Center for Well-Being – We Only Get One Chance

MIDLAND DISASTER RELIEF

Inside of all the ways that life is crazy and busy and shifting on a daily basis, imagine that your home or place of employment was washed out by major flooding and you lost some or everything you owned. Some of the residents of Midland, Michigan experienced just that and I was able to join the Midland disaster relief efforts.

The Michigan Association of Chiropractors put out an email a week ago asking for volunteers to offer their time and services to the disaster relief workers and also the residents that have been effected by the flooding. There is a tent set up at Calvary Baptist Church and School in Midland and volunteer chiropractors are going to be manning the tables there on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 12p-2p indefinitely. If you are in that area, please look for the burgundy tent that is set up and stop in to get your spine checked!

I have had a lot going on in my personal and business life but honestly that stuff never outweighs the LASTING PURPOSE that lives inside of me. Lasting Purpose is a principle that the chiropractic profession was based on and it means “To Give, To Love and to Serve out of our own sense of abundance.”

Many people have asked how I come up with the energy to donate my time like that, my own Lasting Purpose drives me to do it all.

I shared in a couple FACEBOOK LIVE videos a little bit about what is happening up in the Midland, Michigan area. It is truly devastating to know that our “neighbors” have not only dealt with the global pandemic that has been happening and sheltering in place due to executive orders, but also watched as severe flooding was heading their way and trying to rescue items from their homes prior to the damage.

Many of the homes and businesses will never be the same. There were disaster relief workers from all around the country there helping people restore some sense of order and assist in repairing and rebuilding their homes.

It is nice to be a helper and it is extra nice to help the helpers. It is nice to be of service to the community giving the chiropractic adjustment to allow for things inside of their bodies to settle and help them to integrate stresses. It is nice to be barefoot in the grass with my table, my hands, a smile on my face and a couple colleagues by my side helping others. It is truly the magic in this life.

Many have asked how they can help. If you are a chiropractor, grab your portable table and drive up to the tent and set it up and open up your heart. If you are a contractor, I am sure there is someone organizing efforts and so maybe contacting the Calvary Baptist Church would be a good place to start. If you just want to go up and help clean up, I am sure if you just showed up at the church, someone would take you onto their crew. I wish I had all the links to hand out to you and how to get involved. I honestly don’t have the personal bandwidth to find out much more information except I sought out my own way to help.

I have had so so many inquiries about this service mission I just wanted to share. I would encourage you to find some way, even if it isn’t up inside the Midland disaster relief work, to help people.

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. ” –Albert Schweitzer

COVID CHAOS

I am writing this from inside some massive COVID chaos! I don’t even know exactly what to call it anymore except for that. (And when I refer to it this way, I am not talking lightly about it. This has been and is very serious as many have been very sick and even lost their lives. This is written from a safe place at home in good health with deep respect for the severity of it all.)

COVID chaos is one of the reasons that this blog has been on delayed because I didn’t know the best way to go about getting a new laptop anyway. I know I could have just ordered one and had it shipped to me but I am such a “hands on” (pun intended from this chiropractor) person and I like to touch and feel things prior to purchasing.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - COVID chaos

So as I mentioned in the previous blog post, I got a great recommendation from a very knowledgeable person and just pulled the trigger. The experience with Best Buy was seamless and here we are.

So one week later I was noticing that my phone battery would hold a charge for a few hours and then I would have to plug it back in, I would be charging it 2-3 times per day. THEN, last Sunday morning I went on a kayak tour with my niece and nephew and put my cell phone in the “dry” compartment of my kayak…quotes intended. Well turns out it wasn’t dry and it sat in there while I did a few more errands in a bit of water unknown to me.

I put it in a bag of rice and later that day I accidentally dropped it and smashed the screen. On the computer with Verizon for 2 hours on Monday morning through their live chat section…they would say “Well just call us and we can handle it over the phone.” “Call you? With WHAT?!?!?!” Two hours later I have a new phone to be picked up at the local store, or so I thought, until I got an email with shipping information and tracking…now they decide they will ship to me.

Of course they try to deliver to my office during my lunch hour yesterday and missed us so they were going to try again today…Friday, when nobody is there. SO, now they will hold it where it is this morning and I will attempt to go and pick it up at the UPS location…except for I have done this before and they ask for an ID. Which is fine but they usually need the ID address to match the shipping address, except for it doesn’t match because the address on my driver’s license is my home, and this was headed to the office. This should be interesting.

I have seen many patients this past week and it seems this kind of chaos is happening all over. We are all ready to be released to a life of a bit more freedom and some familiar places and processes. The frustrations are high and the quarantine has gotten the best of many.

We are almost there. When things do open up, many will return to some old patterns and routines, and some have taken on an entirely new existence where the radius for desire for daily travel is reduced a lot and each of those is perfectly fine and well.

I have been in solitude for a good portion of the quarantine when I am not at my work. I enjoy the quiet of life, I always have, but I will also enjoy the more “hands on” experience of some of the things we took for granted prior to all of this.

We have all become a little more innovative with our personal and professional lives through this incredible time. The important things have bubbled up to the surface of our awareness and the people that are the most important inside of our lives are front and center. When it all boils down, a laptop and a cell phone are truly “first-world” problems and I realize these are insignificant problems compared to what others around the globe are dealing with and these are not real problems in the grand scheme of things, just using them for examples.

The COVID chaos has been eye-opening, everyone taking a “time out” from their normal lives has been challenging but good. It is going to be nice to get back to SOME of the things we enjoyed about the conveniences of life prior to all of this and NEVER taking any of it for granted again. Our freedoms are broad and wide in this time and place. I hope you and yours are safe and well and I will continue to pray for those who are sick and suffering.

NEW

WOW!! Is life crazy or what? It feels all brand new. But not like the super great brand new that we have been wanting and looking forward to, more like a new that hit us smack in the face, shoved our noses into it and said “Here!!! FIGURE IT OUT!!!”

I know we are all in this same kind of boat although we are not navigating the exact same waves, I know that for sure. Some are working from home while also learning to teach school. Some are displaced from life or work or family or whatever it is…but we are all out here doing our very best with the unknows. It literally feels like most of life is filled full of unknowns.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Dr Erica Peabody - New

You haven’t heard from me through this format in a long time as navigating it all has pushed blogging to the back burner. One other stumbling block is my laptop was on its last leg for a few months. I would begin writing here or inside of an office newsletter and in the middle, prior to be able to save it, it would kick me all the way back off and discard all that I had written. Life has taken a lot of extra energy lately and so trying to deal with that as well was just plain frustration.

So I ordered a new laptop and braved the curbside pick-up they had set up and honestly it was seamless and rather delightful!! So I now have a brand new machine to communicate with you better. I am excited to move forward with this blog and creating other content as we all learn to navigate this brand new life.

I take solace in writing and sharing in this manner and hopefully it remains interesting and entertaining as I share tips and trick, but probably more brutal honesty as we move through the stories of life: mine, my practice, friends, colleagues, being a dog mom, my family….on and on we will go. Check back here regularly and of course all of these posts will be shared on my social media platforms.

Years ago, I named this blog “We Only Get One Chance” and I still live and eat and breathe by that tagline in my day to day. Maybe now, more than ever before, others have really increased their awareness around that as well, that we really do get only one chance. It is time to make the very best of it!!

New computer, new life, many unknows and a new commitment to sharing and helping in any way I can. Stay tuned!!

GROUCHY

She is grouchy…or finicky. Yeah, finicky is probably a better way to describe her.

The old girl, Big Blue as we have so adoringly named her, has been good to us so far.

We are working on week number 3 here and we are enjoying our time and our transition. It is different than just closing one door and opening another one in a different office space and getting to business.

It is time well spent feeling her out and figuring out how to manage all of the intricacies and quirks that make her so dang lovable.

She is warmer than would be expected on cold days and colder than expected on warm days except some areas are colder than others and warmer than others. Ugh.

The original builder, AJ Phillips, put the walls together by stacking two by fours on top of one another and then plaster and lath over that, not normal stud distance, like literally one on top of another. It is pretty astounding actually. We have a couple HUGE pocket doors and if you look inside the pockets, you can see the construction pattern…and to think those were put in place, by hand, one by one, 130 years ago. WOW that is some serious labor!!!

AND!!!! Not to mention the woodwork that adorns the entire space on all three floors The first floor is our Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic Center and has so many special things about it…but the second and third floors are absolutely spectacular as well. We are so excited to be able to open that second story to all of you and be able to rent the third story, one bedroom and one bath apartment. All in due time.

We love how much you all have loved her so far and we invite those that haven’t had a chance to swing by and experience the space to swing in! We hold open adjusting hours one Saturday per month and although we will have patients here getting adjusted, if you happen to be out and about around town this coming Saturday, October 6th, stop by and swing in! We will be here 9a-11a.

My staff comes to me with things they have noticed or things they need in this new space. It seems as though my

lunchtimes have been converted to “repair time” and grabbing lunch while working on a project! But that is okay, as we know that she will always be a work in progress but we will become a little more familiar with her needs and quirks as the time goes by.

When life took a turn and I needed to move to a different spot to be able to get one of my rentals leased out, I decided I would stay here and get to know her. My conversation with my mom that evening went “I am just going to triple-dog-dare myself to stay for the night and just see what happens. If you don’t mind, just please do not lock your door in case I get spooked and end up having to come out there.” I did fine from the first night but definitely wasn’t such a huge fan of having to go into the basement after dark. Now my attitude is like “sure girl! Whatever you need right now is good with me. Oh you need me to tend to something in the basement at midnight? Absolutely!! I will be right there!”

It is the strangest thing that I feel like I should leave a babysitter for her when Mike and I head out of town! I have never had the feeling but Mike thinks it is ridiculous!!! I just laugh at myself that the thought even crosses my mind at all. The great thing is that she sits right in the middle of a town that is so connected and wonderful and I am certain that if there was something going on, 30-50 people would be on the phone texting and calling me right away and so I thank you!!!

Please watch out for her. Mike and I have most of it handled but we need eyes and ears around for this grouchy old gal!!! …I mean finicky.

She is a gem and I think it has taken a bit for her to get used to all of us!!! There is a lot of new and fun energy inside of this space during our days and we have already had a HUGE engagement celebration!! …in fact that party is what gives me so much certainty that 30-50 of you would call and text if something goes bad because of the amount of people that made remarks about that party a couple Friday’s ago, “my kids pointed to that place and said, ‘Hey Mom! Can we go there?’ since it looked like something fun was going on when we drove by” are the kind of messages we got that following week.

We love her. We are so excited to plan our wedding to be hosted within these beautiful walls in early March, just 5 months away.

A phrase we hear over and over again around here, from me, my team and all those that visit, “if only these walls could talk!”

We are continuing to create a story here at Big Blue, stories of healing and health and wellness and life and living and family and the amazing power of the chiropractic adjustment that would make the forefathers of this great profession proud. There are pictures in the infancy phases of chiropractic that were taken in places just like this. Big Blue was born in 1889-91 time frame (seems the history was maybe she took 2 solid years to build) and chiropractic was born in 1895. It feels so, so very right to be here doing what we are doing.

Although she is grouchy, or I mean finicky (just looked that word up in the dictionary: fussy about one’s needs and desires <—sounds about RIGHT!) I think we have an incredible thing started that these walls will want to tell stories about for years to come!!! Stop in and join us this Saturday 9-11am!!!

PEACHY

From the outside it appears that all is peachy and so simple.

It’s not.
It’s hard, anxiety-driven work to pursue a dream.
It’s long, late night conversations and countless sleepless nights.

It’s questions without answers and conflict without immediate or foreseeable resolution.

It’s stress beyond anything I have ever known.
It’s wildly uncomfortable and feels like running around constantly short on time.
It’s humbling and frightening.
It’s not just out of my comfort zone, it’s as though I took a rocket ship and split from the Universe my comfort zone is in.
It’s so far off the edge and hoping the ground appears somewhere beneath my foot as I take the next step.

It is tears of frustration and moments when I cannot stand being inside my own skin.

It is giving up beach towels and sunglasses for hammers and drills.

It is a deep breath in not knowing when i will have space to exhale.
…AND it’s not just business, it’s every aspect of life.
It’s building a home that’s gone on far, far too long.
It’s learning to partner inside of a relationship rather than run off on my own and do it all my own way.
It’s learning what being a bonus mom is all about and to triplets nonetheless.

It’s wedding planning and all that comes with that (which i am currently trying to figure out).
It’s a constant battle with my subconscious that wants everything to stay the way it’s always been.
It’s tough and messy and faith-building.

It is somehow trusting that stupid phrase “You will only be given as much as you can handle.” Everyone please STOP SAYING THAT!!!!
It’s being sure to meditate every day and pray every night.

…and all this I am writing because I got a great hot shower and did my hair and now I’m dreading walking outside into the humidity which will undo it all in 17 minutes flat. …and so this is me procrastinating and writing to you instead of that.
And now I’ve come to the end of this rant.
Regardless of all that I wrote above, I’m going to make it the best day I can anyway.

Building dreams comes with a lot of hard work and not all of it is peachy.

3 DAYS IN

We are just 3 days in to our new location and I have to say it has been beyond extraordinary. We are over the moon excited about how this space has turned out which trickles down to our ability to serve you.

The space is airy and cozy and solid and grounding and healing and absolutely lovely.

So many people are astounded by our ability to get moved over and create seamless transitions for our patient crowd.

Here is all I know. We closed our doors at our Leroy location on Thursday, September 13th at 6pm. We had until Monday, Septmeber 17th at 10am to get up and running.

Mike would say over and over and over…. “Just pick the critical path, just the critical items that you need to get your day started and be able to endure patient care at the level they have come to expect.” …and so in and amongst a weekend of family obligations we made it happen.

Thursday at 6pm is when the anxiety set in. How long will it take us to do this? and is 3 days enough? It was a little like jumping off a cliff because, although I have moved my business a few times in the past, it had been 8 years and as I mentioned in a Facebook post, I am a pathological underestimator. I underestimate everything and commit 100% and somehow figure it out.

It was a weekend of moving furniture, unplugging computer systems and wires all throughout the office. It was filled with wires going every which way and plugging things in and praying. It was a weekend or rearranging chairs and sweeping floors and dusting everything from head to toe.

Mike had to leave with his children around 6:30 on Sunday evening and head back home to be sure they are all ready to start the week. I spent 5 solid hours on each adjusting station from one side of the place to the other and into the reception room.

The computer system was working, the music wasn’t. The tables were ready, the rugs couldn’t be put down because of the finish on the floors. The front desk was ready, the massage rooms were ready, the air conditioners were working, toilets cleaned and floors swept. One more faucet installation around 9:30 and we were prepped for my realtor and his team to show up for the unveiling of the signage and the start to our first day!!

https://www.facebook.com/JohnWentworthRealEstateGroup/videos/729294227406651/

We did it! It was a push but we did it and made it happen.

…and here we are just 3 days in and more inspired than ever before. Follow your dreams, listen to your heart and that small voice inside as it will lead you in the right direction. This truly feels like home and we are so glad to be here!

HOME

We are moving home!!!

I finished my final shift at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic at 521 N Leroy this evening. I had 4 patients between 5:45 and 6pm and I could feel myself winding down the service in that space.

This is the fourth location for my practice, so although I am not a big fan of moving, I am familiar with the process. I bought the Leroy Street location in 2010 and the location prior to that was so super bittersweet leaving because it was a chiropractic office since the 60s. My heart ached to leave that location knowing I was moving my practice from the exact location my chiropractor worked in when I was getting adjusted as a kid. I settled myself knowing that my 521 location would be passed down to another generation of chiropractors at some point.

But it won’t be passed down and I am certain it will get rented to another amazing business other than a chiropractor. There won’t be little ones roaming the halls there waiting for their adjustments years from now and far beyond when I am retired like I always thought there would be.

But truly we are moving home. I cannot describe the feeling of our new building, affectionately known as “Big Blue”, except for it is home. I got a little choked up as I was counting down the final adjustments in the Leroy location but I could sit here now in full on tears to know that we are moving home.

This is home.

I have had a recurring dream over the past 20 years that has driven me to this exact location. Watch for a Facebook LIVE tomorrow, Friday September 14th, as I share that beautiful story.

How did I get here? How did this all happen? How on Earth am I moving my practice and my livelihood to my dream location, no literally the space inside of my dream? We have a lot of work ahead of us in the next 72 hours as we transition the office to be ready for the practice on Monday, but it is all worth it to move home.

ENDURANCE

I am fully convinced endurance is the key to success.

I have run marathons, half-marathons and climbed to the rooftop of Africa. I have done triathlons, 60-90 minute extreme hot yoga classes and 50 mile bike rides and ran a thriving family chiropractic office for 14 years. I endured 10 years of school beyond high school and driven 3,000 miles from Anchorage, Alaska to Atlanta, Georgia. I have spent countless hours studying, during school and since by doctorate degree and taken many long plane rides, longest being 26 hour plane ride from Detroit to Kilimanjaro.

I never realized just how much endurance has played into my equation for success until a few months ago.

I was sitting down for lunch with one of my mentors in Florida and he says “I am really proud of you.” He then continues, “Anyone can work hard enough and earn the degree but not many can really do what it takes to run the business the way you have and succeeded in practice and kept that kind of energy doing it all by yourself.”

Here is a clue to my internal workings, I just expect that of myself and I do not give myself an “out” to not do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. …and that goes for every area of my life.

I was shocked when he said that mostly for the simple fact of the expectations I set on myself but when I really do look back and see how far I have come I have done this all on my own. Granted I do have an INCREDIBLE support network in my life for sure that pick me up, dust me off and give me a kick in the rear to get going again. I have to take a

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Endurance - Dr Erica Peabody

moment to thank my amazing team Nikki, Teri, Stephanie and Laura – you ladies make this entire dream worth living and working so hard for!!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!!

One week prior to that trip to Florida, I was presented with an incredible business opportunity. The evening before this particular lunch with my mentor, Mike and I were out to dinner and I got wind that the opportunity was actually a reality if I wanted it for the taking.

So I jumped.

I had no idea that the words that my mentor said at that time about my endurance for what I am doing would ring truer and louder than ever before in my life. I had no idea how much that trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro would help me the past 3 months. I had no idea that Chicago Marathon in 2005 and all the half marathons and all those miles training out on the trails to prep for those grueling 26.2 and 13.1 miles would help me through this time in my life since March.

As I endured 6 months in that walking boot last year and 3-4 trips to the gym still training, some would chime in and ask “what are you training for now?”

“I am training for LIFE!” was always my answer.

Yes I have had road races and triathlons and trek and swims and hikes that I have trained for in the past, I have

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - The Second Strap - Dr Erica Peabody

always had something in front of me that would inspire me daily to keep going…but I had no idea it was all for these past 3 months. The meetings, emails, lists, meetings, emails and more lists, along with straight up execution on all of these things day in and day out aside from my newly engaged life and busy practice…this is what I have been training for. If I am totally honest, I have developed slight PTSD opening my email these days in fear of one more list, one more thing, one more meeting that will need to be tended to.

And I still have yet to birth my own children and raise my own family…I hear that takes some serious endurance and I am certain that this time in my life is just mere preparation for those next steps too.

Patients ask me all the time, “What is your next big adventure?” “What is the next mountain you are going to climb?” Little did you know I have been climbing one of the biggest mountains in my life and you are all right along side me.

All of this “talking in code” and not being able to disclose this information has been a multiplying factor for the endurance of this climb. I love being able to bounce ideas off of my people, my board of directors especially, and share. I feel like when I share I am able to download and reprocess things inside of my mind and being and create some form of order. I have been unable to do that due to the nature of this incredible plan.

HOLY COW DOC!?!?!?!??!!!!!! Are you leaving us????? Nope I am here and setting even deeper roots into the Fenton community than ever before. I am more here than I have ever been before. I am more excited than I have ever been before. I am more charged up about life and living and serving than ever before. We are taking things up to a whole new level and are going to be able to be a beacon of light, a true heartbeat of health and wellness inside of our community and although I need another week or so to really share the plans, trust me it is really, really good and worth all the endurance.

Now if you possibly think I could tackle something like this on my own…well thank you and yes I probably could, however I wouldn’t want to without the greatest partner in life walking shoulder to shoulder right at my side. He props me up, he settles me down, he charges me up and knocks me on my behind when I need it. He has been a solid driving force since our day one together however even more so now that this kind of rubber is meeting the road and this kind of traction is needed. There were a few moments during this process that I had to consider if I would do something like this on my own…the answer us YES I would and could and will if necessary. But in saying all that, I am so so grateful, ever so grateful to you my Love. Thanks for everything Babe. Good thing he is a three-time Ironman, I knew endurance was part of the fabric he was cut from since the start.

Stay tuned!!! It is just getting good.

HOUSE SHOES

I am one that has to wear house shoes now.

One year ago I was preparing to turn 40 and I was really busy calling it “Version 4.0” and redirecting my attention away from the number and more towards an “upgraded version” of myself. Reframe on point!

I had summitted Mt Kilimanjaro a month prior and although I am sure my body was still trying to recover from the physical intensity of that experience, I was also in the middle of a 6 week yoga challenge when my birthday rolled around. Looking back, I am not sure that much yoga was a good thing for my body at that time.

As I continued with the challenge, I experienced more and more pain in my left foot. I was always fine during the class and for the rest of the day following, but the mornings were continuing to get worse and worse, with very painful first steps out of bed. This continued until I finished the challenge and took a break from that kind of movement….and then every other kind of movement as well. (All of the rest of the year following that injury and my “boot camp” has been written up in previous blog posts so I won’t go over all the details here but look back through the blog history).

Two days ago I was getting ready to head over to my brother’s house to celebrate my niece’s 8th birthday. I had a few things I needed to gather however front and center on my list of “things not to forget” were my house shoes.

I have been unable to comfortably go bare-footed in my house, or anywhere for that matter, in months. I spend all of my time with some sort of shoes on my feet.

I have been to quite a few yoga classes lately and sections of the classes are comprised of dramatic movements and jumping around…on hard floors…in bare feet. As I glance around the room at the other yogis, I find myself wondering just how much they take the fact that they can go barefooted for granted. And that is not saying that I wasn’t that same way not long ago.
I look at them and their feet and I think to myself…I remember a time when I didn’t think twice about being barefoot. Now I can wear one of 3 pairs of shoes but I have to have a pair on my feet at all times.

Yes that means getting up out of bed in the morning and stepping right into shoes.

Yes that means carefully crawling onto my double yoga mat (for extra protection) in the yoga room and being mindful enough to get through the classes.

Yes that means every single outfit I wear is matched with sneakers…either my Brooks or my Saucony…black or navy blue…and when I say every single outfit, I am serious.

Yes and that also means that I have to pack house shoes whenever I go anywhere.

I have a healthy fear of hardwood floors and tile now which seems really unfortunate but is apparently how life will be moving forward.

I always thought I would be able to do what I have always done. Version 4.0 told me different. I am not a fan of blaming age and years for all of our ails and have been seeking any and all information about healing foot tissue and nerves and bones…and everything else for that matter.

It has lead me down some interesting paths, into some interesting offices, trying interesting remedies, meeting interesting practitioners and reading some interesting books. I have a whole lot more knowledge about the foot and leg than ever before and I will continue to progress down my path of healing.

I still have quite a road ahead of me with this foot and have never had anything take over a year to heal. In fact, I am at the point of accepting maybe it will never ever be the same. I am trusting the slowing down process that has been required of me so far. I will keep walking forward even if every single step is inside of sneakers or these silly house shoes. Here is to celebrating the completion of my 41st trip around the sun!!! 🙂