I’m an ergonomic slut. I am ashamed to admit this. I have desk stations, core exercise ball chairs, tables that go up and down on command, perfect placement for my feet with grounding pads—the whole banana to keep well while sitting. But I was writing so much these last two years (two books soon launching and one on hold due to the FDA, and blogs and power points and profiles and such) that I just got lazy. Pooped. And, hedonistic. As much as there are several ergonomic dream stations throughout my house, I became addicted to my big cozy chair by the fire for the very first time in my life, with a downright comfy ottoman in front of it. I looked like a beer commercial, yeeech (without the beer).

I have been very lucky to do all I do and to not have any aches or pains. I work out daily, take hormones (the ultimate musculoskeletal pain reliever), balancing nutrients, healthy microbiome food, yada, yada, and of course a dab of luck.

But this year, my knees have not been happy. First one got sprained. I went to have an ultrasound and see a genius physiatrist in Austin (medical doc who specializes in joints, Prolotherapy, PRP and stem cell) and he was literally shocked to the core that my ligaments were like that of a 20-year-old. At first glance he thought my quad was swollen with fluid, but that was because it was so large for my age. Ha!

He said, with his head down, he should really see me as a patient.

He proclaimed I was in such great shape; I would heal in four weeks and certainly not more than six. After eight weeks, I was not happy about having to favor that knee and put more strain on the other one. I do not like being a gimp. So I had him do his Prolo magic on that knee. But then the other one was complaining.

By now you may know that I never take old or ill for an answer.

So I said it’s a come-to-Jesus time for me. I took a deep breath and said to myself, “Lindsey, take inventory. What are you doing differently? What are you thinking, eating, acting, hiding, moving, or, aha, sitting?

This is how I approach what goes wrong.

Honestly, when I go out with a person and they lament that they still have an injury from 40 years ago they “own” as part of their permanent identity, I am stunned. I would have tried with all my might to put it in my rear view mirror.

I had to admit to myself that I was an ergonomic promiscuous failure. I was at fault. Admitting that my hedonism and laziness was getting the better of my knees, I threw that ottoman out. Be gone ottoman and that position that belongs to beer drinkers in front of football games.

I bought a lower ottoman that puts my knee in a better position for when I do use that chair. But I disciplined myself with all my might (it was not easy to give up slut-dom) to rotate between my okay, good, and better workstations.

Immediately both my knees were fine. They literally, in their own skinny way, mewed thank you.

Shape matters. How we hold ourselves in space, while walking, sitting, talking and even in the car, all add up.

Shape is how genes get turned on and off. Shape shifting is how the major signaling molecules of life inside our bodies tell cells what to do. Hormones and neurotransmitters deliver signals to waiting satellite dishes called receptors. When they dock, the shape of each by itself now merges into one unit and they rotate in space. They shimmy. That shape shifting and shimmying is how directives of life tell genes to express (turn “on”) or to not express (turn “off”). Shape shifting causes life to unfold.

Thus, we are wired deep within us to respond profoundly to shape. If you are too often holding yourself in shapes that do not allow your best life to unfold, you pay the slut piper.

There are back ergonomics—the shape of your back while sitting or working or whatever. There are neck ergonomics. Knee ergonomics. Wrist and finger ergonomics. Anything holding your body parts in a not healthy “shape” for too long isn’t good.

If you look at furniture stores all across our country, they have us slouching in chairs with our knees extended for hours in front of the TV. We think we are relaxing. But our positions are setting us up for body failure. And knee replacements are occurring all across the country. Not just because of lack of exercise or being fat, but also because we are a country of ergonomic sluts.

I am only one of many.

Discipline is many things. Part of it is taking inventory, as 12-step type programs advise. Honest inventory. How are you living that is contributing to your present woes? Rather than just knee-jerk reflex—going to a doc or getting a shot or a vitamin or a med or a procedure—what might you have been doing to get you here? And how might you tweak it to get you to where you want to live and be?

Our life will always be our greatest curriculum, if we become its disciple.