As you get older you begin to realize that life isn’t always as simple, easy, or clean cut as you thought when you were a kid. We all had big dreams and goals. Or maybe we it’s just that we all believed different things were important as kids, then we do now as adults. It’s hard to say, but one thing seems clear, no matter what we believed or dreamed in as children, there’s an element of adulthood that seems to be a path unhappiness as an adult: settling. Not that you may not be happy in many ways, but more that we can easily get stuck in a cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat. When this happens we begin to suffer and we may not even know it.
This idea of settling drove me to a really simple question: how often in life do we quit too early? Isn’t that the essence of settling. I think most people do “okay” in life. How many do great? How many live the life they want to and how many of us live the life we simply have? I think this can apply in most areas of life: money, health, relationships, career, and dreams. As a chiropractor, this all goes hand in hand with total well being. Remember, as a person you are not a collection of parts, but a whole unit that is a brilliant blend of physical, mental, and spiritual. If one area suffers or lags behind the others then that person will be unwell. I believe most people do have in their possession the wherewithal to achieve better wellness/wholeness and to move closer to the person that they want to be. They simply have to want to change, I mean truly and desperately.
So why, instead of pushing on towards the idealization of ourselves, do we pull up short on the journey? The reasons vary but here are a few: we get comfortable where we are, we accept less for ourselves (maybe we think we deserve less), we are scared to fail, we don’t know the next step to take, we don’t believe in ourselves, and perhaps we are simply too impatient (meaning if results are not fast or easy we bail). We’ve all been here I think. I know I have. The point being: we don’t have to be stuck where we are in life. We can change things to make them better for ourselves. This list of reasons are all easily countered.
Ask yourself: have I quit too early on the life I want and if I did, why? Take a cold hard look at yourself. Knock down the illusions that we hide behind and answer honestly. Then turn the reasons to quit on their ear. Know that you are worth earning your goals. Understand that it’s okay to be scared and in all probability there will be failures along the way and results won’t be instantaneous, keep pushing. If you are unsure of how to proceed on the path ahead of you, seek someone who has been there and ask for help. The hardest part is making a honest assessment of ourselves, after that it’s simply the courage to jump and go for it.
Ultimately, the end goal doesn’t have to be huge (though it can be). Rather, it has to be positive. It has to improve your life. If you can do this then you will improve the lives of others around you as well. We need healthy people in our communities. People who are physically healthy, but also mentally happy, and spiritually satisfied. People who are passionately chasing their goals. This is true health and a worthy ideal. This is health you can’t buy or gain through external means. This is health earned and built by you. It only takes a little courage and a lot of grit. A never say die mentality will take you a long way towards successful outcomes. The main thing remains: don’t quit on yourself too soon. I’ll leave you with this quote from Winston Churchill: “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.”
In Health,
Dr. Graham