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f you asked my primary care physician if I'm healthy, he would probably say "no." Why? In 2009, he and a neurosurgeon diagnosed me with mild cervical spine stenosis and recommended that I immediately have surgery, or I could end up paralyzed. I refused the surgery.
In 2022, an MRI indicated that the stenosis had progressed from mild to severe so I saw a neurologist and a different neurosurgeon. They both recommended that I keep doing whatever I had been doing since 2009 and come back if things got worse.
What had I been doing? Using the small change approach to wellness! I've seen the same chiropractor since the 2009 diagnosis. In 2022, I started acupuncture treatment and added fruit and plant-based supplements to my daily regimen.
Ask my acupuncturist and chiropractor how I’m doing, and they would say I am doing exceptionally well. I agree. You see, we share the belief that wellness is an evolving process toward achieving one's full potential and I'm grateful to be operating as well as anyone my age.
So, let me ask you a few health-related questions:
- Do you understand that health and wellness have to do with lifestyle choices?
- Do you think about your health only when you are feeling bad?
- Do you know that behavioral change is a process that begins with daily choices?
- Have you set wellness goals and given up when you didn't see immediate results?
- Are you leaving the responsibility for your health to your doctor?
- Do you think other people will take better care of you than you take care of yourself?
If you are not living up to your full potential, the small change approach can help. Below are ten practical reasons to give it a try:
1. It enables you to focus on solutions rather than problems.
2. It is a small investment of your time and money that yields huge results.
3. It requires only three things to get started: 1) a pen, 2) a notebook or journal, and a commitment to taking the necessary steps to improve your well-being.
4. The cost of investing in small change work doesn't compare to what you could spend on sick-care costs.
5. small change work is transformative work. If what you are presently doing doesn't challenge you, it won’t change you.
6. Small incremental steps are easier to begin and sustain.
7. It makes it easier to chart your progress, feel a sense of accomplishment, and continue working toward your goal.
8. It reduces the pressure to be perfect; you learn to be the best version of yourself and feel good about it.
9. It is based on the fact that information alone doesn't change behavior; when you know better, the next step is to do better.
10. Using the small change approach prepares you to put wings on your dreams to “be well,” one day at a time, regardless of your circumstances.
Here are a couple more questions: How sick do you have to get to try something different? Do you have dreams of feeling good and living well, but don't know where to begin?
I’m here to help. Contact me at smallchange@myrtlerussell.com or call me at 731-267-254.
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