As I do each weekend I was spending some time reviewing last week and looking forward and planning for the week ahead.

As a part of the process, I was digging deeper into the frustration and anger I have been feeling about the restrictions we have all been living under for the past 14+ months.

When I asked myself what I wanted, the answer was clear. I wanted to go back to NORMAL.

As I looked closer at what I wanted and my story surrounding the circumstance, I came to an embarrassing yet extremely valuable revelation.

I AM NOT READY FOR NORMAL…..

Yikes!

I realized that if we went back to NORMAL (whatever that means) tomorrow, I would be in big trouble.

I have an entire years worth of patients at Nexus who only know how our office runs with Covid restrictions. If we went back to NORMAL tomorrow it would be pure confusion and chaos.

When it comes to my family’s weekly schedule, I have admittedly become kind of soft. If we suddenly had all of our athletic and social activities restored we would definitely go through a period of massive overwhelm.

Just like during NORMAL times, we have all fallen into new patterns that are sometimes hard to break out of.

So, what CAN we do?

The fact is that we don’t really know exactly what NORMAL is going to look like or when it is going to arrive.

Some people are going to come out of this mess better than they ever were. Some people are going to be absolutely buried (mental health experts are predicting the worst of the mental health crisis will come WHEN we go back to normal – not before).

How can you make sure you are on the right side of this equation?

You must start preparing for NORMAL.

If you can hit the ground running you will provide yourself with the best chance to create results that will be better than anything before Covid.

In addition – and probably more importantly – you can act as a leader that pulls your family and community up with you towards a better future. We need as many of these people as we can get.

A crisis provides a bifurcation point – we can rise or we can fall. Both as and as a INDIVIDUALS and as a SOCIETY.

What must you start doing NOW to be prepared for normal?

What discipline must you build? What skills must you learn and enhance? What actions must you take NOW? What conditions must you create in your home, relationships, business, job?

If you wait until NORMAL comes to you, it may be too late

.If you create the conditions for NORMAL before it arrives, perhaps that NORMAL will be vastly improved over the OLD normal.

Consider this a wake up call.

For those of you connected to NEXUS CHIROPRACTIC, be on the lookout for articles and resources that will be preparing us all for the return to NORMAL.

Some of it will be reintroducing you to the OLD normal and some of it will enhancements that will help us all create better lives, a better community and a better world moving forward.

We are grateful to be on this journey with you.

This weekend I attended a technique workshop related to Neurospinal Optimization. When I introduced myself to the group, I included that I had been to, “a thousand thousands of these workshops.”

While ‘a thousand’ is a bit of an exaggeration, I DO go to several of these seminars a year and plan on continuing to do so throughout the rest of my career.

Why do I do this? Is it because I am slow and have to repeat the same material over and over (I think some of the less experienced doctors there may have thought so)?

I attend the same seminars and workshops over and over again because technical mastery of the skills I use every day working with patients is very important to me. When something is important it not only makes sense to expand your knowledge around that topic but to also consistently practice and refine the fundamentals.

What made Michael Jordan great? He practiced more than anyone. The same can be said of the best in any sport or discipline.

So, one of the costs of Mastery is spending the time, energy and money to consistently pay attention to the fundamentals. I wanna be Michael Jordan, not the guy sitting on the bench.

There is another cost to Mastery and that is focus. I get flyers and emails offering the newest machine, fad and technique that will supposedly revolutionize health care on a daily basis. I’ve been in practice long enough to see these fads come and go, only to be replaced by the next one.

While it is important to be open to new ideas, a master can be running from one shiny new thing to the next. A master knows what their focus is and stays with it. When I am offered a course or fancy machine I ask myself if this is the best way to further my focus. If the answer is ‘No’ I move on. Do I miss out on some interesting and cool stuff at times? You bet. BUT it is worth it because I have furthered myself on the road to mastery.

I see the personal Neurospinal Optimization care I receive in the same way. Our nervous system is what senses our surroundings and then responds to those stimuli. Our muscles, organs and immune system. Knowing that, having an optimally functioning nervous system is VERY IMPORTANT to me. Because it is VERY IMPORTANT I am willing to put consistent attention on it.

You see, I know that to be healthy and to function well in life I must have a nervous system that is keenly aware, efficient and responsive. If I have a condition called a Neural Shift, not only am I more likely to develop pain and other unpleasant secondary conditions, but I just won’t be able to function at my best.

So, I spend hours in my car every week to drive to the closest doctor who can provide this care (can’t look after myself unfortunately), pay cash (no insurance) for my visits and have happily done so for 12 years. Why? Because it is important and I want the nervous system function of Michael Jordan, not the bench player.

 

Like anything of value, there is a cost to Mastery. There are also benefits that will literally transform your life and health. Decide what is important to you and pay attention to it. Master the fundamentals, focus and don’t be distracted by the shiny new thing.

The path of mastery is just that – a path. You can start anywhere and you can start today.