By Dr. Emil Tompkins, a Marana Chiropractor with a passion for family health and wellness.
Answer these questions?
Your pain is something very basic about you but you can’t change it much.
You’ve lived with this for a long time and it’s very unlikely that it will change.
You are a certain kind of person and you have no real ability to change it.
OR
You can always change the kind of person you are.
You can change your state of health and look forward to the challenge of doing it.
Your Mindset
The first three questions are based on a fixed mindset; there’s not much you can do about your personality, your pain. The end goal is fixed. Maybe you can try lots of different things, but in the long run, you’re still in the same place.
This mindset plays itself out in so many places, in education, “Oh, I’m just not very good at math,” or “School is just hard for me. I know I’m not going to get very good grades.”
Click here to check out our podcast “Beyond Pain Relief”
To work. “I have this skill and don’t ask me to do anything else. That’s not in my job description.”
Or at home. “I’m not good at opening up so you’re going to have to just live with that.”
A fixed mindset is the belief that who we are, our personality, our lives is a fixed thing that ultimately can’t be changed. And this mindset isn’t evil, it’s likely based on life experience and the way people talked to you, taught you or encouraged you.
The problem with this mindset is that there’s no room for growth. You either limit yourself to whatever your fixed mindset tells you, or your world is rocked when you find out that what you thought may not be true or accurate.
Why Mindset
Why am I telling you this today? Because sometimes, when we’re dealing with pain, especially chronic pain, we can put up roadblocks to our success with this fixed thinking. Here’s an example. I just can’t exercise, it doesn’t agree with me. I’m not successful unless I’m running marathons and If I can’t get there, then I’m not healthy. I’m a bad patient, I just don’t do what doctors tell me.
The fixed mindset can sabotage your success. It’s like throwing a monkey wrench into your healing.
So, don’t sabotage your success. Don’t get caught up into believing that things can’t change. You’re not stuck. You’re not condemned to be sick for the rest of your life. You are going to accomplish great things and I can’t wait to see what that is for you and your health.
I’m Dr. Emil Tompkins and I’m excited to see you move beyond the pain.
