chiropractic – Page 2 – We Only Get One Chance

SPRINGTIME HAPPINESS

When people think of happiness in this time of season shift, it is often with images of thawing snow, warmer temperatures, sunshine and everything coming back to life. That is usual springtime happiness.

For me, springtime happiness includes a trip to the slopes in Colorado! I think it is the very best time of year on the slopes for many reasons: the locals are snow snobs and think the snow conditions are not worthy of the drive up and over the pass so the runs are less crowded, the temperatures are mild to warm which allows for a much more enjoyable experience for someone who doesn’t make a lot of my own heat and SUNSHINE!!!!

I have to admit that the snow is not the greatest and changes consistency as the days warm up. I try to be out for when the chairlifts start first thing at open time but it is all dependent on the crew I am traveling with….and if I am honest, I am more lenient as my trips around the sun add up (as I am getting older if that was too cryptic).

The thought of gathering all the gear, packing all the clothes, getting all the way to the slopes, putting all those clothes and gear on, buying the lift ticket and all the other things that need to happen in order to get out on the slopes seems daunting at times.

Between taking care of patients, running businesses, a household, managing a team, managing real estate and being a dog mom, the weekends are mostly spent resting and resetting to prep for the next week. But inside of life, there really needs to be moments of epic levels of joy to continue to fuel the “other stuff”. Life is not always joyful but we do need to seek out ways to find and follow our joy and pleasure…and I have to admit that sometimes I forget that.

So a few weeks ago, I contacted a couple friends and said “LET’S RIDE!!!!” …and so we did.

In all the daunting tasks and things to do to make it all the way to the moment when I am strapping my boots into my snowboard to get on the first lift, I actually stopped to ask myself “is this worth it? Is this still where I find my joy?”

As busy humans, we all really do need to stop ourselves every so often to be sure that we are assessing what brings us joy, what fills up our cup and what recharges our batteries. If we don’t have moments where we take pause and really look inside for honest answers to these questions, we can find ourselves having gone YEARS in autopilot not even knowing what makes us happy. Our own assumptions and outsider’s projections onto us can keep us walking the same path without much question.

The first chairlift comes up behind me and scoops me up to carry me off towards the top of the mountain. In that moment, with the sun shining down on my face, I remembered IT IS SO WORTH IT!!! The chairlift ride to the top is to the tune of great conversations with an incredible friend about life and love and hope and dreams. Its reviewing the past and projecting greatness into the future. It is talking down tough things and great excitement about what’s ahead. It is all of it and in the middle of it all, I realize I have too many layers on to manage the temperature. And instead of worrying about that, I am just super grateful not to be freezing my 4$$ off, which is often the case on other times during the winter season.

This year, due to all that is happening globally, I didn’t know if I would even make it out on the slopes or not, though I remained hopeful. Last year, due to my heart surgery late 2019, I really laid low to allow the patch time to heal without the risk of falling and potentially jarring it with pressure. (Now, if you are currently asking yourself “Did she really just say HEART SURGERY?!?!?!” —>>>CLICK HERE<<<— to read all about it….and ––>>>CLICK HERE<<<— for the recap).

So my friend and I get to the top, strapped the other foot into our boards, and off we went!

Do you snowboard? Do you surf? Do you ski? There is a beautiful rhythm to snowboarding that is a match for some natural rhythm of life and it is almost as though the first turn linking together with the next turn and the next creates a harmony for the body and mind that is integral to help regulate my nervous system. That was the wordiest and headiest language to say THIS IS MY HAPPIEST PLACE!!!

And if you know much about snowboarding, if you are not paying attention, you are bound to get yourself in trouble or injured rather quickly, you are not on an edge and shifting weight as you choose your line down the mountain, you are going to catch an edge and faceplant or land hard on your backside. The presence to put it all together is so meditative for me. It is the present-time consciousness, the moments of mindfulness, that creates peace and grace and springtime happiness!

Springtime happiness comes in lots of different ways for lots of different people. Another springtime happiness moment is when the local lakes thaw and we can feel the impending glorious Michigan summer season in the near future. The budding of the trees, just the little leaf buds that begin to emerge as the world hints at coming back to life. It is warmer days and wearing less layers to be able to get outside and enjoy some fresh air. It is Opening Day, baseball and other spring sports coming back to life.

Moments of springtime happiness have an extra bit of sweetness after this past year of quarantine and limited connections with family and friends. I hope you are able to find some of these moments for yourself…we only get one chance!

EXPANSION

As we were navigating a busy day at the office, a patient began to ask questions that led me to share a bit about what is currently happening in and around the Cafe of LIFE and the Center for Well-Being.
As I answered the questions, he said, “WAIT! You are expanding your office during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC?!?”
“Yes, I guess I am.”
As we have navigated this crazy year, there have been many opportunities thrown my way. And although I had so much on my plate already, I began to step, SLOWLY step, in the direction that has gotten us to the point we are at today.
Which is truly just the beginning.
I wanted to take a moment just to clarify all the things happening in and around the Center for Well-Being and also the Cafe of LIFE.
In the spring, Dr Navpreet Saini-Conn reached out to me to share that, after working 2 years in Brighton, she wanted to move up to Fenton and open a practice.
We sat down to a few conversations and it turns out she is a great fit for our office and she has joined us. She will be building her own practice alongside what we already have here and the great thing is that THERE IS SPACE for her to do just that. She joined us at the beginning of October and she will be sharing more and more as the time goes on. We won’t be seeing each other’s patients but there is possibility for us to fill in for each other, if ever the need arises.
We moved Dr. Nav into the rooms that you are all used to our massage therapists being in and so we have moved them on to BIG AND BEAUTIFUL rooms in another section of the building. Many of you have already had a chance to experience this new massage therapy area and have given us lots of positive feedback of how peaceful and cozy it is.

We have added 2 more massage therapists to our team to accommodate the demand on our schedule and you will be seeing Rachael and Anna in and around the office. They are incredible and are both talented in their work and enjoy being part of our already established team of great therapists, Stephanie and Laura.
We have had Lauren Lay, MSW, a family therapist, renting space on our second floor for the past year and she has MANY RAVING FANS! If you are looking for a good therapist in the area, she is a really great place to start!
Many of you have seen Michigan Community Holistic Health, Sabrina Bastian, who has been offering acupuncture and other services in the other part of the building. Throughout the last 18 months, her patient base has expanded and she has added 3 more treatment rooms to what she was already doing!

We have a commercial kitchen in the back part of our building and if you are looking for a great meal prep service, Feed Me Michigan is prepping meals through the weekend and we are a pick-up spot for those who have ordered ahead of time! We have additional days available inside our kitchen space in case you are someone you know are in need of certified commercial kitchen space.
A couple other businesses we have teamed up with are Optimize Hypnosis and an incredible functional medicine practitioner in the local area.
I remember when I purchased the building 2.5 years ago…the constant mantra of all those around me was (just like the Field of Dreams) “if you build it, they will come.” It is incredible when I really look around at what has happened in the past 2.5 years and just how much the Center for Well-Being has come to life, THEY REALLY DID COME!!!
This building is an ongoing project, 10,000 sq ft of space and half of that being 130 years old, it is naturally always going to be a project. I have an incredible team and am bringing more staff on board to help as it grows and evolves. I have a continuous checklist of stuff that needs to be done, but to be honest with all of you, I am happy to be the one that the Universe sent to take care of this place.
As I was busy designing our new massage suite and expanding our adjusting space and spending a lot of after hours time doing the work, it reminds me back to the beginnings (the initial help has moved on in life, thank goodness) and how it feels like a big playground for creation. All in all, it has actually been a lot of fun to repurpose.
As I stated before, this is only the beginning and the natural attraction to the building, location and charm has let us become the “go-to” spot for all things health and wellness for the entire family.

PART 2

To continue from the previous blog, I wanted to give you an update on where I am now, following my Patent Foramen Ovale closure surgery, but also answer some of the questions you have had since the first post. Welcome to part 2.

In August of 2019, I was at my regular yearly check-up with my primary care physician. Now when I say “regularly yearly check-up” I haven’t been to anything “regular” and “yearly” except to see my chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner in years. Being a spouse of a GM employee required that I do certain things on that insurance and so I am following the rules.

When I was in that appointment, I said to her, “I know I have a hole in my heart. I may be planning to have my own family in the next couple years and I would like to pursue getting is closed ahead of time.” I had a different cardiologist recommended to me but she told me to absolutely go back to the same one I saw before and that he is the greatest in this region.

One test was redone and a few more tests were added to the mix to determine exactly the size and location. Funny and not funny part of this is that I happen to be a healthcare provider and also in good health inside of a cardiologist’s office and so they sort of took it for granted that I would already know how this whole thing would go.

I asked questions along the way, and although I didn’t get “blown off” it was more like “of course yes that happens…” and “of course no way it would go that way…” was always the attitude. Which ended up probably being a test to me and my ability to trust.

I am a generally trustworthy kind of person and so I just turned it all over to them to do what they needed to do and know that I was in the best care in the region. On that I settled in, navigated through it all and am now here to tell the story on the other side.

Many have asked “How are you feeling now?”

I feel GREAT!!! I truly do. Instantaneously following surgery my hands and feet were warm for the first time in my entire life. I remember back in chiropractic college, my fellow classmates would always mention just how cold my hands all the time. I didn’t know any better so I had no idea it was even an issue.

Best Chiropractor - Part 2 - Dr Erica Peabody - Kilimanjaro

By this point in the game, 12 weeks out from surgery, I have skipped what I would count to be 9 migraine headaches (I’m tallying this due to my history of roughly 3 per month). I haven’t had even one. I don’t even get any headaches that I know of anymore, or nothing that I would even count as a tension or cluster headache.

I am able to workout and do what I want to do at this point and feel pretty amazing. Three weeks ago I started back at step aerobic class and looking back on teaching step for over a decade of my life, I feel incredible. The step I take now I can keep up with the HIIT moves and can actually do a burpee without blacking out!!!

I will begin to run again soon. If you have been to my office, you can see my collection of participation medals although not many from anytime recently. I will know more once I begin to train for the CRIM this year, it is a race I have done numerous times and I am curious to see if my finishing times improve and just how well I recover. I will begin back to the triathlon sport as well and look forward to seeing how my swimming progresses.

If you have followed this blog at all, you know that I had a severe foot injury following my summit of Mt Kilimanjaro back in 2017. (I have added the video log link below in case you missed it thus far…it was EPIC!!)

I wore a walking boot for 6 solid months and have been working with that foot at about 80% healed. Now I am beginning to not even have to think about it at all…warm hands and feet mean that blood supply is actually going to my feet at a better rate and I AM HEALING!!!

I truly feel great and I am so, so, so, so grateful to have been a candidate for the closure as I just know for the next decades of my life, I will be far better off.

One of the questions I have gotten a few times along the way is “how do I find out if I have this or not?” as a few of you may be suspecting something similar for yourself now listening to this story. I have to send you right back to your own general practitioner to get that resolved.

The recovery has been amazing and pretty simple for the most part. The cardiologist had me on a blood thinner since the anatomy of the heart changed and has since taken me off to proceed into my life exactly as I want to.

Dr Erica Peabody - Part 2 - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan

Your words of encouragement as well and your good wishes are appreciated more than I can really say in words here on this blog. It has been quite an experience and I hope that my sharing this information, that you feel a little more informed and educated about the possibilities.

Of course, all along I have continued chiropractic care, massage therapy and stayed in touch with my functional medicine practitioner. I have continued yoga and meditation and am now back at full capacity in the gym. In essence, I have done the things that we talk about in the practice all the time: eat well, move well and think well. These are truly the keys to optimizing the body and it’s inborn ability to heal, and even more critical to healing from something like that.

Thanks for checking back for part 2 and stay in touch as time progresses…there is a lot more to share!

WHOLEHEARTED

I am living wholehearted.

I am nine weeks post heart surgery. It feels crazy to even be able to say something like that and it has been an incredible shift in my life!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Wholehearted - Dr Erica Peabody

14 years ago I was diagnosed with what is called a Patent Foramen Ovale, a congenital heart defect that is present in twenty percent of the population. Many go un-diagnosed and often the first sign is stroke. I feel very fortunate to know this info and I also feel really fortunate that I didn’t have to have a serious incident in order to get this information.

Playing sports growing up, there was clearly something wrong but they just lumped it into the group called “exercise induced asthma” and “when you start gasping and wheezing (which was happening all the time on the soccer field especially) take this inhaler.”

The inhaler never worked, never made a difference except just to make me shake…and be more frustrated because I still couldn’t catch my breath. I continued to play sports and excelled regardless.

When I was 12 years old, I started getting migraine headaches. I can remember my very first one as I woke up around 2am one morning and told my parents “It feels like a bowling ball hit me in the side of my head.” At 12, those were the best words that I could come up with to describe that pain. The migraines have happened anywhere between 2-10 per month since then.

I am sure there are some migraine sufferers out there reading this that know the kind of pain I am talking about, debilitating to say the least. I learned through the years just to deal with them and after the first few years, I still had the same level of pain but I never let it stop me. Life, school, tests, finals, patient care…nothing stops just because I have a headache and pushing through all of it has always been the way I handled them…and most other things in my life.

Best Chiropractor - Wholehearted - Dr Erica Peabody — they made me lay on my back for 8 solid hours following my surgery which was the hardest part

Shortness of breath upon exertion and migraine headaches, combined with numbness into my hands (which would come and go since my late teenage years) are the classic symptom group for Patent Foramen Ovale and I tested positive. To top all of these symptoms off, chronic hypoxia (lack of oxygen) was the over-riding theme since the blood would just skip the trip to the lungs altogether. On a scale of 1-5 for the size of the hole, I tested as a 4.

I scheduled to see the cardiologist 14 years ago and was looking forward to having all of these things improve for me through a surgical procedure where they inserted a patch in the heart. His exact words “I make a lot of money doing these patches but we do not have the research of what happens to the current devices 30-40 years down the road and so if you are not suffering every single day, don’t do it.”

I was bummed because I was truly looking forward to a shift for me, but I was going to listen to the expert.

I revisited the idea and the tests and all of the procedures this past fall. When I went back to the same cardiologist he said “We have the BEST devices now and so YES!!! …considering how you test and just how compromised you are, lets do it!”

I know what you are thinking out there, “How compromised is she? She has done all these things with a hole in her heart, long distance running and biking, hot yoga, taught aerobics classes for 10 years, even climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro! How is that possible?”

I am (well was) VERY compromised but was going to do all the things anyway because that is the fabric I am built from. I do my best not to let anything slow me down.

November 21, 2019 I went under the knife. This is the procedure they did.

The cardiologist wanted me to take on Thursday off work to have the procedure done, stay the night, go home Friday and head back into work on Monday the 25th. Unbelievable to me in the moment he had said that but that is exactly what I did, and I probably saw many of you that day!

I didn’t share much about this ahead of time for the simple fact that the words “heart surgery” freak most people out. I wanted to get through it, survive it and then tell the story when I can really share the details.

This post is getting lengthy and so I will leave this info here for now and then I will share more in the next post.

When you take a moment to do the math of chronic hypoxia my entire life and never slowing down, to getting full amount of oxygen moving forward, you can see how great of a thing this is and the how freakin’ incredible the medical profession is to be able to develop a fix like that video I shared. Literally I am now finally living wholehearted.

GRATITUDE

November always has a gratitude theme to it. I wish more months did that, but I guess with the very best of all holidays (in my humble opinion) being in November, it just makes sense.

“What you think about and thank about, you bring about!”

One of the greatest quotes and OH SO TRUE!!!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Gratitude - Dr Erica Peabody

There are so many things to be grateful for, just look around you. No really, stop for a moment from reading this, look up and look around you. I bet you can instantly find 5 things to be grateful for! If not, LOOK HARDER!!!

There is always something to be grateful for and gratitude, when used as a driving force in our lives, is a really powerful tool for bringing about more of what you want and shifting energy around worry and fear.

I have been using the month of November to express my gratitude towards individual things inside of my life and my days that I am grateful for. Just a few more days to go however my list truly goes on much longer than just the number of days inside of this month.
When I take a glance around in my life, one of the greatest gifts ever given to me is the army of people that support me every single day. There is a lot happening in life and for whatever reason, I tend to not take the easy path to some of the life lessons sent my way. It is tough stuff sometime. Just when the world seems like it is crashing down on one side, I reach out and ask for a little bit of help and support and someone always steps in to help me until I can do it all myself again…well that is until another side starts to crumble.

When I head home after my day of work, I realize that within a mere 3 miles of my home are some of the greatest people I know. I feel so lucky to be living and working inside this incredible community of Fenton, but beyond that, I have so many people, family and friends, that are part of my daily life. I am so, so grateful!

As a little call to action inside of this simple blog post, go grab a piece of paper and a pen. Go ahead, I will wait right here…

Okay, now that you have paper and pen, just write 1-30 down the left side. Sit for the next 10 minutes or so and fill up each one of those slots with 30 things you are grateful for.

Want to take it one step further? Go share that with your spouse, your kids or give a friend a call and share it with them. It is one thing to think about it, it is a whole other thing to write it down and it takes it up a level to share it out loud with someone. Then report back here and let me know how you did. You can simply read through this blog post and say “Oh wow Erica, I can see how that would be beneficial.” …or you can GO DO SOMETHING!!! Get off of your phone (I know you are reading this from your phone), set that thing down, pen it to paper and SHARE THE GRATITUDE!!! I can almost bet that it will spark something inside of that next person to do the same.

You will see… Expressing gratitude is the first step in bringing more of those things you are grateful for into your life…and it is quite contagious!!

THE FIRST YEAR

I cannot believe that we are already through the first year of practice here at the Center For Well-Being, our beautiful BIG BLUE!!!

This will mark my 15th year in private practice but the first year in this location. It has been nothing less than incredible!!! We have, hands down, no exception, the most beautiful office space in the area. I am not saying that just to toot our own horn either. As you look around during your appointments, you will notice it is like being adjusted in a museum. The woodwork is incredible, there is so much to look at. I do my work by hand, and the fact that all of this woodworking was done by hand is just so impressive.

The space that we adjust out of is just absolute perfection for us. We have room to move and breathe and as our reception area packs full, which happens on the regular here, we still have room for everyone and do not feel like they are sitting on top of one another. The greatest thing is being able to have so much room to move as I dance around my tables adjusting all day long.

I am grateful beyond any words that could describe it all. One year later, I look back to where it all began with a big unveiling of our sign out front in the front yard on Monday, September 17th of last year at 9:45 to accept our first patients at 10!

Every single day I feel more and more healing coming from this building, but as we work with her more and more and begin to shine her run-down corners, I can feel her healing as well. She hasn’t had the TLC over the past years that she is so deserving of.

Have you been in here yet? Do you feel the grounding and healing energy like we do?

Over the past 3 months, we have been able to really begin to shine up those run-down corners, hallways and rooms. She was already so beautiful but you need to SEE HER NOW!!!

Dr Erica Peabody - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - The first year

We have our first tenants moved in and joining their businesses under our roof. It was the intention from the start that instead of saying “The acupuncturist is across town” we can now officially say “The acupuncturist is just down the hallway and to the left.” as Michigan Community Acupuncture has joined us early September.

I have many practitioners that I refer to on a regular basis and now we can ALSO say “An incredible psychotherapist, Lauren Lay, is just up the grand staircase and to the right. She has created a beautiful cozy space to work in.”

What I love the most about all of this is that there are other great people now loving on our building just like we have over the past year, and it is only the beginning. We have a few other things in the works and only 11 more office spaces available up for grabs at this point and we couldn’t be any more excited about this whole thing coming together as my dream is brought to life.

WOW!!! One whole year!!!

Just WOW!!! And if the first year is any indication of where this thing has potential of going, I stand in pure amazement. Swing by and see for yourself! It is time to plan an official OPEN HOUSE!!! Stay tuned….

SIDE EYE

Mike says to me, in a side eye expression, “I have something to tell you. I got a dog.”

“YOU WHAT?!?!?!”

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Side Eye — Lou

Let’s go back a bit.

As a married couple, some things you talk about and some things you don’t need to talk about. Getting a dog is one that falls inside of the “things you talk about” category…except for this time apparently.

At first I flipped out and if you know anything about the logistics of our life together, you would easily understand why living between two houses is a challenge for a family without a dog, much less a dog family.

BUT this little guy is like having a real live teddy bear around. He is a Bernidoodle and his name is Lou. He is almost 3 months old and is an absolute lover. They say he will end up around 35 lbs but, hmmmm I am not quite convinced and will wait and see how that goes.

I am not a dog person because I have been lunged at by 3 dogs. I do not have breed preference at all, I am just one that doesn’t necessarily trust that any breed will always stay calm, cool and collected…until I met this guy.

Gentle, peaceful, cuddly, and lazy – are good qualities in a dog in my opinion and Lou is all of them. At 10 weeks he has had a couple days in the office but he does have a lot to learn. Many people love dogs but some people do not and I can respect that. For now, he will remain sleeping at my feet under my desk back in my office when I have him. One day, when he grows up a bit, he will hopefully be wandering around during my office adjusting times that he is with me.

Which I am not exactly sure how much that would be because he has an awesome group of triplets that he is very fond of as well. They will take priority in having him and taking care of him.

I reject the idea of a dog for about 2 hours and 45 minutes until I had an actual change to meet Lou in person. When you have a chance to meet him as well, you will see what I mean and just how special it is to have a real, live teddy bear walking around with a heart of gold and wanting to spread pure puppy-love.

That side eye expression, when Mike gives it to me next time, I will know to just trust and hear him out and that most likely, even if it is a “should be talked about” item inside of our marriage, it may end up being a really good thing anyway.

PS Mike, do not do something like that again. 😉 And Lou, WELCOME TO THIS CRAZY FAMILY!!!!

IN THE GENES

The real question these days is “Is it in the genes?”

Let me share a little story with you.

I should have gotten a picture of my new cousin and I together but I guess me “being a chiropractor” is the best I could do for this post. 🙂

In March I get a lengthy text message from my mom. It read something like this: “I wanted to share with you that the family found another cousin. Your cousin, Rayce, called the other day and it appears that after he did ancestry.com, that there is a first cousin that he didn’t know about, and none of us knew about.”

So let me start this story. I come from 2 HUGE Catholic families that were both raised on Foley Rd, maybe 4 miles south of downtown Fenton. It was a wonderful spot to grow up.

My Mom is one of 10 kids and she has 7 step-siblings as well. My Dad is one of 9 kids. One grandma was the matriarch of 93 people when she passed and the other was matriarch of 67 people. These numbers included children, their spouses and ex-spouses, grandchildren, great grands and great greats.

HUGE families.

I have close to 60 first cousins and with both of the families living so close to each other, I actually know them all pretty well. The years have made some separation, naturally, but for the most part, I know them because we were raised together.

So when this conversation started back in March, all of us were a little dumb-founded that it was even happening. It is funny to me because as I share this story, there are more families than we really realize that have a similar story, the world is a pretty cool place.

So this cousin’s name is Scott and he is just over 50 years old. But get this, HE IS A CHIROPRACTOR!!!! We have 4 chiropractors in my family already and to have this guy be out in the world, unbeknownst to us, and be another chiropractor is so freakin’ cool! He has been engaged to a woman for a few years and her son just finished CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE TOO!!! This makes number 5 and number 6 chiropractors in my family! Actually Dr. Scott would have been number 4 chiropractor and then I would have been 5 and then his son, Austin, makes number 6!!!

Dr Erica Peabody - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - In the Genes

I’m still floored by the entire thing and I also think it is one of the coolest things ever!

Unfortunately, my uncle Jeff, Dr. Scott’s biological father, passed back in December of last year. Fortunately, the entire family was going to be present for Jeff’s memorial service that had been planned for months and now Dr Scott and his family were going to join us for that celebration of life and a family reunion.

So imagine if you were adopted and had no connection or knowing of your biological family, and then you found out about them and then it just so happens the number of people you just found extended over 100 people (there have been a few more additions to the family since my grandmother passed), it would take a certain personality to be able to handle that kind of transition.

The reunion and memorial service were just 3 weeks ago and what a blast! We all have our family “things” and hang-ups around certain scenarios but it was SO MUCH FUN to welcome in yet another family member, his 4 kids and his fiance and her 2 kids and grandchildren.

What a crazy and fun world!!

So it does boil down to the final question which I started with, “Is it in the genes?” This chiropractic thing, it just has to be in the genes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BLUE

June 14, 2019 marks one year. Happy Birthday Big Blue!!!
The first look at the insides of this beautiful building, I had no real idea that it would come this far.
I saw the listing come up on www.Zillow.com and sent it on to my realtor to see if I could get a look at it. My Mom and I met the realtor here for the initial walk-through and truly we were “just going to look, we had always wanted to see the inside anyway.” We were pretty convinced that the place would smell strange and/or be unrecoverable and not even an option before going in.
Halfway through the initial visit, my mom and I looked at each other in almost the exact same moment and said “WOW!!! This place is amazing and the main floor is set up already for us. This just might work!”
Fast forward 4 months of day in and day out due diligence; all the things the bank wanted, the inspections, the tests, the surveys, the walk-throughs, the research, all the things and it was finally closing time.
I was nervous because of what was ahead of me but I was also pretty confident because there was so much working in my favor and so, so, so many things that easily fell into place along the way. It was just meant to be.
From June 14, we needed to wait about 30 days to get keys. This building was an assisted living location since the 1960s and they needed some time to relocate the residents. To be honest with you, I am pretty confident that any place they were relocated to would have been a better fit than this and along the past year, as I hear stories, I am confident they are all better off where they ended up.
As we progressed into the summertime last year we got keys in the middle of July and I actually moved myself in while I was waiting for my new home to be completed.
That was supposed to be until October.
9 months later I got certificate of occupancy at the new house and moved out of Big Blue.
But in all actuality it was a blessing for sure. A blessing that I had a super cool place to stay. A blessing that I got a chance to really get to know Big Blue and all of her quirks. A blessing as through the last winter, with those incredibly frigid temperatures, I was able to just walk downstairs to go to work rather than have to be outside and face the elements. I never dreamed I would get a chance to “work from home” but it was a treat.
Our master plan was to get some of the 17 bedrooms open by this spring and rented as office space.
We are past spring.
But inside of this past year you probably also know we planned an executed a wedding and I became bonus mom to triplet teenagers.
What you probably don’t know is that we also had to fire the builder back in October for unbelievable negligence and take over finishing the very complicated new house build ourselves.
To say it has been a year, is an absolute understatement. I am not even sure how we survived it. Some of my phone conversations to my Mom would have her stop me mid sentence and say “How are you even doing all of this?”
I don’t know Mom. I don’t know. I just get up everyday and, because I am excited and passionate about what I am doing and where I am heading, I just do what needs to be done and keep working on all the “to-do” list stuff I can and then rinse and repeat the next day. When we got to move the Cafe pf LIFE Chiropractic office over in September last year, my incredible office manager, Nikki and I would wander around the place on the very first day like it was our home forever. It feels like home here, it really does and has since day 1.

So today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BLUE!!!

HITTING SINGLES

Sometimes my future husband is absolutely brilliant. The conversation ended with “…we have to just keep hitting singles. You cannot put the bat down now.”

LIFE!!!!!! Seriously Universe! I am ready for a little less spice and a little more bored please!!!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Hitting Singles

As most of you know, I have been working on building a house for the past almost 3 years. I was told “start to finish, this project of building a house is about 9 months.” “AWESOME!!! Sign me up!!!” was my response.

It has been 34 months, turning the corner on 35 months here in a couple days. It has been one thing after the next after the next after the next. It has been one delay after the next after the next after the next.

Frustration doesn’t even begin to explain any of it, that is just a tip of the iceberg of emotions. The great thing is I have Mike and he is an exceptional project manager. Between he and I, we have it handled. But timing of one contractor depends on timing of another and the facts we get at one point do not match facts we get a couple weeks later.

We are very close, within just a few days in fact. I am so very grateful for that.

So when I am overwhelmed with the wedding approaching and still not being in the house, tears stream down my face on a regular basis. It is all okay and really great stuff that is happening, but happening all at one time is the real challenge. Mike tries to settle the tears and that is when he says “We just have to keep hitting singles, you cannot put the bat down now.”

No truer words have ever been spoken and then I looked out into life and just how applicable that is to ALL of life. I was just talking to a patient today that mentioned she started working out every morning for the past month and she is getting up earlier than usual to get 45 minutes in every single morning. I said “45 minutes is a big commitment, and although amazing if you can keep up the stamina, just know that if there is a morning that you can’t do 45 full minutes, do at least 20 minutes.” 45 minutes of daily exercise would be a home run every single day and the 20 minutes would be like hitting a single. We need to hit singles but we need to hit them every single day.

Hitting single after single after single is how you get something done and move forward in life. Think about getting a college degree…that is literally taking a few classes at a time. Want a college degree? Plan on continually hitting singles for 4+ years. Want to build a business? Same thing. Build a family? Same thing. Hit singles.

For whatever reason, life in this country and our culture/mindset is all about instant gratification and desire to HIT IT BIG the first time. There is a constant feeling, driven a lot by social media, that everyone has hit home runs…but the challenge is that many people that appear to be at “home run” status, those that seem to be wildly successful, have been working behind the scenes hitting singles – FOR YEARS!!!! YEARS AND YEARS!!!You just see the end product!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Hitting Singles - Dr Erica Peabody

Patience is a lost virtue these days. As I just looked that concept up, it also says that patience can be synonymous with “courage”. I think that is an interesting synonym: courage to pursue whatever it is in the first place, courage to commit to the process, courage to get up and start again after falling down time after time after time, courage to keep going when it seems impossible and navigate the bumps in the road, courage to find a different path if it is just not working for you. Patience = Courage …I really love that.

I am giving the BIGGEST SHOUT OUT to my future husband that is one of the only people that gets to see the true stumbling that I do through life, boosts me back up, helps me change my perspective on a minute to minute basis and reminds me that all we have to do is keep “HITTING SINGLES”. You are my dream man for so many reasons, you know that right? <3