I find it ironic that we spend the first 18 – 22 years of our lives learning how to be adults and to make decisions that will affect us and our lives only to end up in an HOA, feeling like we did in when we were in kindergarten.  “Eat your vegetables”, “Wash your hands”, “Pick up your toys”, “Go to bed” and if you don’t behave, it is “time out” or “NO TV”.  Only as an adult, supposedly having been taught how to make the right decisions, in an HOA it tends to be, “Your blinds are the wrong shade of white”, “You have an unapproved garden  hose”, “no cars in the driveway”, “Too many roses in your yard” OR ELSE, “fines” “foreclosures”. and other nasty penalties hurled in our direction.

We’ve all heard the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!” .  It makes sense and sounds easy enough but what if life hands us more than mere lemons?  What happens when life comes at us full force, out of the clear blue and knocks us for a loop?  And that can be especially true if we live in one of the nation’s hundreds of thousands mandatory Homeowner associations.  How do we make lemonade out if that mess?  And that is especially true when one of the absolute big taboos is HOAs is “LEMONADE STANDS” ?  Even children trying to be helpful and mature beyond their years have found themselves in the crosshairs of a rather stupid HOA. What to do?

Dr. Wes Rocki, MD, PHD joins us On The Commons.  Wes is a retired physician who has been working in alternative medicine for a while.  Much of his focus has been on self-healing which is something that is sorely needed in every life and especially in what resembles battle zones in our neighborhoods.  We talk to Wes about our natural and normal reactions to finding ourselves being attacked and in harm’s way.  We find out how to protect ourselves or, at a minimum, how to react and even how to put our opponents off balance.  We touch a little on “fear” which is a big part of how we are controlled and put at a disadvantage.  We talk about how we react and can take charge of at least part of the situation.  You will want some of Wes’ advice in your survival tool kit.

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