In my search for change, the Paradise Hunter contest was THE turning point for me. When it ended, I felt different, empowered to keep working to move forward. Having this blog helped me get through the tough days (which was everyday by this point in my career) because I had something else to focus on. I wasn’t defined by being a dentist. Blogging provided the missing link for me to feel whole through all of this. It not only gave me the creative outlet I was craving, but it also gave me a voice. I had shut that voice down...
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...
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...
I consider myself to be pretty lucky. While in the past I haven’t ever been that person who wins prizes and drawings, or even a hand of blackjack in Vegas; in general, I lead a very lucky life. Take my dating history, for example. Whenever a relationship ended, it simply ended. There were times after a break-up that I’d daydream about the guy trying to win me back. It never happened. I often felt defeated, thinking maybe I just wasn’t worth fighting for. Then I’d observe other women (or men) going back again and again to some jerk that treated...
My new dream job mostly turned out to be a big nightmare. The possibilities of a new future were there, of course, along with all of the standard challenges you would expect from starting any new job. Change is hard. It’s scary. It’s uncomfortable. It makes you feel vulnerable and insecure. To get by, I just continued living in the future instead of the present; thinking if I pushed through the hard times, it would eventually be right. I was coming up on my 5th year in practice, and I was sure that at year 5 it would all become clear. ...
