailboat Yacht Emily Morgan.

These are my friends, some really good friends that I have traveled with often. They all live in Denver and are all chiropractors…and have been trying to get me to move out west since I moved home 11 years ago. I met all of them in 2001 within the first week of starting chiropractic college at Life University in Atlanta, GA. I love each of them for what they add to my life, my being and the level of joy and laughter daily, even when we are not together.

These are my feet and this is the front of the boat. The entire trip was absolutely beautiful, as you can tell, and this was such an awesome spot to take it all in.

Christmas morning, we are in the midst of our white elephant gift exchange and I ended up with a selfie-stick which I was totally stoked about!!! My friends, Marco and Scott, and to the right in the picture, is Bones, the owner of the ship, host extraordinaire, comedian, dance instructor, master sailor. We got lucky to be on this boat with him and his wife!!

Later on that day using said “selfie-stick”…

…and then I realized that I hardly needed any friends to take my pictures or be in my pictures because I now had a SELFIE STICK!!!! I am only kidding…that is not really true, we all need our friends.

Then one day Bones took us knee-boarding on the back of the dinghy. It has been since June 24, 1998 since I have been knee-boarding. I remember the date so clearly because I ended up breaking my nose out on Lake Ponemah (a whole different blog post to share that story, maybe). It was super fun to be knee-boarding and of course I can’t help but always try to see what’s still possible on that thing. Here is me doing my best rendition of “Hey Mom!!! Look at me!!!” …only my Mom wasn’t anywhere around. 🙂

Emily Morgan hauls around these paddleboards we could take out anytime we wanted. So much fun although I am not sure I used them all that much. This trip became quite a sedentary trip actually.

But while we were sitting around all day, we would see such BEAUTIFUL rainbows!!! Spectacular rainbows and a few of them each day. I know this picture may not even seem real but this was shot with just an iPhone camera, no zoom. Crazy beautiful place!!!

And while I am at it, enjoy these two beautiful pictures!

Sundown time was some of the coolest lighting of the entire day. I think coupled with the sway of sitting on the boat and about to eat some of the most delicious food, it became our most favorite part of each day.

…it was time for another selfie… 🙂

After the first few days of strictly being only on the boat, we began to crave being on land and would dinghy into shore and get grounded for a few minutes. Sometimes we would find beautiful beaches to hang out on but mostly we just needed to not be moving, swaying and rocking for a few minutes.

I LOVED learning about sail physics and helping with to put sails up and take them down. The greatest part of our trip is our hosts could completely handle the boat themselves and so we could choose how much we wanted to participate in crewing the boat minute by minute. I just loved the raising and lowering of the sails, literally the mechanism that was catching the wind and moving us around these islands…how freakin’ cool is that?!?!?! I am still in awe of how it all works and am excited to find a sailing vessel of some sort this coming summer…maybe windsurfing. Yeah, that sounds about right for me.

This is a picture of my room. These 2 bunk beds that were available to me and I ultimately found that the top one had the best air flow. I do not sleep well when my body is moving (in the car, on a plane and apparently not on a boat either). Aside from a sedentary 10 days, sleeping was the only other downfall of being on the sailboat for me. I am particular about sleep and need certain pillows and support and position and basically the only way to sleep in this bed was to tie up a hammock up to the wall at the head and foot of the bed to keep from rolling out at night as the boat rocks in the waves. This took a while to get used to and then once I was home, it took a while to get use to being in a bed that was not moving. It is interesting to watch the brain try to adapt to all of that!

This is how our days were spent…sitting, sailing and chatting. This particular group of friends are what I consider “growth friends”. We are always presenting ideas, talking things over, offering each other perspective and solving the problems of the world…well our own small worlds if you want to be particular.

Another incredible evening anchored in some beautiful place, rocking in the waves, chatting about the day and prepping to wind down for the night.

New Year’s Eve was spent on the island of Jost Van Dyke at a world famous bar called Foxy’s. It is amazing that among the 3,000 people at this party that I can be dancing around the place and come across a sticker of one of the businesses, Unlimited Offroad, here in Fenton, MI. It amazes me to be thousands of miles away and have evidence of Fenton’s greats right in front of me!!

These guys…the greatest!!!

And these two, Bones and Anna and their beautiful boat Emily Morgan, exceptional is not even the word great enough for them. 24 hours per day for 10 solid days with 6 demanding goofballs in their home…I have no idea how they endure something like that. This is the moment stepping off the boat and parting ways after our 10 days. We were truly like a big happy family with them and we all miss them. You can see in their smiles and in their energy fields, even after 10 FULL DAYS, they have the biggest servants hearts of any people I have seen in a while. Our trip was as amazing as it was due mostly to them. Look them up if ever you are looking to have an exceptional vacation!

So that concludes the BVI sailing picture diary. If think I covered the trip thoroughly as I also strongly believe that pictures tell the best stories. Until next time…I am still “Sailing the Scene, 2016!”

NOBODY IS EXEMPT

Daily, for over 10 years, I have been helping people to increase their health and internal resilience through my job as a Doctor of Chiropractic. Aside from keeping the nerve system free of interference, the chiropractic adjustment, there are NATURAL LAWS OF THE BODY that need to be followed in order to be healthy and remain that way…and nobody is exempt. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, in order to be healthy, you have to do the following:

EAT WELL.

MOVE WELL.

THINK WELL.

REST WELL.

Some of you are doing an exceptional job at committing to health and I don’t want to make a blanket statement but I do want to review what is necessary.

Let’s start with the first…EAT WELL. The body heals by replacing cells. The body and all the cells in it are replaced on a regular basis. The body grows new cells by the building blocks you ingest. Ingest a bunch of junk and you will have weak structure and usually a lot of inflammation. Ingest good healthy food and you will have strong building blocks to construct your cells. AND DRINK YOUR WATER!!! Every single day, yes ALL OF THE DAYS, EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE, you need to DRINK WATER. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, in order to be healthy you have to EAT WELL AND DRINK WATER and nobody is exempt.

Second thing you need to do daily…MOVE WELL. The body is built to move. Every joint in the body is nourished through movement. If we were supposed to be sedentary we would not have nearly as many joints in our bodies. Circulation increases when you move your body and with that oxygen increases as well. Circulation is how nutrients and oxygen are transported though the body and delivered to all organs, tissues, muscles and glands. Muscles also need to be moved and stretched every single day. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, in order to be healthy you have to MOVE WELL EVERY SINGLE DAY and nobody is exempt.

Our quality of life is determined largely by our attitude towards it. Wake up with a smile or wake up with a frown, it is going to set the tone for your entire day. The days add up to weeks, weeks add up to months and then years and life goes by rather quickly. Life is only a fraction of what happens to us, and mostly our reaction to it. Be grateful. Even when things don’t seem to be going your way, be grateful for something. Take some time to express gratitude silently to yourself and maybe even out loud to those around you. It doesn’t matter how old our young you are, in order to be healthy you have to THINK GOOD THOUGHTS IN YOUR LIFE and nobody is exempt. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Smiling Flower

Have you ever really taken time to think about sleep? At night, we literally leave this conscious state and step off to some place while our physical body rests. Sometimes this is to dreamland and sometimes it is quiet and
uneventful. Either way, we sleep. Our body shuts down and goes into restoration mode. It is a time for rebuilding, regrouping, integrating and healing and our bodies require it. Every. Single. Day. It doesn’t matter how old our young you are, in order to be healthy you have to REST WELL, take some down time and rest and nobody is exempt.

Patients come to the Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic Center every week for over 10 years and I help them through the chiropractic adjustment. The greatest thing about chiropractic care is that the adjustment helps keep the body connected to it’s power source, the brain and nerve system, and allows it to do everything it is supposed to do, better and more efficiently. I also do my best to help my patients understand the NATURAL LAWS OF THE BODY. I ask things like “How much sleep have you had lately?” and “How much exercise have you gotten today? This week?” and “How much water have you drank today? This week?” and “What are you doing to handle stress in your life?”

Some reply a resounding “YES! LOTS!!” and I realize that so many are committed to their own health. However, some reply with answers that DO NOT follow the NATURAL LAWS OF THE BODY as described above. These are not laws I just made up…this is really serious business and involves your body and your life.

WE HAVE TO DO WHAT WE KNOW WE NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO BE HEALTHY AND THAT’S IT!!!

There are no shortcuts.

There is no easy way.

There is no magic pill.

I talk about water on most of your visits because the importance of being properly hydrated is underestimated. But now you have to go out there into your life and DRINK YOUR WATER!!! You have to, that is all there is to it.

I love you and this is why I am expressing to you the fact that it doesn’t matter how old or young you are, in order to be healthy you have to FOLLOW THE NATURAL LAWS OF THE BODY and NOBODY IS EXEMPT!!!! Got it? Now get out there and get to work!!! 🙂

LUCKY

I was a lucky kid. I got my spine checked and adjusted by a chiropractor for as long as I can remember. I went to an office right here in town where CRUST is located right now. My mom took my brothers and I at least once per month to make sure we were growing and developing normally.

This morning I started a woman under care that is 82 years old. She was an absolute delight and she got talking about this “old chiropractor that used to be right downtown Fenton” that she used to go to and take her children when they were growing up.

It just so happens to be the same chiropractor that my family went to.

I have to share the story she shared with me. You all know we see a lot of children at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic however sometimes I don’t get a chance to really share much of the “WHY” we see children.

She started off with a story of her son, when he was 10 years old, decided to parachute off the neighbor’s roof using an open umbrella. Mary Poppins flew around with an umbrella and everyone can probably see exactly why a child might try to make that happen.

This young man came crashing down and fortunately wasn’t hurt too badly…or so they thought at the time.

The very next morning this young boy woke up and couldn’t talk. He could move his mouth but no voice or sound would come out. They immediately went to see their medical doctor. That doctor ran all kinds of test on this young boy, all tests were negative. They sent him home with breathing treatments and some sort of cough syrup. While he was on breathing treatments and syrup, he was able to do some talking but it had to be a constant daily regimen. It never resolved it, just kept symptoms at bay. After some time, the medical professionals recommended surgery to help this issue however they only gave them 50/50 chance of regaining his voice and the other half was losing his ability to vocalize completely.

Mom started wondering “how am I going to tell this 10 year old boy that he cannot talk much and cannot talk loudly and to save his voice?”

Her chiropractor at the time mentioned that maybe she should bring him in and see if he could help with this issue.

“Talking and voice issues and chiropractic care?” Ultimately she decided this has to be better than surgery and they would give it a try. Within just a few short months of starting regular chiropractic care, he healed. His voice and ability to vocalize returned to normal.

So how does this work? Children jump and fall and traumatize their bodies all the time. The nerve system is the master control center of the body and is housed within the spinal column. If there is interference in the connection wires of the nerve system, the body cannot heal and grow and develop as normal and all kinds of things can be a little bit “off”. Over time, that little bit “off” can build up leading to further stress and even further diminished communication within the body, and potentially symptoms. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Umbrella

The nerves in the neck supply all the things in the head, face, shoulders, arms and hands. Guess what? Vocal cords and ability to use your voice is controlled by nerves in the neck. If the nerves are off, thing can go a little haywire. This young man had interference in the nerves in the neck even though he did not fall and land on his head.

The bottom line is the body works better with a good nerve supply. Does chiropractic care fix voices? No, we help normalize the body and allow it to heal. Chiropractic care was discovered when an adjustment restored hearing to a man that had gone deaf. Does that mean chiropractic care cures deafness? No, not a chance. We are always assisting the body to do its job better…all of its jobs.

I feel so lucky to have been checked and adjusted since I was little. If you ask all of my brothers, they would say the same thing and are choosing the same for their children right now. Fortunately for me, I get to care for those precious littles since we all live close to each other.

If we take care of the spine in the younger stages of life, there is a higher potential of growing, healing and developing normally and that is why we see so many children at the Cafe of LIFE. I loved this woman’s story because I think we all know a child or were a child that thought we could fly or at least wanted to give it a try!! I also love this story because it reminded me of where my love for chiropractic first started.

I am opening up this conversation to everyone. If you have questions about your children and how chiropractic could help them, reach out and let me help you understand better. Email me at erica@cafeoflifefenton.com. I would love to hear from you!

I AM NOT CRAZY

I know what you are thinking, “what is she up to now?!?!” I have to write this post and just globally announce that I AM NOT CRAZY!!!!

I am selling my house. Yes, I have been so grateful and blessed to call a cozy place on a beautiful lake south of town “home” for the past 3.5 years. SO. VERY. VERY. VERY. GRATEFUL.

As I was headed out the door for a run 3.5 years ago, my mom called me to ask if I would ever consider living on the lake (they live on the other side of said lake). The very first thing that came out of my mouth is “that would be great if I had somebody to do that with.”

I pondered that thought for my entire run and it became very apparent that very thought was an incredibly limited belief about myself and my situation. I called her right back and said “YES!!!”…and the rest is history. Fenton Chiropractor Lake 2

So fast forward 3.5 years later, with a for sale sign out in front of my house, and everyone is calling me CRAZY!!! “You have got to be CRAZY to move off the lake!” “Are you nuts, you live in a beautiful home!” “I heard a rumor your home is for sale, are you out of your mind?”

All of you know that owning a home is a lot of work. Adding the word “lake” in front of that word “home”, adds a lot more work on top of that. I am not one to shy away from work and I have a lot of maintenance things hired out to keep my life simpler.

My biggest challenge is that everything on the lake weights 60-80lbs or more and there are so many routine things that I cannot do at all because things are so CRAZY heavy. I am just one single gal and I truly have to call people over to help me on so many occasions.

Everyone will say “Oh, but that is simple for you…you have 3 brothers to help you with all that stuff.” Well there is some truth to that and they step up every single time they can, however, they have their own lives and families and it is tough sometimes to coordinate schedules to make things happen.

I absolutely love the lake I am on and I practically grew up here though we didn’t have a house right on the water. However, like I mentioned above, my Mom and step-dad are on the other side of the lake and in the summer, my brothers and their families hang out there almost every weekend. Therefore, I am rarely at my house at all. I would much prefer being with everyone else and playing with the kids as they learn about their world, about the water and how to swim. We spend hours and hours chatting, playing, listening to music and the squeals of the children, and making and sharing food together. That is what I want to spend my time doing and the greatest part of this is that I do not have to give any of that up. My family will live in the house they are in for many, many, many more years to come.

I have a beautiful pontoon boat that I keep at my house. It is a running joke on the lake, and some think I AM CRAZY that it never leaves my dock. I took it out a total of 3 times last summer and 4 the summer before that. If my family is out on my parents boat, why would I undo my boat and be separated from them? Trust me, I AM NOT CRAZY!

I have a family home and I do not have a family. I AM NOT CRAZY for making this decision, I am just one single gal and that is too much house for me anymore.

It is true that I will miss my view and my garage. I am down-sizing and moving into town really close to my practice. I AM NOT CRAZY, I have plans to eventually live on another lake down the road sometime. For now, this is the next right move for me. Fenton Chiropractor Lake

It seems backwards and so strange when I tell others of this move. I always feel like I have to justify the fact that I AM NOT CRAZY and then I go into my long list of reasons that I am choosing what I am.

I will absolutely miss this house. If you know me at all, you know I have put some blood, sweat and tears into creating a home here. Homes that are loved show you they are loved, that is apparent to anyone who walks in my front door.

I remember moving out of my last chiropractic office location and into the location where the Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic lives today. When I left that location, it had been a chiropractic office spot for over 50 years. I didn’t buy the office from someone, it just so happened they were moving their practice out when I was moving my practice in. When the final day came in that space, it was incredibly emotional for me. It just so happened to be the spot my brothers and I would go to see our chiropractor while growing up. As a child I ran through those halls I was now serving in. I also knew that we would be able to offer such a superior experience with so much more space and a better fit in our new building and that is exactly what has happened.

This feels a lot like that move. It will probably be even more emotional because it has been a sanctuary for me, a refuge at the end of my day and a nest to settle into at night.

In retrospect, maybe it would have been great if I had somebody to live in this lake house with Maybe that would have made it simpler and easier, or at least I could have had built-in help for carrying heavy things. (On a side note, I would allow all of you to call me CRAZY if I married someone just so I would have help carrying things). But I also know and fully trust that it is the next right move for me and it is going to lighten the load, free up my time and allow life to be so much fuller and richer in my new spot, right in town, right by my practice. That will become my sanctuary, refuge and nest to settle into at night.

Ultimately I did choose to live here and though the seed was planted by someone else, I let it grow and become my current reality, which truly is beautiful and I am so blessed.

I also have found that when life gets a little uncomfortable, that is when the magic really happens.

Yes, I am in tears, this is incredibly uncomfortable. It is so much simpler to stay in a place than to move It is so much more comfortable to not make waves and shake up my life and have to pack everything up and unpack a home of boxes on the other end. But I hope you can hear in my words that I am stunted here in this most beautiful place I call home right now and it would serve me better to let go and move forward. It is also well thought-out and I rest peaceful knowing that, though it looks like a strange move from the outside, I AM NOT CRAZY!!!! Rather, I am just doing my best to live my fullest life possible and I HOPE YOU ARE TOO!!!! …and as a side note, there is a really great, very loved home for sale on Runyan Lake if you are in the market.

THE TIME WE HAVE

This short clip is talking about the time we have and is represented in jellybeans. It is a brilliant picture representation of our life.

Watch until the end…profound, profound message about what if today was the only day, what would you do?

Let me know what you think about the time we have, the time I have, the time you have. It is all so very short. I have been attending an online course and realizing actions steps need to be taken TODAY!!! Get out there and make it the kind of day you want! The kind of life you want!!! We only get one chance…

THE MOTH

“I will be on that stage someday” I said to my friend, Ameena, when as we were leaving The Circus Bar in Ann Arbor after “The Moth” StorySlam live event for the first time in early 2014. Ameena sent out a mass Facebook message earlier that day to my Book Club to see if anyone wanted to attend a “story-telling” event in Ann Arbor with her. I had been in the process of studying “The Art of Storytelling” for the past couple years and when I saw it was a live storytelling event, I jumped on the chance to attend.

I do my best to reply “yes” to any invite (within reason) that is thrown my way. I enjoy opening my eyes and mind to new things and ideas, and I tend to get involved in rich, rewarding experiences that start by simply replying “yes”.

Some of you may know of, or already listen to “The Moth”, but let me set the scene.
The Ann Arbor venue holds just over 300 people and all walks of life attend these events. The night consists of 10 volunteer storytellers from the audience. The stories need to be 5 minutes long, true, based on the theme set for the evening, and notes are not allowed. There are 3 sets of judges that are chosen from the audience and there is a Chiropractor Fenton Michigan The Moth 2 “winner” that advances on to a larger venue and then on to the “Moth Ball“, a huge event in New York City. While people are telling stories, a warning whistle blows at 5 minutes. Once 6 minutes has passed, another longer whistle blows and points can be deducted due to time. There is an awesome host or hostess that MC’s the evening and weaves their own stories in and around the storytellers as well as sharing “micro-stories” that the audience members have written out.
Throughout the evening, the stories are being recorded; both video recorded as well as audio and “The Moth” shares these stories on NPR, Michigan Public Radio and their podcast that is broadcasted everywhere.

The event happens monthly and I only missed a couple in the past year. I have also been listening to the podcast regularly and look forward to every new episode. Humans are so interesting and everyone has a story to tell. Because I have been on the hunt for rich, rewarding experiences in my life, I have some really cool, fun, awesome and interesting stories, a few of them brewing for the opportunity to match up with a theme at one of these events.

The StorySlam in December happened just before the holidays and while I was in Ann Arbor that night, it came to my attention that the theme for January would be “cold”. PERFECT!!! One of my stories finally matches up!!! That night I committed to getting myself up on that stage in January.

So I began to rehearse my story. I rehearsed it over and over and over, probably about 30 times to my empty house over the month. There was not a lot of feedback when I performed my story to my empty couches, but it allowed me the chance to get details figured out and hone in my words.
The event was on a Tuesday and was drawing near. As the days ticked by, I became more and more nervous. I do well in front of crowds once I get up there, but the time leading up to it can be absolutely overwhelming with nausea from nerves.

Monday that week, I am going through my regular day at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic and when I would have a moment to think about getting on stage the next day, I would make myself sick. Monday night I could hardly sleep. Tuesday I woke up a little tired and my day was busy as usual. It didn’t help that these nervous feelings were taking over my body. I was getting myself so worked up about it I reached out to a friend. His reply, “If you get there tonight and you feel like doing it, then do it. If not, then who cares!”

Right.

I realized in that moment that it was my perfectionist nature that was creating the stress and if I just let it go and decided to be my imperfect self, I could settle some nerves and step into a powerful place of vulnerability.
I also knew I didn’t have a choice in the matter that evening…this was my evening to make it happen and to live more fully, I just couldn’t let this chance pass me by.
I practiced my story 4 more times on my ride down to Ann Arbor. I walked into the place, signed the rights away on my story and took my seat. A friend had gotten food for me and a little liquid courage which always helps.
The stories started and as they would randomly draw names from the bag, the nerves were so overwhelming, I didn’t know if I was going to implode or explode and decided the only possible way to make it through would be to use my breath to calm me down. I also put a piece of gum in my mouth just so I could stimulate my parasympathetic, relaxation response.

After the first 2 storytellers went, my name was called. I threw the gum out of my mouth, may or may not have said a swear word and up I went.

“YOLO is a trending term. Everyone has been using the concept of “You Only Live Once” that it has been reduced down to these 4 letters. It was 1994, I was 17 years old and I was in love…”

I knew my story was a crowd-pleaser and I knew they would get a kick out of it. I was surprised it was actually easier to tell the story onstage than at home. When I practiced on my own, I didn’t have the response of 300+ people laughing and cheering the story on. Onstage, I could feel all that presence and was also able to remain calm and mindful enough to make my words clear, rhythmical and tell a really good story.

I had a friend record it for me and was able to watch myself on stage and I am proud of what I did.
I didn’t win “The Moth” StorySlam that night but it was a huge win in my life. It was something I wanted to do for over a year and decided to bust through any barriers, physical and mental, and make it happen.

Through the years, I have decided I am not going to be sitting on the sidelines of life and letting experiences pass me by. I often get private messages on Facebook and through email asking me “do you have a terminal diagnosis? Are you dying or why are you making all this stuff happen? What is driving you? What is your motivation?” It is simple…we only live once and my plan is to squeeze as much juice out of my days, weeks, months and years as I possibly can.

That Tuesday night is only the beginning of my time onstage at “The Moth”. I am not sure it will be easier the next time I do it. What I do know is that I did it, I went to battle with the perfectionist that lives inside of me and won, I found some strength sharing my story standing in vulnerability, I survived and made it out the other side more fully alive, That is what life is all about.

MY TRIBE

I never really felt the word “my tribe” until I went on my last vacation over the holidays. This is my tribe.

We have a resonance, ride the same wavelength.
We look at life through a similar lens.
We were familiar to each other from the beginning.
We laugh louder and harder together.
We mastermind.
We play. Like kids, we play.
We call each other out on limiting beliefs.
We call each other to be bigger people than we currently are and hold one another accountable.
We love in a really big way, each other and the world.
We bounce ideas off one another and truly gain so much from the other’s perspective.
We live fully and loudly and that is magnified when we are together.
We make our little crazy lives and ideas seem “normal” when we are together.
We have worked so hard, dug and excavated all kinds of stuff in order to uncover more of who we each are at our core. We did a lot of that work together and have tremendous trust in one another.
When there is time to shift and change and grow, a gentle space is held for when one stumbles.
We dance and sing. A lot! Fenton Chiropractor My Tribe
We can be our authentic selves, and it is encouraged.
We love life and remind each other to remain keenly aware of how blessed we are in our individual lives…and also as a group.
We have seen each other at our worst and helped to elevate that space.
We serve others and realize service is the key to happiness.
We have learned love, loss and so many other life lessons together.
We have great respect for one another.
We plan and plot and scheme.
We are family but we are so very different from our own blood-family.

That is my tribe and I wish all of you had a chance to get to know all of them. They are some of the most incredible people and my life would not be quite as rich without them. There is a great line in the Broadway play “Wicked” that goes something like this…

“Because I’ve known you, I’ve been changed for good.” This is my tribe.

SISTER

As many of you know, I grew up with 3 brothers. Can you guess how many days were 3 against 1? All of them and what I would have given to have a sister.
This past holiday season, I spent 11 days with really close friends in the sunshine on the beach. We have traveled quite a bit together over the years. None of us have any kids, so life is simple right now, and while it is, we will travel.
We have had many different accommodations through the years, however, this is the first year we have had a rental house that we all stayed under one roof. At the last minute, a girlfriend of ours joined us. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Sister The original plan was I would have my own bedroom but now that she was coming, we would be sharing.
Vacation is meant for relaxation and recharging and I have to admit, the idea of sharing a room wasn’t ideal. I have a sleeping issue and unless I have just the right bed, and just the right pillows, and just the right temperature, and just the right amount of noise, I have a challenge getting to sleep. So adding another person for 10 nights seemed overwhelming and not relaxing.
This girlfriend of mine, Allie, I have known for almost 15 years. We have been friends since the moment I met her and have navigated many of life’s ups and downs together. We truly go WAY back!!
The first night, I slept like a baby. It was almost as if I had a guardian angel with me. Truly that is what my sweet friend Allie has become. She is an amazing chiropractor and a powerful woman, however she is so much more than that. She is a healer, an intuitive and she lives to serve and nurture others. We had 6 chiropractors under one roof and she was the one most of us wanted to be adjusted by. We shared in the adjusting duties but she was busy all week checking and adjusting all of us.
As a group of 6, we would spend our days running and playing and dancing and singing and surfing and eating and making movies and clowning around. We would talk about deep topics and superficial topics, topics that effect our day to day as well as those that effect our entire lives.
Then we would all finish our days and head to our respective resting places. Allie and I would shut the door to the outside world and usually pull out our phones. We would chat for a bit and fill in some blanks and share funny things that came through email or Facebook. Then we would turn out the lights and sometimes those conversations would continue.
Remember those sleep-overs as kids when the conversation would head into the after-dark times? That is exactly what it was and we would stay up late.
It was like sharing a room with sister that I never had and I cherish that time with her. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Sister 2
In my normal day to day, I spend a lot of time in solitude. I have a busy chiropractic office, Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic, and I see a lot of people on a daily basis. I also spend a lot of time out and about amongst people. When I come home, it is just me. I like it that way. I like that when I leave my house in the morning, I know it will be in the same condition when I return in the evening because I am the only one creating the space.
But there are times when it is truly lonely and the responsibility of creating energy that is happening in my house my solo responsibility as I am the only one creating the space.
I realized when I returned home a couple days ago that I miss her tremendously. I miss all my friends, my tribe, but I miss my sister. Sometimes it takes the contrast in life to realize what one truly values. The contrast of the cold helps to appreciate the hot; the contrast of dark helps to appreciate the light, and the contrast of alone-ness helps to appreciate good company.
I know she, and so many other friends, are just a phone call, email or text message away. I have some good friends that are just a short car ride from my home. I love the life and space that I create on my own, and at the same time, I have shifted a little bit and am looking forward to spending more regular time in good company. I realize the juice of life can be squeezed out of the days as a solo mission, but is so much sweeter when shared.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Thank you for all your time and energy this past week my sweet sister Allie. Much, much, much love!!