Tag: Chiropractic Fenton Michigan

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.

LIVING FULLY

To me, living fully is the most important concept in running my daily life.

If I get an invite somewhere, I take it.

If I get an opportunity to do something, I say yes and make it happen.

If I have an idea, I try it on and see if I can make it work.

To live fully is to take every opportunity to say “yes” and explore life!

When we got orders to go to Anchorage, Alaska, the decision was literally made on a “why not?” philosophy.  Why would we go?  Why not!  I have to tell you it was one of the most incredible experiences that has shaped my entire life from that point forward.  Going back to revisit was amazing.

Humans get involved in analysis paralysis, stuck in our thoughts and in our heads.  We think too much and it stunts our movement forward.  I want to challenge you when the next opportunity presents itself, see if you can answer it with a “YES!” instead of thinking too much (of course as long as it is safe and reasonable).  Take the opportunities that help us live fully.  We only get once chance to live this life.  Let me know how it goes!

 

I THINK I CAN

I headed over to Grand Rapids a few weekends ago to watch my friend run the River Bank 25K.  He is not used to someone being interested enough in the road race scene to want to travel the distance to sit for a couple of hours and watch.  What he is learning is that I am interested, however, I am not going to just sit and watch.  There was a 5K and a 10K option for that morning and I figured I could easily pull one of those off.

You all know that I run for medals.  I don’t always need a participation medal when I am finish a long distance race…wait, yes I do.  I knew there was a rather large and fancy medal involved for the 25K, that is 15.5 miles and kind of a big deal!  Maybe I could finish that distance?  “I think I can.”  The seed of “25K finisher possibility” was planted and my mission became to find out if there was a medal for 5K and 10K participants, and if so, how big?

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 25K finish 2We walked around the expo and picked up his number.  They were still taking registrations for all 3 races however I found out that the 5K and the 10K finished with an “oversized lapel pin”.  I am not sure what size “oversize” is but I did know that the 25K medal, if I could finish it, would be totally worth the trip to the west side of the state, and the seed of “25k finisher possibility” started to grow.

So I sat down to fill out the registration form and since the seed had been planted and was growing, when it got to the place that I had to check the box for which race I was going to run, I checked the 25K box.   I figured there is a chance that I cannot finish that distance.  There is also a really good chance that I COULD finish it and HUGE PAYOFF of getting to sport that medal around my neck for the rest of the day.  “I think I can.”  I have run a marathon, many half-marathons (13.1 miles) including one last fall, however the longest distance I had recently run was only 6 miles.

I was nervous.  I was very, very nervous.  My friend and I started the race together and I told him “I am pretty sure I am in over my head right now.”  He looked over at me and said “I bet you will surprise yourself.  See you at the finish line.”

So I started.   “I think I can.”

And I kept going.   “I think I can.”

And going.  “I think I can.”

And going.   “I think I can.”

The miles were ticking down.  The 11-minute-mile pacers passed me at mile 8.  From that point I was determined not to let the 12-minute-mile pacers pass me no matter what.

At mile 12, just when I thought I couldn’t go on anymore, I saw a woman running with a metal stick in her hand.  When I looked closer, I realized it was the 12-minute-mile pacing group.  They were not going to pass me.  I would run with them but they are not passing me.  That is just the simple facts here, they are not passing me.  “I think I can.”Chiropractor Fenton Micighan 25K finish 1

I allowed my strides to be determined by the woman holding that sign.  She was one of the most excited and upbeat people I had seen all day and I was so very grateful for her enthusiasm.  I needed it.

If you have ever run that particular race, it finishes in the downtown area with an uphill section leading to the finish line.  There are moments in all of my long distance running that I find myself in tears of gratitude just for the simple fact that my body allows me to do something like that.  I got to that hill and that tears-of-gratitude point all at the same time and I began to hyperventilate.  I am running and training almost everyday, but was in awe and disbelief that I could run 15.5 miles with so little long-distance training (this is not something I recommend) and feel good.  The hyperventilation forced me to slow my pace and lose that 12 minute group but I could see the word “finish” stretched across the street so I just let go.  “I can.”

Finishing that race is a really proud moment in my life.  Overcoming the limitations of what I think I can’t do is a big deal to me and is what makes life so rich.  We have to brush up against our limitations in order to really push them and having those 2 phrases “I bet you will surprise yourself.” and “See you at the finish line.” are just what I needed to make that happen that day.

I want to leave you with a question…What limitations have you put on yourself and have you ever tested to see if they are accurate?

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.”  -Henry Ford

I think I can.

 

 

 

IT’S BEEN A WHILE

This is one of my favorite artists…

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Brian AndreasAfter reading this a couple of days ago, it struck me that over the past 2 months, I have sat still and listened. This life I am leading is very different from even just 2 short months ago.

My entire being has shifted and let me explain what that actually means for me.

I was pretty content in living a life of service.  I have spent the past 10 years really happy and fulfilled in being a chiropractor and helping people daily in my practice Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic.

I LOVE being a chiropractor.  There is absolutely nothing that I would change about how I spend my days in this wonderful community…giving, loving and serving.  I get to see miracles happen right in front of my eyes. I get to be part of families in the community and get to watch them grow. Truly every single day I am blessed and honored to be part of people’s healing process.  It is a calling in my heart and in my soul to do the work that I do at the Cafe, a place that is truly a second home to me.

In my personal life, I have had hopes and dreams and visions of my future.  I choose to spend most of my time in the present moment, however I am always headed in the general direction of a well calculated destination.  Life happens in the journey, in the mundane of the everyday, and not once you reach the final destination.

AND…as soon as I think I have a really great, well-calculated plan and a really awesome destination and an incredible vision for myself and my life, I get broadsided by the Universe and sent on a different trajectory.

When I talk about hopes and dreams and visions for myself in my personal life…I have BIG ONES!!!  HUGE ONES!!!  I have to say that it is one of the reasons I spend a lot of time traveling and exploring and discovering more and more of my world around me, and therefore discovering more about myself.

This particular trajectory I am currently on is SO GRAND, FAR MORE GRAND than I could have ever imagined for myself.  It is wonderful, wait, that word doesn’t do it justice.  Actually words really dilute the experience because it really is a feeling, a healing and an evolution.

It’s been a wild ride and it has changed so much for a better, sweeter and more fulfilling experience. I am ready for the chaos to settle but am grateful for all of it. Every. Single. Bit. Of. It.

I am grounded in Fenton and this community more than I have ever thought was possible.  There is chaos around right now, but that is the breaking down of the old to build a new foundation that will support and sustain something super incredible.  This is applicable on so many levels.

Not to worry, I am not going anywhere.  In fact, travel will always be part of who I am, however there is so much fulfillment in this new travel to the inner space of myself and who I am that the need to explore far-off lands sort of fizzles…unless, of course, he can go with me.

Beyond that, have you all noticed how cool Fenton is becoming?  HOLY COW I am grateful to be in this community right at this time!!!!

What I realized from these past 2 months is so profound.  We have no real control of our lives.  We cannot control what others say or do.  We can have a destination in mind however when everything is up in the air, it is so important to find time to sit quietly. There is so little time to be idle in life anymore, in fact, I think the concept is lost for future generations.  Nobody spends time just sitting and thinking and listening to that little voice inside that has the answers we are looking for.

It has been a while since I have written.  It is not because I haven’t thought about it, it’s because I am having a hard time quieting my mind at the end of the day as it is.  Writing inspires me, opens up new channels of possibility and can keep thinking late into the night after I publish a blog post.  For that very reason, and the fact that the Cafe is so busy to begin with, I have saved as much energy as I can and put it towards restful sleep at night instead of stimulating myself by creating.

Tonight, I just couldn’t help it anymore.  This had to come out.

Rest well my friends.  See you sooner than later!!!

EARTH DAY CLEANUP

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Earth Day Cleanup
This is a quick link to a short write-up about our 3RD ANNUAL EARTH DAY CLEANUP. Come join us on Saturday April 21st 9a-noon. We will provide bags and gloves and a take home gift for all those who volunteer some of their time to our CLEANUP efforts.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/04/earth_day_cleanup_scheduled_in.html

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Cafe of LIFE by phone at (810)629-6023 or email erica@cafeoflifefenton.com. We hope to see you on APRIL 21st for our EARTH DAY CLEANUP!!!

I AM AMAZED EVERYTIME!

I have done my fair share of traveling in my life and have spent a lot of time on planes since I moved home in 2004. I always try to get a window seat because I love seeing what there is to see while we sit and wait for the plane to take off. I am also the one with my nose glued to the glass during portions of the flight and of course the landing. More often than not, prior to take-off I find myself in a daze watching as these huge planes arChiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - I am amazed everytimee filled with people and luggage. I am amazed the logistical phenomenon that is our airline systems…I mean really, how on Earth do they get all those bags to the right spots?!?! I marvel in the simple fact that something that big could fly through the air and carry people comfortably from one location to some place completely different. I know our civilization has been flying for years and years, and I myself have taken numerous flights…but I am so fascinated by the concept of flight. Loading up in Detroit in the middle of winter and arriving in Costa Rica, in a totally different country, climate and culture…that is totally awesome!

With how intense (in a good way) my life is at home, coupled with my ability to completely relax on vacation, flying somewhere sometimes feels like getting on a time machine. The last 2 weeks of March was a very intensely stressful time for me. In the middle of the 2 weeks, it just so happened that I had a trip to Colorado planned. I got to a boiling point and since my trip to Colorado was mostly for fun, I almost backed out of going. After asking a bunch of questions and weighing a few things, I decided to go…and what perfect timing! I left the crazy chaos going on here and as soon as I sat down on the plane, it all melted away. In a short 2.5 hour plane ride, I was half way across the country, with great friends, beautiful sunshine and peace of mind to enjoy the weekend. It truly is amazing to “sit in a chair in the air” and end up thousands of miles away. The following link is one of my favorites…half way through is when he starts his discussion about flight and he hits the nail on the head…I laugh so hard every time I watch this.

His whole concept of “Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy” is so right on. Take a look around and find a little something to be amazed by and grateful for. So many of the thigns around you are absolutely amazing…even the simple fact that I can write this blog sitting at my desk and my Grandmother can read it from her home in Florida…and you can read it from wherever you are!! This LIFE truly is AMAZING!!! …and we only get one chance.