I was seven years into my career with a company where I thought I would ride out my career – because that had been the culture there. I had moved across the country four times already for different roles and found myself allowing my present position to absolutely wreck me. It did not bring me joy, and I was dealing with a great deal of anxiety and fear – fear of not being able to deliver the results expected of me and fear of what the future held. Would it simply involve more of this? I did not want to envision such a life for myself. I wanted a family. I wanted to settle down in one place – to create community and stability. I saw myself being “present” in the lives of those that I love – something that I simply could not do during that present moment.
Suddenly, I began to experience significant gastro-intestinal symptoms – a complete lack of motility – that would endure the next eight months. It was a dark and inescapably uncomfortable time. To say it caught me off guard is an understatement. I thought that I lived a healthy life – I was very active and exercised regularly, I had been gluten and dairy-free for a full year and felt that I was putting healthy things in my body. What could be causing this?
This became my quest – to find the cause. It was constantly on my mind, and I knew that something was causing it. I had been told by a medical friend of mine that I had a chronic condition and had few options other than drugs and surgery. What did not resonate with me was that it seemingly started out of nowhere, and I simply could not get on board with my being sentenced to a “chronic,” life-long condition, especially with such an abrupt onset. I was bound and determine to find the cause.
While in the midst of my health crisis, an opportunity came up for me to take a position with my family’s business, and I jumped without looking back. I did not allow myself to think twice about leaving. I took two months off of work in between – on my quest to heal myself. I knew I had been stressed and that likely this was contributing to my issues – maybe I could heal it on my own? Nothing I did, however, seemed to change anything.
When I was flying home to interview for the role with my family’s business, I ran into my high school friend, Holly, at my connection gate. Holly and I were now living in the same city where she was a chiropractor. I knew Holly was very healthy and lived a holistic lifestyle. We chatted about health the entire flight home. A few weeks into my work hiatus, Holly and I went on a bike ride and then got together with her boyfriend, Kyle, for dinner. They adjusted each other and then asked if I wanted to get adjusted – I was really curious and jumped at the opportunity. They quickly pointed out some very significant alignment issues in my spine. About a week later, something clicked in my mind. I was lying on the couch in my misery of discomfort, and I wondered if my spine had anything to do with my GI issues. Immediately, I sent Holly a text that said something like, “I don’t know anything about chiropractic, but I know you live this really holistic lifestyle, and I’m dealing with these horrible GI issues…you said that I have some issues with my spine – do you think you can help me?” She responded with an instantaneous “YES!!!” and told me to come in and see her. A few days later, I was in her office. She did some tests and took x-rays of my spine. Then, she sat me down in a room and shared a message with me that would change my life forever.
She told me that our brain sends signals down the spinal cord, and from the spinal cord the nerves send the messages out to the body (organs, tissues, and cells). From the organs, tissues and cells, the nerves send signals to the spinal cord and then up to the brain. It is a feedback loop where communication is constantly flowing to and from the brain. However, if the spine, which encases the spinal cord, is compromised due to poor posture, accidents, slips, falls, stress, etc. that cumulate over time, it interferes with the messages sent to and from the brain and body, and if not corrected, leads to disease processes. This message was like a shock to my system. Instantly, I woke up. I realized that this was causing my problem, and in the same instant, I was also angry. I was angry that there were so many people out there that had not heard this message, others who were suffering on a much grander scale than I was – they all deserved to hear this message too.
I began to get adjusted, and after two months of care, my body began functioning normally again. The next spring, I realized that the terrible allergies I’d had prior to chiropractic care also resolved, as did the asthma I’d had for 30 years. I met so many people with profound healing stories in her office, yet with entirely different circumstances than my own. You could not keep me from telling my story and wanting this for everyone. I might as well have been walking around with a megaphone blasting my story for the world. I sent so many people to the chiropractor, desiring for them the same profound life change in regaining health that I had experienced.
From the first day I stepped foot in Holly’s office, God began beating on my heart to become a chiropractor. Of course, this seemed crazy at first – since I didn’t know anything about chiropractic and had just accepted a new job with my family’s business. Over the course of the next 10 months, however, I chipped away one-by-one all the objections I had and finally felt at ease in deciding to leave my “security blanket” sales career and stepped into the unknown to go back to school for chiropractic. Here I am today, a Doctor of Chiropractic, also married to a wonderful chiropractor, and gratefully serving the community of Broomfield, CO and together giving this gift back to others. My motto continues to be that “Everyone deserves to know this.”
Initially, I felt that regaining my health was the greatest outcome of my care, but now I see the transition of my life and surrendering to grander plans to be the greatest of all. Ryan and I both hold the intention of the greatest life outcomes for each of our practice members – abundance in health, and an abundant life as well.
