Work hard, be strong, pick yourself up when you fall down, don’t show your flaws and do not let others know if you are hurting; this was my German upbringing.  In many aspects it has served me well over my life, and in other ways it has the potential to be limiting.   In a society where women are often viewed as being too emotional to be powerful and successful, left in check, this mantra could easily become very restrictive.    

Restrictive you say?  One would think it would give me the capacity to be more “polished and shiny” when I am on stage.  The problem is, I am a very emotional person at my core and being “polished” is not congruent with my soul.   The times where I tried to be “polished” while delivering my message were the times that I shined the least!

All of us have stories that we carry with...

Is there anything sweeter than being snuggled up with your babies? Feeling their little bodies wiggle around in their sleep, listening to their every breath? It’s such a beautiful experience that I almost missed out on.

I had every intention of sharing our bedroom with our baby when our first baby was due in 2008. We had no plans to set up a nursery; I constantly joked that the newborn could sleep in a dresser drawer in our room – after all – it was bigger than my womb. As a baby gift, my parents built an addition on our home to make room for a nursery. When I was 36 weeks pregnant, my sister came to visit bearing gifts – one gift was a crib, which her husband was kind enough to set up for us.  At 41 weeks, my mother put all of the sheets and bumpers in the crib and showed me how to drop the sides. The rocking chair was set up, curtains were hung, clothes were neatly arranged in the dresser. The dresser, by the way, was a handmade gift from the...

Everyone has something they are good at. I am good at being with the person or persons directly in front of me. I engage with them during the time we have together.  I want for them to leave our exchange with more energy then they had coming into it. You could say I am a confident introvert, and I love customer service. In my profession customer service is a big deal! Maybe it is a big deal in every industry? 

There are tons of things that go into quality service, personal service and customer service. But the thing that ties all this service together is the people you serve! In chiropractic listening to the practice member and really giving it your all to over deliver is my best advice. 

Acquiring this skill has taken many years. I have been in sales forever! Here is a quick rundown: My first job was at a drive-thru, and you better believe you had to pay attention to the orders through the speaker! I have managed a skate shop. I sold shoes, suitcases and eye-wear. I...

“I decided to stop, just like that.”  Dr. Denise Chranowski

One day I said to my mentor and coach, “I want to be a better example to my sons and I know I’m setting a bad example with drinking.”  My coach said that I should stop if I want to stop for me, not for my sons and then he said, “I know one day I’ll stop drinking. I’m just not sure when that day will be.”

It hit me square between the eyes.  It seemed so crystal clear. The day for me had arrived, August 7, 2017.  I stopped drinking all alcohol, my beloved chardonnay and sweet cosmos became a thing of the past.  I knew in my heart that this was a permanent decision. I also wanted to cement the decision. I found two books on Amazon and downloaded them to my Kindle.  I didn’t want this to be painful. I just wanted it to be permanent. I didn’t want to have to attend meetings. I didn’t want to make this a big deal. I just wanted...

In October this year, I scrolled through about five pages’ worth of Facebook statuses saying only “Me too.” A hashtag began to appear before the phrase. It was three or four days before I was able to figure out what was going on. I would say I’m relatively informed, so it was unusual for me to be so clueless. Even after much reading, I have to say I’m confused. I’ve come articles explaining #MeToo as a social media campaign to raise awareness about sexual assault, a way for women to take their power back over something they’d long been silent about, the beginning of the move from social movement to social change. I’ve read denouncements of the campaign’s exclusion of male sexual assault victims. I’ve tried to keep track of the various spin-off campaigns. Articles detailing various women’s hesitation about whether to post #MeToo, deliberating whether solidarity was a good enough reason to post or demanding that those...

Bringing ADIO (Above, Down, Inside, Out) Home

When I’m asked to share about the bridges that brought me to my convictions and passions about the chiropractic lifestyle, I can only point to my personal story and the many pieces that knit together what has become my life’s work.

Having been raised by a mother who found her passion for midwifery during the years of my childhood I remember most, I learned to trust my body. Her courage and passion took us hundreds of miles from “home” to study and earn her CPM. As a single mom whose social network became her classmates, her children (myself and younger brother) tagged along to her “grown up gatherings” where birth videos were the centerpiece, shared and discussed. In the same way I heard men talk about sports, with great interest and energy, I heard my mother and her friends talk about birth. Birth, our bodies, and the design of our bodies was always portrayed as “normal” and...

It started off with good intentions, and the movement has certainly had a resounding impact. There are the well publicized stories of highly paid celebrities and decision makers being ousted from their coveted jobs. Our hearts broke as we watched the female gymnasts come forward en masse to testify against the deranged doctor who stole the innocence from these young girls while their parents sat by, sometimes in the same room, dreaming of Olympic gold medals.

Executives and upper level management started to panic over who would be called out next. And they should have been worried. Because the truth was bigger than a hashtag. The truth was that we, as a society, have tolerated, accepted, even participated in what some tried to call frat boy talk. And this behavior toward women and girls was so pervasive that we were almost lulled into believing it was a societal norm.

I remember as a teen wondering why PG movies would show topless women, but they would never show nude men. Were...

“If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.”  Jackie Kennedy

I knew I wanted to have children when my husband and I married.  I just wasn’t sure how good a mother I would be. When I was 12 I had my first babysitting job and by 13 I retired from that career.  I hated babysitting. I proved Einstein’s theory of relativity then. Time did truly slow down. I’d count the minutes until the parents returned.  It amazes me that some women have their babies, raise their babies, watch their babies fly from the nest (if they ever do) and then count the moments until the first grandbaby is born.

This is not me.  I didn’t do PTA. I didn’t do my boys’ school projects.  I didn’t do their homework. I was there for my sons. I loved them immensely.  They would attest to that. I just wasn’t ‘that’ kind of mom. There are those kinds of mamas and...