How many of you readers are thinking, "Wow, how stupid, if it were flat again that fast I'd look to see what the problem was!" or "Take it in to get it checked out!" Maybe there was a nail or something stuck in it. Maybe there was a small leak somewhere. Either way, you're all thinking that was a pretty stupid scenario, right? I mean who wouldn't look into that before letting it get so bad that you're stranded on the side of the road?
Here's another one. And this is a true story, from my mom's younger years, and it kind of makes me laugh. She'd be driving along and would hear some strange clunking sound in her car. Wasn't sure what it was. Her solution to the problem? Just turn the radio up! Can't hear the clunking anymore! Problem solved!
How many of you are at a loss for words on that one? Jaws dropped in disbelief? Who would do that to their car!?
Most people take really good care of their cars. Regular maintenance, oil changes, tire rotations, inspections, the works. If it's doing something that doesn't seem quite right or normal, you do what you can do to check it out, but if you can't find anything on your own you take it in to the professionals to diagnose, figure out the cause of the problem, and fix it.
Now think about something:
Do you take that good of care of your own body? Maybe you pitched a lot of baseball in your younger years. Now you notice you have trouble lifting your arm up over your head. Pop a pill to relieve the pain, right? Or maybe you sit at a desk all day or drive a truck all day, and you have this pain in your butt that's starting to radiate down your leg. Pop a pill, it'll make it go away. Maybe your blood pressure is a little high. Here's a pill to regulate that!
Do you see the correlation here? Popping pills is just like turning the radio up, or just simply airing up a tire that continually goes flat every day. There's an underlying cause to the problem, and all you're doing is covering up the symptoms.
So what about the cause of the problem? Does it just magically go away when you cover up the symptom with a pill?
You need to find a way to get to the root of the problem - figure out what's CAUSING those symptoms and address that cause. Sometimes pain is bad enough that you need to do something immediately, I understand, and there have been plenty of times that I've had to take a few ibuprofen just to be able to function. But don't think that's going to make everything all better. Sure it may help you for the time being, but let's not forget something happened somewhere inside of you to cause the problem in the first place. If you've got a headache right now, sure, do what you need to do to get through the rest of the day, but make an appointment with a chiropractor or massage therapist. You could have a vertebra out of alignment or an overly tight muscle that's causing that headache. That ibuprofen isn't going to magically fix that, it'll only hide it. I can speak from experience from the many clients I've treated with frozen shoulder or rotator cuff issues, or sciatic nerve problems, or headaches. I get to the root of the problem - the underlying issue that's causing your pain or restricted motion - and fix that. Once that's fixed, the symptoms will go away too. And you won't have to keep popping pills.
Same thing with other health-related issues, like high blood pressure. Those things can be addressed just by altering your diet or exercising. Making a few simple lifestyle changes can get your blood pressure to a more regular level, and you can avoid all the detrimental side effects of the medication. Win-win.
Don't get stranded on the side of the road when it comes to your health. If you've got a problem, find the cause and fix THAT - don't just turn the radio up and pretend it's not there.
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