A commitment to succeed

The morning my class graduated from chiropractic school, two other students at the college and myself participated in the South Carolina Triathlon.

Months of vision and commitment preceded this event. Training for the swimming leg was an everyday discipline for me. Hours of dedicated time each day was set aside just to work out and prepare for the mile-long swim. Our cyclist trained with even longer stretches, and our runner was consistently breaking his own personal records in 10 kilometer races all summer.

While the teams from other colleges, including Clemson and Duke University, warmed up beside us, the differences were obvious: we were older. Six years may not seem like much, but when you're competing against athletes who think 25 is elderly, it makes you wonder if you should have just stayed home.

We shook off the self-doubt and just concentrated on what brought us to the starting line.

I could go on about the actual race, sighting strategy and calculated moves, but that would miss the point. It should suffice to say we raced the race of our lives, and we won by over a minute — a huge win!

So what is the point?

Simply, without vision and commitment, we never would have enjoyed the satisfaction of success. At one time, my vision and commitment was focused on swimming and winning each race. Now I've found something much more practical and far more rewarding. Let me share it with you, and I hope your life will never be the same again:

My vision is to achieve and maintain optimum health while I am blessed with life. My commitment must be the daily practice of activities that create positive health outcomes. I'm not satisfied with less than the best and you shouldn't be, either.

We live in a terrific time. We know more about how the body works than past generations ever could imagine. We live in a free country, where natural health care is a choice, not a dream.

Joe E. Lewis once said, "You only live once — but if you work it right, once is enough."

It takes vision and commitment to succeed in anything, whether it's an athletic event or living a healthy life.

Dr. Ray Pope is a licensed chiropractor at Action Potential Chiropractic, Inc. on Camano Island.