April Showers…er Snow….

If April showers bring May flowers, then what does April snow bring? It’s funny how things go. What we have control over and what we don’t. I ( and I am certain you all agree) was completely fine with receiving a reprieve from more snow. The snow thankfully didn’t stick around, of course. The fact is the majority of us spent the time leading up to the snow a little discouraged by it coming. We kept thinking, “it’s spring, stop it already!” It hadn’t snowed in New Hampshire on April 1st since 1997. It certainly seemed like a bad joke. Seeing so many practice members downtrodden by the snow, got me thinking about all of the different things that get us down in life….snow, taxes, traffic, and the serious stuff like loss of health/life, relationships, etc. We spend so much time worrying about this stuff and so much of it is stuff we cannot control. You can’t stop the snow. We know death and taxes are coming. Life is always going to throw things at you that you don’t expect, want, or need. Yet, we worry. We worry about work, our car inspection, money, other people’s opinion…..the list can go on. The worry consumes us. What is the purpose of the worry? I think it is an attempt to control the chaos of life. Here’s the thing….worrying changes nothing. I love this quote from Corrie Ten Boom: “worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” Or what about Jesus: “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” So what are we to do with this? I mean I’m right there in the stress pool with you. I think the answer is to take care of what we can control and let the rest fall by the wayside. We cannot control life and the situations that will come with it, but we can control our reactions. We can control if we will let something get us down or stress us out. Furthermore, we have to grab what we can control and do the best we can with it. One of the best places you see this in life is in your health. You can have a dramatic effect on the health and length of your life by exercise, diet, rest, positive thinking, and nerve flow. Now, if you are reading this blog then it is highly likely that you are a practice member in one of our offices and have the nerve flow component in check via chiropractic (well done!), but are you moving enough and eating well? You, in a unpredictable world, can bring some measure of control by your lifestyle choices. I know things like money can still be a big stress, but stuff like that only matters till you lose your health. You see if you have your health, you have one of the most important factors in quality of life in check. Health is a major key to happiness and in the vast majority of people your health level is in your control. So yes, life will be stressful. You will have worries. Taxes are coming, cars will break down, etc. But at the end of the day having your health will be vastly more important and that, my friend you get to have some say in. Here’s to a worry-free day, Dr. Graham, chiropractor