It’s storytime, kids. I’ve been out of touch on this platform, but I’ll cut to the chase. I’ve had some interesting conversations with patients lately, exchanging thoughts and stories about how the pandemic has changed us. 5 months ago I was on a sure path to doing something new with my career, which led me to the decision to take a momentary pause on clinical hygiene to solely focus on developing my very own consulting business. I was finally back in New Jersey in a semi-new environment and I had a plan I was ready to put to action because I’ve only been telling myself for 5 years that I wanted to start a consulting business. I dropped a job I thought was going to be conducive to learning marketing and metrics, got a job that fully supported my prospective business, and gained a potential first client to consult. This shit was really happening and I celebrated with pizza and did a double at SoulCycle. And then “the pandemic” was on the rise and dentistry was making plans to shut down.
Boy, life re-prioritized fast. During the time I couldn’t work in dentistry and truly did nothing for 2 weeks, my mind was racing thinking about what things I can do to keep developing my business: Should I do a podcast? Should I write more? Should I start creating a system? Should I start a social media calendar? I wanted to be as productive as I can while I had all this free time I finally wanted. But the worse the pandemic got, the more I worried dentistry won’t be the same. “Is anything I want to do with making this business or having these ideas matter right now? What’s really important?”
Reminder to self (all the time): YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW. I am the type of person who wants to get everything done and hit a shit ton of accomplishments while I’m at it, but at some point, it takes a toll and you finally have a panic attack. I’ve had 2 notable ones in my life and maybe some dumb ones in high school. We can be our own worst critic/enemy. It’s a great feeling to finally flush out my critiques and negative thoughts whether it’s through working out, talking it out with someone, or keeping busy. It helps me sleep better at night, it keeps my mind clear, and it makes me grateful for everything I am able to do for the day. Not that I’m encouraging to ditch plans, goals, or ideas because it’s overwhelming, but encouraging to take a breath and say, “It’s okay. I don’t have to do that today.”
There’s a reason why things do and don’t work out, but the time will come for what you want finally set in.
TRULY RDH 