1. Books that make great holiday gifts…
Book are great gifts. They are usually reasonably priced, something that the other person might not buy for themselves, and easy to wrap. I could list one hundred good books that are worth gifting (and reading yourself), but I’ll list a handful of the ones I think are best… especially for gifting…
- The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success, by Darren Hardy
- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, by James Clear
- Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman
- Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy, by Mo Gawdat
- The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self, by Michael Easter
- Any books by Ryan Holiday… Ego is the Enemy, Stillness is the Key, The Obstacle is the Way, Discipline is Destiny, Right Thing, Right Now, Courage is Calling, etc…
2. Condition you will be hearing more about…
The murder of the CEO of United Healthcare is a very tragic and disturbing event. While I am not writing about the event itself, one topic keeps coming up in the news surrounding the event. The suspect in the murder has had a history of chronic lower back pain. He ultimately opted for surgery for his condition. It is being reported that he had what is called spondylolisthesis, a condition where one spinal bone slips forward, causing irritation to the nerves, leading to pain. This is something that we see REGULARLY in our office and have great success in managing it very effectively and conservatively. Pain of any kind alters your mental state, your mood, and your ability to live normally. Chronic back pain can lead to job loss, inability to do the things you enjoy, drug addiction, anxiety, depression, and even suicide. As you read the headlines, and they talk about spondylolisthesis, you’ll hear references to pain medications, injections, physical therapy, and surgery. What you won’t see is ANY reference to chiropractic care. That is very disappointing because we have an incredible level of success with most lower back conditions causing pain. It is super safe, gentle, effective, and extremely more cost-effective than most other medical interventions. If ANYONE you know suffers from ongoing lower back pain, or any spinal pain at all, encourage them to get examined by a chiropractor. It could be life-altering… and even life-saving. A great resource for finding a highly qualified Gonstead chiropractor anywhere in the U.S. (Gonstead is the specific technique that I practice) is at www.gonstead.com. Just click the “Find a Member” button.
3. New word I learned this week…
Social media influencers have become… well… quite influential. The scary thing is that many of these influencers present a persona, information, and content that is not true or accurate. Someone on a podcast I was listening to this week used a word to sum up these people… fakefluencer. Urban Dictionary online defines fakefluencer as a social media influencer that looks amazing until you do the digging. It’s one thing to present yourself as something you’re not, but way worse when you are using bogus information or a fake persona to influence others. We’ve seen some super successful influencers fall hard once they were exposed (i.e., The Liver King). Shameful! Be aware that much of what you hear about and read about online is over-hyped, inaccurate, and even possibly dangerous. Rely on trusted resources… NOT fakefluencers!