Dr. Kenney’s Friday 5 Spot
On Fridays I like to share experiences I’ve had during the week with patients and in my personal life that I’ve found significant in some way. I like to share them in hopes that you might find value in them and have something resonate with you in your life.
Something I encounter often in practice. As a chiropractor, I often encounter people that have had ongoing issues – pain syndromes, recurring symptoms, etc. Understandably, this can be frustrating for anyone to deal with. When I ask what they’re doing (or have done) to deal with it, they often say they’ve “tried everything.”
In my experience, this rarely actually means they’ve tried everything. More often, this usually means they’ve tried a few things in a half-hearted manner. As an example, I listened to a frustrated patient the other day talk about how nothing had helped an issue she had, when I asked follow up questions it came out that over multiple years, she’d tried stretching a couple of times, does no exercise, has not changed any habits, and had sought no treatment. If you are really going to try everything, make sure you give whatever you’re doing a full effort and chance. Not everything will work for you but doing something with a weak effort just to say you’ve done it, will never provide worthy results.
A cool interaction I had. I went to get takeout food last week for my wife and I. When I went to get my wife’s usual order, the young employee told me they’d had a problem with a piece of their equipment and could not make it. He was apologetic but then answered questions I had about other items and made great recommendations.
As I checked out, I gave him a large tip and he asked me if I’d done that by mistake as they didn’t have what I originally ordered. I explained to him that in business, things will always go wrong from time to time. What impressed me and earned him the tip, however, was he tried to fix the problem by providing suggestions and attempting to improve the situation for me. He didn’t make excuses, didn’t get flustered, and did everything he could to help in an upbeat manner. I always like people that make the best of situations.
A piece of holiday advice that works year-round. I eat clean throughout the year…but not on Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving I indulge in all the comfort foods I eat only once per year, and I never feel badly about it. One thing I do though is begin that day with strenuous exercise.
My oldest son and I will usually do a hard workout and end it with a moderate length run. Doing this gets my body moving so that I feel like I’ve earned some delicious calories while also setting me up to not feel lethargic throughout the day. I use this same principle anytime I know I’ll be sitting around more than usual, eating more than normal, etc. If you have a day of heavy calories and low activity coming up, get up and get your body moving, it’ll make for an even better time!
An interesting observation. I encounter patients that are different in every way you can imagine. A common theme that stood out to me this past week, however, was that while some are always determined to be positive others are not.
I have patients that complain about the same things each time I see them. In fact, I know what they’ll say before they say it. Usually, these issues are not major, but they play them up. There are other patients I encounter that have endured (or are enduring) so much that it’s staggering and yet they refuse to be negative. These people inspire me because though they have every reason to complain, they don’t. Instead, they take the situation they have and make the best of it. I have found these types of people always heal faster and commonly find them to be successful in many areas of life. We cannot fully prepare for every situation we encounter but we can control the attitude we bring toward it.
Some quotes I love.
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
“If everything is under control, you are going too slow.” – Mario Andretti
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
Want more?
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