Many of you readers will remember reading my columns entitled “Getting Adjusted” in the Milledgeville paper a year or so ago. I wrote for that paper for 4 years and have recently decided to begin again in the Wilkinson County News. I usually write twice per month on some topic relating to health and wellness. If you read the articles and have questions or decide you would like to recommend any future topics, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
For those of you who do not know who I am, allow me this short introduction. My name is Sherry Meeks and I am a chiropractor in Milledgeville. I was born in Milledgeville in 1964 and grew up here. I graduated form Baldwin High School in 1982. After graduation I decided to work at Rheem while I attended Georgia College, which I did for two years, then wanderlust got to me and I needed to see what the world outside of middle Georgia had to offer me. I traveled to many places and worked in real estate and hotel sales. I was working for Marriott Corporation as a sales executive in Orlando, Florida and developed migraine headaches. Nothing the medical profession did for me worked, and a friend of mine introduced me to his chiropractor who got rid of my migraines without the use of any drugs. To make an already long story short, that was in1989 – I sold my Marriott stock and went back to school to be a chiropractor. If that guy could get rid of my debilitating headaches that quickly without my having to take medicines with awful side-effects, I had to know how he did it so that I could help others in a similar manner. I went to Life University in Marietta and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1998. I practiced for two years in Savannah then decided to move on back home in 2001. I opened practice along with Dr. Tracy Green in Milledgeville in 2001. We operate Light Force Family Chiropractic: A Creating Wellness Center in Milledgeville.
When I moved home I discovered much to my dismay that people in our area have a higher incidence of preventable diseases such as diabetes and heart attacks than other areas of our size elsewhere in the United States. I have made it my mission to research these issues, find out what can be done to prevent many of the debilitating problems plaguing middle Georgians, and bring that information to my patients and the general public through forums like the Wilkinson County News and public speaking engagements, which Dr. Green and I do on a regular basis. Health and wellness issues are in the mainstream media every day but why do we not pay attention until it’s too late? This question is one which I will explore along with many other topics relating to the physical, chemical and psychological wellness of all of us. I have always enjoyed writing and I am passionate about educating people about things that truly matter to them. I look forward to being a part of your community through my writing and I will be happy to answer any questions any of you might have regarding health and wellness in the days and months to come.
The fist topic I want to address is the New Year’s resolutions many people make at the stroke of midnight on January 1. I can’t tell you how many people flock to me at the beginning of the New Year frantically asking what they can do to be healthier. I give advice and often watch people do extremely well until about the beginning of March. The spring weather tends to make people revert to their old habits and their health care goals of the New Year are out the proverbial window. Why is that? Most people make these resolutions because they think they need to, but rarely is the decision made based on their true purpose in the arena of health-creating. There are three dimensions to health. There is the physical dimension, or how you move, which is addressed through proper exercise. Then the biochemical dimension, what you put into your body, or how you eat. This is addressed by watching the food and drink choices you make along with proper supplementation. There is also the dimension that almost no one has addressed until very recently, the psychological dimension, or how you think. This dimension is easily addressed by paying attention to what thoughts you allow into your mind on a regular basis. If we choose to address one or two of these dimensions without addressing all three of them it is like trying to sit on a two-legged stool. It is unstable and will not hold up for very long.
As people who are increasingly being forced to be responsible for our own health and well-being, we soon realize that we can make lasting simple changes in our daily lives that will prevent long-term debilitating diseases and increase the quality of our lives forever. In future columns I will address each of these dimensions in detail and provide you with some practical action steps to improve the quality of your life beginning right away. In the meantime, keep your body and your spirit well.
“A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings.” – Hippocrates