Acne before ProActive…

…there was a condition called acne that could ruin your social life

You all know this girl. She is the homecoming queen, captain of the cheer-leading team, the socialite of the entire school, and man, what a hottie!! The teeth, the hair, the curves – when she walked by, everyone watched. The opportunity of a lifetime happened: she broke up with the football captain. The whole male student population of the high school went berserk. She was getting flowers, chocolates, and desperate notes from every boy in town, each trying to vie for her attention and fill the void left by the departing football captain.

For some reason, I won the lottery and she actually agreed to go out with me. But there were conditions to be met. Collared shirt, corduroy pants (not bell bottom jeans) so she could present me to her snooty National Honor Society friends. “Oh, and you have to do something about that acne.”

For someone so beautiful, she certainly did not have much personality. She was so fake, so phony, and always talking behind people’s backs. Everyone would come up to me and say, “man, how did you get so lucky?” Oh yeah? If I was so lucky, why was I miserable?

Once when we were motoring along in my 64 Mustang ragtop, she suddenly reached over and popped a whitehead and said, “there you go!” It was as if an ice pick went through my face. Right then and there, I ended things with her. She loudly protested our breakup saying that “you will never find another girl like me. You will be the social outcast of the year!”

I was at a recent H2H (private day long consultation) with a long term TNR member and she was lamenting the fact that she felt like such an outsider. Everyone in her family just wants her to be a mom and thinks she’s taking this “Chiropractic thing” too serious. After 9 years of part time maternity, vacation coverage, she owns her own successful full time practice, is a full time soccer (and more) mom, and also cares for her elderly father. All of her DC friends tell her that she doesn’t have to work full time, and that for them, Chiropractic is more of a hobby than a calling. She doesn’t agree, but she feels like an outsider – just like I did when I was a teenager with acne.

A lot of well meaning members of society tell us that we all have it made as DCs. But they don’t know what it feels like to be an extraordinary doctor, but unable to help everyone in need because of the prevailing cultural belief. Talk about feeling like an outsider. When I was younger, I started to believe that nobody would be attracted to me with my scarred face, shoulders and chest. Then along came an angel that didn’t even see my acne or react to it. She said, “hey, who doesn’t have a few pimples? There’s more to you than acne.” Lesson learned – be a part of something where others accept and support you the way you are, not the way they want you to be.

For 16 years now, TNR has been all about welcoming in outsider DCs – the DCs who sometimes have spouses or parents that don’t see their gift, doubt their abilities, encourage them to play small, be conservative, take no risks. TNR welcomes Chiropractors who thirst for the adventure of a lifetime. They yearn to act bold, make big decisions, and tune out the criticism from others. They have a dream that growls inside of them. Their lives are lived helping others and living a great lifestyle. Consider this your invitation to join us and create a legacy that will last a lifetime.