Commitment and Change
Ten years ago, I was living an entirely different life. I owned
a large chiropractic, holistic health clinic. I was the
president of my state chiropractic association, and I was seeing
many hundreds of people for their health concerns each month. I
was, by all outward measures, successful.
Yet, I was discontent. Everything on the outside seemed alright,
but I couldn't get excited about my life. I felt bored, anxious,
frustrated, and unhappy. I started to notice that I had
developed the habit of looking at my watch more and more often.
In the final days of my practice, I would have looked at my
watch about 10 times by 9 a.m., and I'd only arrived an hour
earlier!
Finally, I realized that this couldn't go on. It wasn't fair to
my patients who deserved an enthusiastic, committed doctor, and
it wasn't fair to me who deserved a rewarding, fulfilling life.
I'd already attempted to light a fire under myself on several
occasions by attending motivational and educational seminars,
but the results hadn't lasted more than a few weeks each time.
It was time to make a change.
I knew that there were going to be a lot of unhappy people, who
had come to count on me for a variety of reasons and that my
parents weren't going to be excited to learn that the investment
I'd made of my time and, to some extent, their money, was now
going to be wasted. Nonetheless, I had to be true to myself and
trust that in doing so I'd ultimately be doing what was best for
everyone.
I decided to embark on an adventure with no firm plans of what
was next. I went to Guatemala, intent on spending a few months
traveling around Central America, with no established structure.
I thought I could use the time to reflect on what was important
to me, to work on my language skills, and to drink in a new
culture. It was an exciting proposition. Still, it was a bit
scary. I didn't know what I'd find there, and I didn't know how
well I'd fit into the fabric of Latin American society.
It was during my fourth day in Antigua that I discovered a small
chiropractic office on a side street and off the beaten path. I
sat in the waiting room until the doctor came out and found me
sitting there. I introduced myself as Steve, a chiropractor from
the USA, and he introduced himself as Todd, an American
expatriate, living and working in Guatemala for the last couple
of years. Upon learning that I was a chiropractor, he asked what
most chiropractors ask of their colleagues. "Would you mind
giving me an adjustment? I haven't seen another chiropractor
around these parts for the last six months!" I obliged him, and
after trading adjustments, we walked out to the waiting room.
There, sitting in the waiting room by himself, was an American
man about my age. He stood as we entered the room. He looked
from me to Todd. He extended his hand to me, thinking I was the
doctor, and said...
"Hello, I'm Steve. I'm a chiropractor from the USA."
Todd and I looked at each other in disbelief. After a moment of
silence, Todd introduced himself as the proprietor of the
practice, and I introduced myself as Steve, a chiropractor from
the USA. He asked me where I practiced, and I told him of my
recent departure from the field. He responded that he, too, had
just sold his practice of 14 years (the same length of time I'd
been in practice.) "What brings you to Guatemala?" I asked.
"I just wanted to have a place to reflect on my life and goals
and to work on my language skills. And you?"
"The same."
After his adjustment, Steve and I decided to get lunch together
and discuss our common experiences. We walked out the door into
the afternoon sun and simultaneously reached into our backpacks
to get a cap. The caps we pulled out were identical, except for
one thing. While mine said "100 Years of Chiropractic" on it,
his said "Vermont," which happened to be the state in which I
lived. Turns out he had friends in my city and had been there
several times in the past.
Over the next several days, Steve and I became friends, as we
are to this day. We learned of many more coincidences, including
the fact that we had both been married and were currently good
friends with our ex-wives and that we both enjoyed adventure
sports.
Weeks later, I was traveling through Honduras with my
girlfriend. We were taking a boat ride around the island of
Roatan, and I was telling her the now famous "Steve Story." As
the boat came to the dock on the remote side of the island, we
disembarked and climbed the steep wooden staircase to the
restaurant above. My story was winding to a conclusion, but I
couldn't have anticipated that the last words of the story would
be... "And that's him, right there!" Ten feet in front of us sat
Steve and his lunch guest, blissfully unaware of our arrival. We
spent the next couple days catching up and telling more stories.
On arrival back in the USA, I made plans to meet up with Steve
in his home state of Montana, as part of a plane trip I'd
planned across the country. When I shared my travel plans with
John, the doctor who'd purchased my practice, his questions led
to the most startling revelation of all: John had lived in
Montana, Steve had been John's chiropractor, and John's best
friend had purchased Steve's practice.
When I got back to Vermont, I shared this story with a very
wise, spiritual man I know. I said, "What do you make of this
bizarre set of events?" He said, "I think it proves that you
were in the right place, because when you got there...there you
were!" He then went on to remind me of all the fear and
uncertainty I felt embarking on the journey, and how none of
that existed any more. The magical quality of the meeting with
Steve had reassured and supported me as I went along my path.
The universe has a way of supporting courageous action. Many
people have had the experience of delaying a decision out of
fear and then finally taking the leap, only to have a series of
unforeseen events unfold to support their decision and help them
along the way. In 1951, the Scottish explorer, W.N. Murray said:
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw
back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative
and creation there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of
which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment
one definitely commits oneself, Providence moves too. All sorts
of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have
occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents,
meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have
dreamt would have come his way.
Your commitment to a path of change is likely to yield far
greater benefits than you might imagine. Embark on your journey,
confident that there will be surprises which will help remind
you why you're taking the action you're taking. Trust the
universe to support your growth, and invite it to present you
with delightful gifts that will prove to you that you're on the
right track. Never doubt that once you've established a firm
foothold on your commitment to change, you'll get support in
ways unimagined.