This last week, I saw a patient in the office I hadn't seen for awhile. She'd been working in the yard with the spare time she had on her hands (I think that accounts for half of the visits I saw last week!) and had aggravated her lower back and knees. "C" has been a patient in our office over 25 years. She's always worked hard and never seemed to be one to sit idle. As we were finishing up the visit, she said she hadn't had a cigarette in 10 months. I had forgotten that I'd seen her right around the time she had stopped smoking. It was precipitated by a very significant health scare. Once the decision was made, she has stuck with it. Go "C"!
She has lit one a few times since then, but opted to not keep going. I asked "C" what's changed the most since stopping. She said it's been the sense of smell: she actually can't stand the smell of smoke anymore!
When I was searching for graphics for this week's post, I settled on the one with colored smoke, as I think it illustrates "C's" journey well. Regular cigarette smoke is a flat, gray color, dingy really. But when someone starts to let go of something like smoking, lost things return: smell, taste, lung capacity, calmness, and rest. Color comes back into a life!
"C" had a major life-changing event that prompted her to step into change. Once the decision was made, she continued to ride it out, even as the life-changing event is becoming a shrinking reflection in the rear view mirror.
What about you? The last month has left all of us with a "life-changing event." Have you stepped into some positive changes personally? Professionally? With your family? Has it allowed you to see some colors you haven't seen for awhile? Life changing events like this don't come around everyday (thankfully!), but they do give us an opportunity to makes some real and lasting changes. Let me know if this has been the case for you!
Yours in Health,
Care Chiropractic - Lafayette, Indiana