Do you ever feel unhappy, bored, uninspired, and annoyed by work? Do you ever look down into your patient’s mouth during an exam and think, “Ugh, if I have to look at another tooth, I don’t know what I’ll do.” I used to have that exact thought at times. The more I felt stuck in my career, the louder that thought became in my head. It’s not fun at all. Feeling like you have no options is really stifling. You know what’s keeping us stuck? We won’t get out of our heads. For many years I went round and round. ...
Don’t you love the kind of straight talk that slaps you in the face to get your attention? No sugar-coating, no beating around the bush– just in-your-face, brutal honesty? Okay, not always, but sometimes that is just what we need to inspire us into action. I’m a pretty sensitive person, but when the raw truth is delivered with humor and the right intentions, tough love can certainly set me straight. In another of my favorite podcasts titled, Why You’ll Fail to Have a Great Career, Economy Professor, Larry Smith does just that. Why we will all fail sounds like an...
I’m shocked to announce that Nola has run out of wisdom to teach me. I know it’s surprising. I never thought a butt-sniffing, poo-eating creature as amazingly clever as she is, could ever run out of wisdom, but Nola is out of ideas. Luckily our walks together have led me to another source of wisdom… the podcast. After walking in silence every day for months, I’ll admit I kind of got tired of hearing my own thoughts over and over. I got bored with myself, so I decided to multi-task and learn something new during that hour. Of course I...
How do you feel about change? Do you love it, or do you fear it? I love change! You know why? Because without it, I’d still be that same person I was 6, 10, 15 years ago. I would still be stuck exactly where I was. Change is scary for all of us, but I can’t imagine my life without it. Over the past 5 years you’ve followed my career journey, and I’ve been so fortunate to follow yours. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since we started sharing our stories in November of 2011, the month...
Have you ever noticed how sometimes the most simple discussions can bring about the most unexpected moments of clarity? While hanging out with a friend a few weeks ago, he reminded me of an old memory we shared. He is a high school teacher, and several years ago he had a student in his class with very bad teeth and very little money. She needed serious help, and he felt so strongly about helping her, that he paid me to do her dental treatment for her. As we reminisced about how amazing that story was, I realized that I had...
Is it obvious enough that the career choices I was exploring couldn’t be any more different from being a dentist? I mean, cookies and beer are a far cry from drilling and filling. My knee-jerk reaction stemmed from the need to get as far away as possible from anything related to my current job. I wanted something lighthearted and not too serious; something that had nothing to do with providing a service to people having my face 6 inches away from another person’s for 8 hours a day. (more…)
Surely you’ve heard the recent news about the dentist in Poland who PULLED OUT ALL OF HER EX-BOYFRIEND’S TEETH, right? The victim asked his 34 year-old ex-girlfriend to see him for a toothache. I guess when he showed up in her office with his new girlfriend shortly after dumping the old one, you could say she became a little disgruntled. Sorry, but this lady is just certifiable. They are saying she could face losing her license and 3 years in prison. That’s it?!?! You know that saying “an eye for an eye?” Well, I think that would be a more...
The work I did with my career coach was unlike anything I had ever done in my life. Even though I would consider myself pretty introspective, I wasn’t accustomed to dissecting myself in that way. I approached it with an open mind because at that point, I was willing to do anything to make a change. The first step was to discover “who am I?” Photo credit: pheezy We started with the basics to find that answer, addressing the concept of a higher self. The higher self is the part of you that knows everything. It’s your intuition, your wisdom. ...
I’ve never been one to ask other people for help. I worry that it would inconvenience them way too much. Plus, I like to be independent. Seven years into my career, I finally realized how stuck I really was, spiraling around the same patterns throughout the years. I couldn’t break the cycle. I was too scared. But I finally decided that I could no longer continue this way. I needed help. The day I chose to ask for it will forever be etched into my memory. That day was just as miserable as every other day had become at my...
