If you’ve ever done yoga, you’ve probably gone to a class where they happen to talk about the one theme you needed to hear that day. It happens to me often. Sometimes my blog posts do that for someone too. I hope this one arrives on a day you need it. Several months ago, the day my hair started falling out, I randomly went to yoga, and the teacher spoke all about what happens when it seems like our world is falling down around us. Literally a part of me– my hair– was falling down around me by the handful,...
Last week I wrote about how unique this New Year transition has been. Taking a back seat on all of the New Year’s hype was a bit different for me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about dressing up and going to the biggest party in town. That’s never been my style. I’m talking about the party that’s going on in my head– the planning and excitement for a new year and a chance to take inventory. As I watched the New Year happen all around me, it gave me a new set of eyes. It helped me to...
Happy New Year! How was this holiday season for you? This New Year in particular was very unique for me. It felt different from all the others. Since I spent the week recovering from my final round of chemotherapy, the actual New Year was far from my mind. I remained isolated from most human contact throughout the whole week. My only source of human interaction was social media (which I don’t recommend, by the way.) As I saw all the posts of my network’s reflections, recaps, and resolutions, I felt even more disconnected from the hype. I watched the New...
If you’re anything like me, you probably like to think you have more control over your life than you do. Then reality smacks you in the face when you get a pesky reminder that you’re not really in control of any of it. This getting cancer thing has been one of those reminders for me. Cancer rocks your world. I always imagined how difficult it would be, but you never quite “get it” until you actually get it. Experiencing life’s most serious challenges always provides that smack in the face. In August when I was first diagnosed, all I felt...
I recently shared with you my dilemma about my cold cap. The question was whether I should allow myself to go bald, or whether I should suffer through the pain of wearing the cold cap for mediocre results. It’s amazing what writing down your thoughts can do to help you gain clarity. I had been struggling for a good month to come to a decision. It was weighing heavily on me, but in the days I put it in writing, a few things happened to help guide me in my decision-making process. I finally feel confident in my choice. I’ve decided to...
I often wonder if I will ever come to appreciate my cancer journey. Right now it’s hard to imagine finding any gratitude for it. In this moment, all I want to do is get through this. I want it to be behind me. While I want to be super-duper positive with you, you know I’m not one to lie about my experiences and my feelings. All I want is to put my head down, put on the blinders, and grind through my treatments. When you’re in that state of mind, it can be hard to want to celebrate and have...
I’m at a crossroads, facing a dilemma that feels huge. Logically, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, but in my heart, there is something keeping me stuck. I don’t know if I should shave my head. These days we have access to amazing technology that can actually help save our hair during chemo. It’s called a cold cap. The cold cap has been around for a while, but now they’ve developed a system that makes the process simpler, more manageable, and more accessible than ever before. The cold cap freezes your scalp, restricting blood flow to the...
Yes, you’ve read that correctly. I have cancer. It’s still weird to say it, and it’s just as weird to read it back. You may (or you may not) have noticed I’ve been quiet lately. It’s because I’ve been busy having cancer. (See? Even with cancer, I still can’t help being silly at times.) Before you get too worried about me, I’d like you to know that there is good news: it is curable. Even though we are planning for a happy ending, it’s still hard. I still have to go through the physical, emotional, and mental crap of wondering...
I bet you’d agree that many of us learned to believe that success is about money. In fact, money is often the one determining factor we use to define success. The problem with believing success is about money is that we walk through life chasing one thing, when other things matter as much, if not more. Happiness and meaning matter too. It’s not until we look around and realize that our money is not enough, that we feel compelled to do something. We even notice that in order to make a lot of money, we are trading away our happiness....
I think you’ll agree that many dentists hold on to a difficult employee much longer than we need to. The problem with this is we waste far too much time and resources settling for mediocrity when managing dental staff. In the past I’ve held on to more than one employee out of fear, but now I know we don’t have to settle. We’ve all done that. We’ve all found excuses for why we should keep the wrong person around. The good news is we can learn how to do it better the next time around. How can we make the right...
