Between the ages of 18 – 32, I experienced chronic back pain, sciatica, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, and TMJ. It was only after reading Dr. Sarno’s book, Healing Back Pain, did my chronic pain eventually went away. Now, at 44, I hardly have any chronic pain. And when some ailment does flare up, I review my notes about Dr. Sarno’s book to heal.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dr. Sarno, he is a pioneer in treating back pain. He practiced for 50+ years at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation at NYU. His research and treatment program are featured in four bestselling books which instruct patients to address their emotions to break the cycle of chronic pain.

The following is a guest post from JayCeezy, a regular reader who experienced his own bout of chronic pain. Dr. Sarno also helped him overcome his persistent ailments and feel healthy again.

Cure Your Chronic Pain To Get On With Your Personal Finances

One thing stands out to me, as I consider Sarno’s work. His patients have high intelligence and are motivated high achievers, who score quite high on the conscientiousness and neuroticism traits scales. The readers here are not just a cross section of people with aching backs. Many of you fit the profile of Sarno’s clients.

Have you ever missed a day (or more) of work because of an unspecified back injury? A physical ailment that prevented you from getting out of bed? Never mind the hours missed, let us consider the cost to our reputation of reliability and consistency. 

“Don’t get sick at crunch time!” is pretty real. At the very least, everyone knows someone who is hindered by recurring back pain. 

Keep in mind I’m not selling anything or stand to gain from this post. But like Sam, I had a very real struggle with chronic pain that I was able to cure thanks to Dr. Sarno.

And since I’m sure some of you out there are also suffering from chronic pain, I wanted to share my thoughts and experience. If you find this of interest, please watch the documentary All The Rage: Saved By Sarno and/or check out the book Healing Back Pain which I highlight below. 

It’s truly worth it if you are struggling with painful ailments. Not only will your lifestyle likely improve, so can your work and personal finance goals as well. Everything is easier without chronic pain.

When it comes to your health, be risk-averse. When it comes to your money, you can be more risk-loving. After all, if your investment returns take a hit, you can always spend time earning back your losses through work.

However, if you lose your health, you might never recover fully. Sure, having money to pay for medicine and ongoing medical bills is huge. But if you are chronically sick, money becomes an afterthought.

We should all remember the saying, “A healthy person wants a thousand things, a sick person only wants one.” Every time I’m sick, all I want is to be is healthy again. Nothing else really matters.

If there’s ever a time to have the ideal body weight, it’s during a global pandemic! All the studies have shown that those who are overweight or obese have a much tougher time combatting the coronavirus. If you’re in better shape, you increase your chances of living.

Another thing to think about is maintaining an ideal body weight once you’ve reached financial independence. If you’re financially independent, your number one goal should be to be as fit as possible in order to live as long as possible.

In any discount cash flow analysis, it is the terminal value that often makes up the largest portion of a company’s value. The longer you can extend the terminal value, the wealthier you will be!

In other words, to be rich and out of shape is irrational. Yes, when you are rich, it’s easier to hire people to mow your lawn, drive you around, and eat all the buttery steaks you want. However, it makes more sense to get in ideal weight to give yourself a higher chance of living a longer life.

There was a second lockdown in many states. However, thankfully, the country is opening up thanks to more people getting vaccinated. This post highlights things to do before a lockdown so you don’t go nuts. Mental health is a huge issue during the pandemic!

Due to to a surge in COVID-19 cases across America, a second lockdown is an inevitability. Even though the coastal states are fairing better than the heartland states for now, the virus will spread everywhere again.

Los Angeles is back on lockdown for a month. And San Francisco has closed all outdoor zoos and aquariums given the city has been downgraded to the “purple” tier.

I feel bad for businesses who spent money to open up and now have to close. It is also disappointing that our freedoms will once again be taken away as curfews are implemented, at the very least.

When the first lockdown was implemented, we didn’t have much time to prepare. After more than 10 months, at least we’re all lockdown veterans now!

To prepare for the inevitable, let’s first discuss some things we should do before the second lockdown occurs. Then let’s discuss some things to do during the second lockdown.

For 2021, most of the country is under a second lockdown. However, many citizens are not following the latest stay-at-home orders. We are sick and tired of government officials telling us what to do while they go eat at fancy establishments like The French Laundry!