Recently, the Taylor family has embarked on the journey of a few home improvement projects, namely trimming a giant Elm tree in the front yard and painting the exterior of the house.

It took over a month to just prep the house (pressure washing, scraping, re-stuccoing, taping, sealing).

The prep work alone is enough to deter anyone from wanting to paint their own house, but with all the kids I have, I figured it would be a good learning experience for them.

So, the big moment came the other day when I had the opportunity to finally put primer on the old yellow wall and my 12 year old daughter asks, "Dad, can I paint the back wall?"

I said, "Sure, you can paint the back wall, but you need to cut down the dead tree branches near it first."

Now, we had a pile of branches a mile high from trimming the Elm tree that blocked the entire back wall, so when my daughter turned and walked away, I figured she changed her mind.

I wanted her to understand that you cannot just put paint on a wall, you need to do the harder prep work first.

Well, she must have really wanted to paint because a few hours later she grabbed my arm and led me to the backyard and showed me the pile of branches she cut down and cleared out (see picture above).

Many patients come into my office with pain or dysfunction that has taken years, decades, or even a lifetime to develop.

Some of these patients have even been in the lifetime habit of taking medications, getting injections, or having surgeries to alleviate their pain.

Some of these patients have been in the lifetime habit of using exercise to manage their pain.

Yet some of these patients have learned to live with their pain, hoping that it will go away until they get to the point of desperation where they are motivated to do something about it.

When these patients come into my office, they are like a house that desperately needs to be painted.

I am the painter so before I give them an estimate to paint their house, I do an exam to figure out why the house is in such bad shape and what they need to do to get the house painted.

When I am done with the exam, I tell them what it is going to take to paint their house and they decide how they want to proceed.

Some patients want thorough prep work done so the paint job looks beautiful and lasts a long time.

Other patients want some prep work done, enough for the paint to look good and last a little longer.

Other patients do not want any prep work done; they are just happy to have new paint on the wall.

As the painter, I am happy to paint a house any way that is wanted.

It is important though to understand that results will depend on what kind of prep work is done. The more prep work done, the better results will show.

The more time and effort you invest in taking care of 'your house' with a healthy lifestyle of regular exercise, mindfulness, eating right, exposure to sunlight, EMF reduction, etc., the less prep work you will need done in painting your house.

Have a Great Thursday!

Dr. Derek 'Sherwin-Williams' Taylor