Greetings!

Hope is in the air. It's a new school year and we are all starting fresh. Let me tell you about my kindergartner, Emmie. She wants to be a scientist when she grows up. Her favorite book is a book about the human body called "The How and the Wow of the Human Body." She loves reading all about her bones, muscles, and viruses. For Emmie, the first day of kindergarten marked the first day of her training as a scientist.

Hope, as good as it is, also brings its darker cousin, anxiety. As I walked Emmie up to the door of her school for her first day, it was a really complicated moment for me. It wasn't hard because I wasn't ready for her to go to school or because she wasn't ready. In fact, she was elated to start kindergarten. It was difficult because I was sending my child into the unknown. I know she knows how to elbow bump, wear her mask, take herbs, and she has hand sanitizer strapped to her backpack. But did I teach her everything she needs to know about navigating school and about minimizing risk? This is probably how most parents of school-aged children have been feeling these past few weeks. Let's all be gentle with ourselves and do our best (as Zach discusses below).

Be well,
Elyse
Founder and Clinic Director
Cherry Picked: healthcare, self-care, and community newsletter highlights

  • Health Care is Self-Care - Compassion in Self-Care
  • Points of Interest - Arlo Parks, Black Lung Disease
  • Office Update - New Self Pay Rates
  • We are still keeping you safe - COVID Protocols
  • Parting Words - Brianna Wiest
Cherry Blossom Healing Arts - Health Care is Self-care
You Deserve to Feel Better!
Compassion in Self-Care

Always do your best.

For several years now, this phrase has been part of my self-appointed mantra. It comes from Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements, which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it. Read him for most of the explanation, but in short, “Always do your best” is one of the 4 Agreements he considers to be essential. The key part is that “your best” changes from day to day. One day your best might be getting up early to work out, cooking all your meals at home, working a full day, then doing some chores after work. Another day, your best might be laying in bed, watching Netflix, and maybe answering some emails.
I love this phrase because always doing my best takes away the pressure. The key part is to be honest and compassionate with yourself and accept that your best is not a fixed commodity. Compassion is arguably one of the best things you can offer another person, but for many of us, it’s much more difficult to offer that same level of compassion to yourself.  
In our current climate, with COVID cases on the rise again, many of us are rethinking our plans for the fall and making some hard decisions. We have patients who have moved across the country, ended long-term relationships, changed jobs, or even lost loved ones. Whatever life has thrown at you this year, take this as a reminder to step back, take a breath, and be gentle with yourself. As long as you do your best, that’s all that anyone (including yourself) can ask for.
-Zach
Cherry Blossom Highlights
Arlo Parks
Collapsed in Sunbeams

Collapsed in Sunbeams is the debut album of British poet and singer-songwriter, Arlo Parks. It's the perfect soundtrack for late summer. This is the kind of music I can work to because the beats are steady and mellow. My favorite track is Hurt closely followed by Eugene. Let us know what your favorite is!

Cherry Blossom divider - rose
Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
EP#372 Black Lung Disease

Have you ever wondered about Black Lung, Joe Manchin, West Virginia, and why the Senate is the way it is in 2021 all at the same time? No? It's still worth checking out this episode of Sawbones, one of Elyse and Maria's favorite podcasts.

Office Update: New Self Pay Rates
effective: 9/15/2021
Our increased rates will be the first in three years. If you have any questions about this please feel free to ask. These changes do not affect patients using health insurance.
We are still working to keep you safe
As we get into fall and navigate life with new variants like delta and mu, I wanted to remind you about our policies to keep you safe.

First, please fill in our COVID screening. Masks are still required and we ask that you keep them on the entire time you are in our clinic. They are also required the moment you enter the building. If you are having any symptoms of COVID-19, we will ask that you reschedule your appointment for 24 hours after you last have symptoms and receive a negative test. If you have several appointments scheduled that week, we will reschedule you for the following week so you have time to recover and receive your test resulsts.

One more thing to note: we love featuring woman-owned businesses in Cherry Picked. If you have any favorites we should check out, please send them our way!

Be well,
Elyse
Parting Words

"A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.
And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do."
- Brianna Wiest