It wasn’t as if I made a decision and my life just changed in an instant. The process to change careers dragged on. It continued to be a lot of talk and no real action, just as it had been for the past few years. But it’s not that all that “planning” had no purpose. It laid the groundwork for me to gain the courage to act. Then one day, my husband suggested something crazy to me. In the newspaper he spotted a small blurb about a contest to become a travel show host. He read it to me and...
Alright, I’ll come clean. I’ve never actually had a root canal, and like many, I hope I never have to. Whether you want one or not, most of the time you feel better after it’s done. It can actually help you. Most leave feeling much less pain and much more relief than when they went in. And that has always been the outcome for me in my therapy sessions. Photo credit: Wikipedia Am I the only weirdo out there that loves therapy? (more…)
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…)
For many years travel was a way to escape myself and a life I hated. Some years I found a way to take a week-long vacation every 3 months. It was brilliant. I always had something to look forward to. Even sitting in front of the computer for hours daydreaming and researching for a trip was enough to give me the escape I longed for. It was the one thing that kept me going. But as excited as I always was to go away, I was equally as depressed at the end of a trip. The knowledge that I...
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...
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...
As I mentioned last week, work stress really started taking its toll on me. For the first few years, I was distracted by friends, a new lifestyle, and dating. Back in dental school, most of my friends were guys. They often shared funny dating stories and jokes about how every 28 year-old woman wanted to get married. They were fine dating 27 year-old gals, but those 28 year-olds were on a mission, and these guys wanted no part in it. I laughed right along with them and made fun of how desperate these women seemed. That was never going to...
