In the Meantime: Dedication, Discipline, Desire


When I was in Chiropractic School, I knew I was in the right place doing what I was supposed to do and yet had many moments where I wanted to quit. Just like with any intense schooling or training, the commitment is significant. It takes dedication, discipline, desire, and even self-respect to finish such a program when the experience itself is very challenging and not fun. In fact, during the first three trimesters of school, I was so tempted to quit so many times I couldn't count how many. My ability to complete my education continues to amaze me. I used to say that I had over 22 years of formal training and yet I hated school. That is still true today. I love to learn and do not like formal training. I am a very independent-minded person, and the whole school experience feels very restricted to me. What kept me going was the genuine thought that if I didn't become a chiropractor, then what would I do for a living? I never had a different answer that was good enough than what I was going to school for. This was a very powerful and intense IN THE MEANTIME.

 I had faith that this was a career that would fit who I am and in which I could make a good living where I provided a service to others. I had faith. I didn't doubt that I would enjoy this career. I had no training in running a business. I knew I would have to do just that, run a business, and I would be creating a practice which I didn`t know how much I would like. I had faith that it would work for me. I went to school every day, did the work, learned what I could, and was in the meantime which I disliked most days, and yet I kept moving one foot in front of the other. I had to do this to have a career; not just a job, but a career I would like. That meantime lasted almost four years, all year round, and I even had a baby during this time. It was hard work. I had the stick positiveness to go through the process.

 I didn't even take a semester off for my baby. I took three weeks off and completed the semester with lots of help from my father and mother, a babysitter, and myself. I would love to say my husband was a big help, but he wasn't. Truthfully, we both were over our heads. But it worked, and I opened my practice when my son was a year old. In this long-lasting meantime, I was also told that I had to work nights to be available for my patients as I was starting a practice. I didn't. I had a son, and I also only worked three and a half days a week for the first few years, and I made it work.

 The meantime, in addition to being a lot of work, was a very creative time for me. Not only did I create a baby, which is vast, but I also created the knowledge and vision for my practice. I built two babies during this time. We don't always know what we are capable of until we find out. Would I do it again as I did if I had the chance? No, I wouldn't. That is what we do in life, we make decisions, good ones, and bad ones, and we learn. During this meantime I also learned how much I can do, how capable I am, and how much love I have in my heart; love for myself, my son, my work, and my family.

 Exercise: 
Think of a time in your life that was a tough time for you. What was going on, and/or what were you accomplishing? Did you have a plan? Were you working towards something? As you did, did you also have a vision of what you were working towards? Could you see it and imagine it and taste it and feel it?  That is an incubation time. Think back to what you were incubating. What did it take for you to get through it? Go through the process in your mind's eye with the hindsight of how you did it and the knowledge of not only what you were going through, but also its rewards as you accomplished it.

 I am not talking here necessarily of a long career or degree, the significant work you were working towards could have been a child or a marriage or a certification, or a commitment to a family, etc. Now give yourself kudos for your accomplishments. No accomplishment is too small or too big. 

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