Here’s what I know to be true: Your body is not broken. It’s not a machine that needs fixing when it breaks down. Your body is a living, breathing, adaptive masterpiece designed to heal, grow, and thrive. And sometimes—okay, most of the time—we just need to get out of its way.
I’ve spent years watching people walk into chiropractic offices carrying invisible backpacks full of shame, frustration, and the weight of believing their bodies have somehow failed them. They’re searching for a quick fix, a magic adjustment that will erase years of stress, poor sleep, and living in survival mode.
But here’s the vulnerable truth I need to share with you: Healing isn’t a destination. It’s a practice. And like all worthy practices, it requires us to show up—especially when we don’t feel like it.
1. Embrace Consistency Over Perfection
Let me tell you about Lanie, a mom who came to see me with debilitating headaches and hormonal issues. She’d tried everything—medications, specialists, expensive supplements. Nothing worked long-term. When I suggested a care plan that involved regular visits over several months, she knew we had a journey ahead of us.
“I am just ready to not feel sick anymore,” she said.
I get it. We live in a culture that promises overnight transformations and instant relief. But your nervous system—the master controller of your entire body—doesn’t operate on convenient, super speedy delivery schedules, especially when that sickness has been brewing for some time.
Consistency in chiropractic care is like tending a garden. You don’t plant seeds on Monday and expect tomatoes on Wednesday. You water them daily, pull the weeds, adjust for the weather, and trust the process.
When we show up consistently for our care—whether that’s twice a week initially or once a month for maintenance—we’re sending a clear message to our nervous system: “I’m invested in this. We’re doing this together.”
The magic isn’t in the single adjustment. It’s in the cumulative effect of consistent, intentional care over time.
2. Shift from Fixing to Restoring
Here’s where we need to get vulnerable about our relationship with our bodies. How often do you think of your body as something that’s broken and needs fixing? How often do you show up to healthcare appointments with a laundry list of complaints and the expectation that someone else will make you “normal” again?
I’m asking because I’ve been there too. We all have.
True chiropractic care isn’t about fixing you—it’s about restoring your body’s innate ability to function optimally.Your nervous system is constantly monitoring, adapting, and healing. Sometimes it just needs support to remember what optimal feels like.
Think of it this way: When your computer gets overwhelmed and starts running slowly, you don’t throw it away and buy a new one. You close some programs, clear the cache, and restart. That’s what chiropractic care does for your nervous system—it helps clear the interference so your body can run the programs it was designed to run.
Restoration requires patience. It requires us to release the timeline we think our healing should follow and trust that our bodies know what they’re doing. It asks us to see symptoms not as enemies to defeat, but as messengers trying to tell us something important.
3. Honor Your Body with Movement That Feels Good
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: exercise. Ugh, even the word makes some of us want to hide under a blanket with a bag of chips, right?
But here’s what I’ve learned from working with thousands of patients: Movement is medicine, but it doesn’t have to look like punishment.
Your body was designed to move. Not just at the gym for an hour three times a week, but throughout your day, in ways that feel nourishing and sustainable. Maybe that’s a 10-minute walk around the block while you listen to your favorite podcast. Maybe it’s dancing in your kitchen while you make dinner. Maybe it’s gentle stretching on your living room floor while your kids build Lego fortresses around you.
Movement supports your chiropractic care by:
- Improving circulation and nutrient delivery to healing tissues
- Strengthening the muscles that support your spine
- Releasing natural mood-boosting chemicals
- Helping your nervous system integrate the changes from your adjustments
The goal isn’t to become a fitness influencer. The goal is to find movement that makes you feel alive, connected to your body, and grateful for what it can do.
4. Rest as a Revolutionary Act
In a world that glorifies busyness and treats exhaustion like a badge of honor, choosing rest is revolutionary. But here’s what most people don’t realize: Rest isn’t optional for healing—it’s essential.
Your nervous system does its deepest healing work when you’re sleeping. This is when your brain literally cleans the house, clearing out metabolic waste and consolidating memories. This is when your body repairs tissues, balances hormones, and resets for tomorrow.
Quality sleep supports your chiropractic care by:
- Allowing your nervous system to integrate adjustments
- Reducing inflammation throughout your body
- Supporting your body’s natural healing processes
- Improving your pain tolerance and emotional resilience
But rest isn’t just about sleep. It’s about creating spaces in your day where you’re not constantly in “go” mode. It’s about saying no to commitments that drain you. It’s about recognizing that your worth isn’t measured by your productivity.
Start small: Can you commit to putting your phone in another room 30 minutes before bed? Can you create a Sunday afternoon ritual where you do absolutely nothing productive? Can you give yourself permission to rest without guilt?
5. Fuel Your Body Like You Love It
Okay, let’s get real about food. I’m not going to give you another diet plan or tell you to eliminate everything delicious from your life. But I am going to ask you to think about food differently.
Food is information. Every bite you take is sending signals to your nervous system, your immune system, and your healing mechanisms. When we fuel our bodies with nutrient-dense, whole foods, we’re giving our nervous system the raw materials it needs to function optimally.
Eating to support your chiropractic care means:
- Choosing foods that reduce inflammation (think colorful fruits and vegetables, omega-3 rich fish, nuts and seeds)
- Staying hydrated so your discs can maintain their cushioning properties
- Eating regularly to keep your blood sugar stable and your nervous system calm
- Including foods rich in magnesium and calcium to support muscle and nerve function
But here’s the thing: This isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress, awareness, and self-compassion. It’s about noticing how certain foods make you feel and making choices from a place of love rather than restriction.
The Courage to Trust the Process
Here’s what I want you to know as you embark on or continue your chiropractic care journey: Healing takes courage. It takes courage to show up consistently when you don’t see immediate results. It takes courage to invest in your health when the world tells you to just push through. It takes courage to trust your body’s wisdom when you’ve been conditioned to see it as the enemy.
Your nervous system has been with you through every moment of your life—every joy, every trauma, every triumph, every challenge. It’s been doing its best to keep you safe and functioning. Sometimes that means creating tension patterns to protect an old injury. Sometimes that means staying hypervigilant when a threat has passed. Sometimes that means holding stress in your shoulders or your jaw.
Your nervous system isn’t broken—it’s adaptive. And with consistent, patient, loving care, it can learn new patterns. It can remember what ease feels like. It can trust that it’s safe to let go.
Chiropractic care, movement, rest, and nourishing food aren’t separate things you add to your already overwhelming to-do list. They’re interconnected parts of a life lived with intention—a life where you’re not just surviving, but truly thriving.
You deserve care that honors your whole self. You deserve to feel at home in your body. You deserve to move through life with ease and vitality.
The question isn’t whether you have time for this kind of care. The question is: Do you have the courage to show up for yourself in this way?
Your body is waiting. Your nervous system is ready. And you—exactly as you are right now—are worthy of this healing journey.
Trust the process. Trust your body. Trust yourself.
Ready to begin or deepen your chiropractic care journey? Remember: You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to start where you are, with what you have, and trust that your body knows the way home.