It took me two years to learn this simple life lesson. But there are still people who have yet to learn it. This is for them –

Back in 2016, I lived in a college dorm that had a campus gym very close by.

I’d been to the gym regularly for three weeks now as part of my program. When one day, in the middle of my leg workout, I hear something pop.

I felt like I was struck with a metal bat and my body instantly lost strength. Luckily, I somehow managed to rerack the weight.

But my back was fucking killing me. So I grabbed my stuff and walked back to the dorms in shame.

The next morning it got worse. I couldn’t bend back and forth or side-to-side.

If someone were about to come up and punch me in the face, it’d hurt less to take the hit than it would to move out of the way.

The girls at the dorm told me to go to the doctor. I told them that I’m invincible and that I don’t need a doctor.

Pfft.

The next day while they were out I went straight to the doctor.

This first visit he told me to get rest and the pain should go away. He was sure it was just muscle soreness.

… Right.

A week goes by and my back feels worse than before. Hell, I feel emasculated by how much it pains me to move.

This made it difficult to walk, lay down, stand up, or even sit down to take a shit.

The second visit to the doctor was at Kaiser. He determined that it was just muscle soreness and gave me medication for the pain.

For another month I lived with this discomfort. Sure the meds helped, but I still had trouble bending and moving.

Eventually I got used to the daily pain and nearly accepted it as a way of life.

I was a twenty-year-old guy with the mobility of an old man!

On my third visit, I finally had a doctor recommend something useful – physical therapy.

So I went to physical therapy.

When they called me in I was led to a private room to lay on a thin, blue bed.

Then in comes the nurse –

Smooth cocoa skin, long black hair, soft voice, luscious lips covered in dark red –

His name was Carlos.

Nice guy.

After a month of physical therapy nothing got better! Nothing these doctors recommended fixed my issue!

I lived with back pain every single day for two whole years until I figured out how to fix it myself.

The point of the story is this –

You have to be your own doctor.

Doctors aren’t doctors for you and me. They don’t give a damn about you.

They only care about the money lining their pockets and making their student loan payments.

Hell, asian families only push their kids to be doctors for the money and prestige. Helping people is hardly an afterthought.

So what should you do? You must take control of your own health.

You have to make it priority #1 because your health is no joke.

5 Real Ways to Take Better Care of Your Health

Eat a natural diet. If it doesn’t come from the ground or an animal, it’s not good for you. Natural foods will satiate you and make you feel good.

Processed foods won’t satiate you and get you addicted to sugary foods. This addiction causes you to eat more processed foods, which wears down your digestive system more than natural foods ever will.

Get your weight under control. If you are morbidly obese or fat, it’s your duty to get to a healthy weight. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for others.

There are people who want to see you live a long life and being fat leaves you open to thyroid issues, diabetes, and other diseases.

Exercise your body and keep active. Get into the gym or play sports. If you can’t do that then go for a jog, take a hike, or get exercise equipment.

Whatever gets you trim and fit. Because when you’re trim and fit, you are in better physical condition than 70% of people in the United States.

Research and fix your body’s weaknesses. If parts of your body aren’t working the way they’re supposed to, or you experience regular discomfort, go the extra mile and do your research.

Most times you have a muscular imbalance that you need to fix. Do the work and get what’s necessary to fix it yourself. No pill or injection will be able to fix that.

Strengthen and protect your body. Honor your body like the precious asset that it is. Make yourself a force to be reckoned with by adding muscle to your frame and learning self-defense.

Get serious and be your own doctor for your own personal health.

What happens if you don’t become your own doctor.

The year is 2019, I’m at work in the middle of a sale when I suddenly get a phone call –

“Come to grandpa’s! Something’s happened-“

Turns out that my grandfather’s stomach has been in pain for months. Just like me, he went to the doctor’s office right away to get checked.

On his first visit, they told him he must’ve eaten something bad and that the pain would pass.

Weeks later he still had pain and it was getting worse.

On his second visit, they told him he must’ve gotten the stomach flu. So they did nothing.

As the weeks went on my grandfather started getting slower, he lost his appetite, and lost weight quickly.

One day his stomach was in excruciating pain. So my uncle took him back to the doctor.

On his third visit, it was the same run-around. The staff tried to shoo them out the door.

My uncle refused –

“No! He’s in pain! You guys help him! He’s been coming and you guys don’t do anything! I’m not leaving until you give him something!”

So they took him back in.

That’s how they found out he had cancer.

He was going to die.

When I got to his room his senses were already leaving him.

He was laying in his bed. Barely alive.

His eyes were moving, but he couldn’t see.
His mouth open, but he could hardly breathe.

Family gathered in the room.
Faces full of tears.

My grandfather’s oldest brother was at his side. He held onto his arm to comfort him.

I showed no emotion. I kept a thick face as I watched my mother tend to her dying father.

Everyone said what they had to say before he left this world. And when everyone was finished the room got quiet.

All you could hear was the rattle.

Be Your Own Doctor Recap

No matter how many times I’d gone to see the doctor, they were no help.

I was in pain for two years.

No matter how many times my grandfather had gone to see the doctor, they were no help.

He was in pain until he died.

Now I’m sure there’s a reason for all of this, but my message is the same –
You must make your health your priority.

Doctors have their responsibilities and you have yours. And even if they could help you, they can’t save you.

The doctors didn’t do anything to help my grandfather live.

But they did help him die.

Take it upon yourself to take care of your health and body.

• Make sure you keep a natural diet.
• Get your weight under control.
• Exercise your body and keep active.
• Research and fix your body’s weaknesses.
• Strengthen and protect your body.

It’s your life and your body.
Nobody else’s.
Protect it and honor it.