My Journey to Optimal Health, Part...Unknown. It Will Take As Long As It Takes.

The age of 41 1/2 I've looked at myself and my life and decided I want to make a change. My goal? I want to have optimal health. Now that's pretty broad goal, so first I had to figure out exactly what optimal health is. For me it isn't necessarily running a marathon, or climbing a mountain. It's being able to function to the best of my body's ability, with good healthy habits in place. The short of it is, I want to feel good. Now, I'm the first person to have felt the defeat of my own best intentions when it comes to attempting to instill healthy habits. How many years have I carefully written out New Year's Resolutions to inspire me on my annual journey? I'd say a conservative 35 years. Of course I'd never just write one or two things to work on throughout the year that would better me along the way. Nope, try 10-25 things. I guess I thought I was a bit of a mess and needed to work out my unending pit of flaws, especially when I was younger. This past January was the first time I hadn't written any resolutions since I was 12 years old. I'm not sure if it has been liberating, or if it's made me disappointed in myself. Is it better to work toward too much and be disappointed, or work toward nothing and remain unmotivated and unchanged? Either way I feel a bit like a failure, so I am tackling different areas of my life on a staggered schedule, rather than attempting to do everything I'd like to accomplish at once.

Week 1: The first step in my journey was to deal with my back, as at times I can't even roll over in bed due to the pain. I'll try to stand up, and my back says, "Nope, lay back down!" and goes into complete spasm. This is especially inconvenient when I have to pee. My back pain has been an issue since I was in my early 20s, but has definitely gotten worse over the past 2-3 years. This obviously also affected my ability to do a lot of physical activity, as I never knew what would throw my back off kilter and land me in bed for days. This last bout of throwing my back out was precipitated by my coughing. The one before that, from picking a sock up off of the floor. Seriously? No one should have to put up with that. My long time chiropractor  retired a couple of years ago and I really needed a new one. I asked a few people who they would vouch for, and finally decided to go with Dr. Whitney Wihlidal after a strong recommendation from my awesome marathon runner friend, Christa Davidson.

At my first visit I was a bit skeptical, as I tend to be when money is involved. "How do I know if I really need the adjustments recommended?? How do I know this doctor isn't just saving up for a trip to Hawaii??" were the thoughts running through my head. Well, first of all, he has a handy machine. It's a like a metal door frame with bungee cords running horizontally and vertically through the centre of it. At the bottom there are two scales, one for each foot. You stand normally on said contraption, and Dr. Wihlidal takes photos to show you how much or little your posture varies from the straight lines of the cords. The scales show how much your natural posture leans to one side or the other. For example, I lean 29 pounds more onto my left leg than I do to my right. Not only that, but I was sent for x-rays of my neck and spine because of past accidents and traumas affecting my neck and spine. Dr. Wihlidal didn't want to do an adjustment on me until he knew what was going on in there (can't say I blame him). Turns out that pretty much every place your spine is supposed to have that nice soft curve, mine has a straightaway (I even got copies of my crazy back pictures!). Thus, the chronic pain. Yes, I absolutely needed the proposed adjustments! My back may not get back to the exact way it's supposed to be, but in the end it will be so much better than it is now.

My daughter, Trista, with the awesome
 Sheila at the front desk

Dr. Wihlidal with his cool machine that
lets you know how crooked you are ;)

In addition to the chiropractic care I am receiving, I am to do some special stretches targeting my neck and hip flexors, which are my problem areas. I made this into a bedtime routine, and added taking my vitamins and meds for my Crohn's disease (that I never remember to take) to that bedtime routine.

Week 2: I thought my girl and I should take advantage of the gift certificates we got for Christmas from my mom and have a girls day. I booked the appointments with Ron Hill at Shadows Salon for March Break so we weren't on a rushed schedule, cause I despise being rushed. If anyone out there has ever cut their own hair and then expected a professional to fix it afterward, you'll know the look on my stylist's face when I told him what I'd been doing to my hair for the past year. Kinda like telling your doctor you eat completely healthy and exercise every day, but you're 200 pounds overweight. Luckily, Ron is tactful enough to just smile and start cutting. When Trista was done (yes I cut her hair too), she said she felt like a new woman. I showed Ron two pictures of two very different hairstyles, one of which had the front part of the hairstyle up in a braid so you really couldn't see what the actual hairstyle was. I then said something to the effect of "do what you think is best". I mean really, if I can't screw up my curly haired mop I know he never would. And from my incredible power of description, I got a most excellent haircut. Now I just have to fix up that white streak at the front of my head....sssshhhhh.....

Ron and Trista (feeling like a new woman!)

My excellent new hair

Stay tuned for next week's update on my journey to optimal health!