Maintenance Free

I’m not sure about you, but I’m pretty mad at my parents for not enrolling me in the “Maintenance Free Warranty” when I was born…

What? You mean that’s not an option? Personally, I want to just wake up every day and have this body of mine just work. Auto pilot. And when it doesn’t work, well, someone is surely to blame for that. Who can I point a finger at??

Myself included, I think we place a lot of expectations on our traditional medical doctors. We want them to ‘fix’ us. After all, that’s their job, right?? That’s why we went into their office? This is what society has taught us – you hire people to fix problems you can’t.
Take a step back for a minute – IS it their job to make us whole again? I think we all want that to be the outcome, the doctor included. But, in reality, sometimes that’s not what happens.

Think about it. When appliances, cars, or electronics break, we can decide to either have them repaired or ditch them for a brand new one. We’ve all surely had that experience where you are weighing out whether springing for a new (fill in the blank) is worth it verses messing around with the old one.

We can’t do that with our own bodies. There is no go back to start, hit refresh, undo button, or buying new. We can’t even turn it on and off again and hope the problems all fix themselves once rebooted. It is what it is. Over time, things wear out and damage happens (we jokingly call it ‘getting old’). Doctors provide solutions and strategies to hopefully ease pain and get the machine running as close to full capacity as possible. They match problems with a course of action that will hopefully lead to the desired solution. I think we often call that “course of action” the SOLUTION; it’s only the solution if it produces the outcome you want or expect. In reality, sometimes it takes more than one course of action to get a desired result.

So, what’s my role in all of this? After all, I own the ‘machine’. Maybe it’s a top of the line body that came from an amazing gene pool or maybe it’s a lemon, but either way, I can’t trade it in. We all know when we take better care of our ‘stuff,’ it stays in better condition, longer. If we treat it badly, and keeping running it to the repair shop, chances are it will wear out and we’ll have to get a new one sooner than we had hoped. In that case, do we blame the repair person for not being able to bring it back to life over and over again?
There’s an ownership role in all of this. These are our bodies. Our health. Our wellness. Our happiness. No one else is responsible for keeping it running. You need to feed it, water it, give it sunlight, rest it, exercise it, clean it, take out the trash, and carry it around with you at all times.

Holistic means as natural as possible, non-invasive. We don’t see it as a replacement of western medicine, but rather as a supplement to it. The fact is, there are ways we can treat our own bodies and manage medical conditions that can enhance traditional medicine.

Holistic health is a way to do regular maintenance. Yes, we all need the repair shop sometimes. But we all also have the responsibility to do the upkeep. It’s surely not the doctor’s job to instantly undo damages and make it all better.

Just like you don’t see (unless you’re using a microscope) how a virus attacks your healthy cells, or how your thoughts affect your emotions, or how love is transferred, or how those little tiny waves connect data to your cellphone – we know it’s happening and ‘something’ is there. Holistic treatments are the same way. You may not see toxins (unless you do an ionic foot bath) leave your body, you may not see your muscle lengthen during massage or yoga, or infrared rays change cell structures, but you know you feel better afterwards. There are lots of healthy, non-invasive ways to keep your ticker ticking and do body maintenance.

Your body is just like anything else you own. It’s YOUR job to keep it operating in peak state. We can pass the buck onto our doc or whomever else, but ultimately, we need to live in these bodies. Why not make them feel as good as possible? No one promised it would be maintenance free.
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At Aspire, we can provide the tools to get you there. Check out our services online! www.aspirewellnessnow.com.
 

• Cheryl