It's the year 2002 and what will chiropractic look like in your office? Will you continue to be shaped and dictated by what others want you to be, or is 2002 the year to create the practice of your dreams?

Those of you old enough to have been in practice for a couple of decades have seen trends come and go. You've witnessed the go-go years of the '70s and '80s when chiropractors wanted to bring chiropractic to the world and change the world. Healthier people are a part of the solution, not part of the problem. Renaissance flourished as the premier guardian of the vision, with the most advanced chiropractic patient education and office procedure that our profession had ever seen.

Dr. Katie Flesia coined the term "reforestation of chiropractic." The phrase meant if hundreds -- even thousands -- of chiropractors started removing VSC in large volumes of people on a family basis, the world would be a better place. People would express more of their Innate expression. They would pollute less, commit fewer crimes, there would be less poverty, etc.

The solutions to the "predicament of the species" (all that's wrong with the world) would be forthcoming.

Not from the sick, subluxated, demented, dim light bulb world that created the problems, but from the new generation of healthy, happy people who want to serve humanity and planet earth at the highest level possible. By the chiropractic profession following the lead of these bold men and women of vision, the world would not be able to relegate chiropractic to a sprain and strain profession.

Then, in the mid '80s and '90s, many D.C.s fell prey to insurance and the lure of easy money. Why bother with the energy and hard work of changing the world with chiropractic when fee insurance money was there by the bucketful? All you had to do was take a course on stacking the ICD codes and the money came in without much effort. Chiropractic and the world lost many of our committed "big vision" chiropractors to the lure of "free money."

From the late '90s to the present, the insurance hammer has been coming down and third party pay is becoming more restrictive and tougher. Chiropractors today want a balance between insurance and cash. You mean we can change the world and make bucket loads of money? Count us in!

At Renaissance we've witnessed a rebirth of the big vision chiropractor... the D.C. who has the courage to live for a cause bigger than self and live that cause with passion... who lives the big vision with every cell of his or her being... who knows with all of his or her heart that curing and healing "conditions" is certainly admirable and noble but it won't result in a better world.

The big vision chiropractor removes VSC on a family basis for a lifetime. Whether sick or well, young or old. Wellness is continually removing layers of VSC that interfere with the individual's and society's expression of humanity.

When chiropractors will not stand up for who and what they are, there is a penalty to be paid. Frustration, burnout, lowered self-esteem and low patient visit average. Instead of taking a stand, they cling to any guru or practice management group who will say what they want to hear. "Just do this and your practice will improve for a while and then we will have something different for you." This results in notoriously low patient visit average and a continuation of the "medical" identity thrust on the unknowing chiropractor.

This is why so many chiropractic offices give off mixed messages. How much longer are you going to ask why the patient doesn't get the big picture? The real solution is to have a philosophy, science, and office procedure that reflects who you are, not what society wants you to be.

Take a stand in 2002 and create the practice you've always wanted. Reforestation of chiropractic is not a dream. It's a way of life!