Spizzerinctum Kept Me Going

Enthusiasm and second chances

I did my chiropractic studies at Life University in Georgia. When I picked schools, I had no idea about chiropractic philosophies or the politics in chiropractic.

I picked Life for two reasons: It was the closest to home (Miami at the time), and it was the first one to get back to me and tell me I was accepted.

My chiropractor in Miami wanted me to attend Palmer College, but that was in Iowa, and it sounded remote and cold. So, hell no.

I was so excited to start my new life that I crammed a U-Haul with all my junk and headed to Marietta.

Once classes started, someone suggested I join clubs to make friends.

I asked around, and there was this club having an upcoming party. It was Spizz Club. Spizz was short for Spizzerinctum, which meant “chiropractic enthusiasm.”

Well, I had a lot of that—plus, there were some attractive girls in that club.

I showed up at the party, which was at a student’s apartment, and got greeted with a long, uncomfortable hug. Do you remember the old cartoon of Pepe Le Pew and the cat? Well, I was the cat.

I grabbed a beer and started mingling. It was one uncomfortably long hug after another. Some made moaning sounds!

Fucking weirdos.

I got invited to a philosophy class while I was at the party. My social calendar wasn’t exactly overflowing, so I went.

Wow! These people were explaining concepts I’d known deep down my entire life, but I was hearing them out loud for the first time.

Deciding to move 700 miles away and change careers was a rash and selfish decision because I was running away.

Running from:

• Failure

• A failed marriage

• Failure at real estate

• Failure at finding something I was good at

• Failure at being happy

• Failure as a student, ten years after high school with no degree.

Here I am, listening to the speakers, and I realized this was different.

Maybe this was MY thing.

Maybe I could be a chiropractor.

Maybe I could help people.

Maybe I could be proud of myself.

Maybe someone could be proud of me.

That night changed me. The weirdos seemed less weird. I made friends, I found my footing.

Chiropractic college was tough, much tougher than I expected. I had always kind of “skated by,” but now I had to put in hard work because I hadn’t been in school full-time for ten years.

I also had never lived the college life, and apparently I was partying too much. We hit the bars to blow off steam after midterms and finals—turns out, there were a lot midterms and finals.

I almost flunked out one quarter, but there was a lot going on. My 85-year-old dad came to visit and was going to stay with me for a bit, then he passed away suddenly.

I had a lot of guilt from that, thinking that I could have done something different and could have stayed around a little longer. That guilt would resurface years later in a Craniosacral therapy session.

I couldn’t fail at this. This was too important. I went to a Hypnotherapist to see if maybe I could get “programmed” to not flunk out. Apparently, it worked.

Funny thing, I worked hard and time passed. We did it. We graduated and made it through.

Look, those brutal study sessions weren’t easy, and almost flunking out scared the hell out of me. I am thankful that Chiropractic passion stuck with me. That Spizz still gets me through some days.

Live Long and Prosper,

-Danny

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