We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chara Klug. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chara below.

Hi Chara, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I intended to work for someone when I graduated from Chiropractic school. It seemed like the smart thing to do: Learn the ropes and then go out on my own. But I was a 100% single mom of a 3-year-old boy. And I knew that I would need to be able to leave when he needed me, and that I would want to go on field trips with him and to his soccer games, and I knew that if I worked for someone else, they would dictate my schedule and flexibility. I had a coach that told me, “You either pull off the band-aide now or pull it off later, but either way, you’re going to have to pull it off.” So, I made the decision to pull off the “band-aide” right away and open my own practice instead of associating from the very beginning. Less than a month after I signed my lease, I got a call from my son’s preschool telling me that I needed to pick him up because he had a fever. So, I quickly left work, picked my son and his sleeping bag up and came back to my new office and continued to work. That moment solidified that I had made the right decision. Since then, I have had a handful of times that I needed to call patients and reschedule them because my son was sick, and I had to stay home with him. And there have been a handful of times that I’ve blocked off my schedule so I could be at my son’s activities. Over and over, I’ve been reassured that I made the right decision:)

Chara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Dr. Chara Klug. I’m a chiropractor. But this is a 2nd career for me. I was in the military for over 25 years. I flew helicopters for the majority of my time, and towards the end of my career, I knew that I needed to figure out what my “big girl job” was going to be once I retired. I initially started school to become a registered dietician, but I quickly realized that I wanted something more active. I had been a personal trainer for 8 years, and after using my training to help my fellow soldiers decrease their pain and improve their health while on deployment, along with my success story of eliminating my low back pain with chiropractic care, it made sense to me to become a chiropractor. After my 2nd deployment to Iraq, I finally started chiropractic school.

A couple years ago I found myself in a very stressful time of my life and as I was coming through that experience, I realized I never wanted other moms to feel the way I did. But I also knew that was unrealistic because I knew I couldn’t prevent bad things from happening to them, but I could create a space for moms to find the tools they needed to help them navigate the stress they will endure, and it has become my mission.

I help over-stimulated moms create healthy routines to better manage their stress so they can ultimately be healthier and happier. I do this with diverse chiropractic adjustments as well as implementing other healthy habits to support what we’re doing in the office. I use stretching and muscle work along with my adjustments and I have an accountability/mentorship program that I offer that allows me to come alongside these women to create the healthy habits that allows them to reach their goals.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

After 25+ years in the military, I had a lot of lessons to unlearn. I think the biggest one was learning that I didn’t have to fit into the same box as everyone else. In other words, I had to learn how to, and that it was okay to, practice in a way that was authentic to me. In my 25+ years in the military, I was always one of VERY FEW women in my career field. As a truck mechanic and helicopter pilot I was 1 of 3-5 females in a group of 20-40 males at any one time so I had to learn how to fit in with the guys to be successful. I joke that my “male brain” was way more developed than my “female brain” when I retired. I had a really hard time when I started my business because I was trying to do it like everyone else. It wasn’t until I did things that felt authentic to me that was I able to have fun and find success in the way that I defined it. This was hard but so worth the work.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Having a team is super important for success. That doesn’t mean you have to have people directly working for you (as an employee) or in your space, but to have a team of people supporting your mission. Working with a coach (and more specifically, working with the RIGHT coach) and having a business bestie is essential for progress as they are who you can use to stay accountable to your goals, to bounce ideas off, and to “talk you off the ledge” when you need it. Going through anything alone is hard and lonely but when you have a team of people you trust and that you can be vulnerable in front of makes the hard things doable and attainable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ateasehealthandwellness.com/
• Instagram: @ateasehealthandwellness
• Facebook: At Ease Health and Wellness
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chara-klug-ab2852b8