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,...
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...
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...
Most of us really value the importance of work life balance. Especially now, it seems to be more important than ever. My guest today is Andrew, a dentist in the UK. Andrew came to a crossroads in his career when he was forced to make a tough decision. He had to choose between continuing on in a very happy, successful dental practice or walking away from that to maintain the most important relationship in his life. See how it turned out for him… Three years ago, I came to a junction in my life where I really struggled. It turned...
We can get so caught up thinking we have to fit into this perfect image of how to practice dentistry. That usually means having a busy, successful private practice. By now you know that I love to challenge that idea. So here is my challenging viewpoint: it is possible to be passionate about dentistry outside the Dental Op. My guest today proves it. While Carrie Ibbetson is clearly passionate about life at the dental chair, her true calling within dentistry has pulled her interests in a different direction. Carrie is a dental hygienist with a slightly different mission. Listen to...
It’s quite challenging to objectively see ourselves and our behavior, isn’t it? The different filters we use to see the world influence everything in our lives. It makes sense– if we don’t really see the world objectively, how can we see ourselves objectively? What do you see? We’ve all seen this drawing above. At first, most of us either see a young woman or an old lady. It’s not until someone points out what you can’t see, that you finally see it. It is amazing how your perspective changes when you change your perspective. The Energy Leadership Index (ELI) Assessment did...
Did you ever consider that what we perceive to be true might not be reality? Think about it. Take the comment “I hate the dentist.” Some of us shrug it off as if it’s nothing while others get peeved by it. What’s really going on here? Is the patient really being rude? Are they making a joke? Maybe they’re grasping for some compassion? What is the reality? The way we perceive a comment like this does create our reality. It’s normal. It happens because we all see the world through different filters. Our filters determine how we see everything in...
