Monday, May 20, 2013

Every Minute.... Every Second....Counts...

....in life.

I sit here typing these thoughts down, with my heart hurting, not for me, but for people I know that are hurting from loss.  It's a reminder that, as I spoke with my pastor yesterday about, we don't know what's right around the corner in our lives.  One minute I was speaking with a young lady about her coming to work at our office today, and within an hour she's dealing with a significant loss in her life.  

It made me look seriously at my family life.  In many ways, I feel like I am pretty good as Dad, husband, friend, chiropractor, and Christian.  In many ways, I fail miserably in those roles (regularly), usually because of selfish reasons, usually when life is all about me.  I guess I feel like I can "make it up" whenever I screw up and don't perform at the levels I  know I should.  "I'll do better next time" and "I've got to get better at that" are two common thoughts I have when I've performed below standards.  Those are not inherently bad thoughts, but they assume a lot, maybe too much.

I said my normal goodbye to my wife this morning.  I said my usual goodbye to my son as I dropped him off at high school.  In a little while I'll say my routine goodbye to my daughter when I drop her off at middle school.  Not to think darkly, but my world could be a lot different by the end of this day.  I'm not guaranteed my next breath.  None are.  

Right now I want to apologize for the heaviness of this post.  But I think it's vital to think this way on occasion, to gain some perspective, and to appreciate, really appreciate what we have.  I believe that living a wellness lifestyle involves healthy relationships with those we love the most, with our co-workers, our friends, and those we serve through our respective careers.  And it shouldn't be something we put off til tomorrow.  It should start today. It should start now.  Immediately.  

I start every day with an affirmation with our team at the office that says "today I have another opportunity to fulfill our promise to our patients".  What a profound way to live, if we lived with that attitude in all that we do.  What if I said that affirmation daily, and lived it, in regards to how I treat my wife? My kids? My friends?  What if we as a nation, we as a global community began looking at life that way?  What kind of difference would it make?  What if we took on that attitude in all our roles?  I'm writing this on a Monday morning, and so many people complain about Mondays.  But what would Mondays feel like if we lived out that one simple statement?

I'm not going to presume to preach to or at anyone about this.  My thoughts are my thoughts as they apply to me right here, right now, on Monday morning.  I hope I can take these thoughts and apply them today, tomorrow, and remember them even when I'm not feeling my best, when I'm tired, when I don't even really feel like it.  

Because every minute...every second...counts.

Until next time...Be Well.

Dr. Bruce