The Root Canal

A little over a year ago, I went to see a new dentist.  My previous dentist, who I loved, had retired and it had been about 2 years since I had made a visit to the dentist's office.  I was NOT looking forward to it.

The office was nice enough and the staff pleasant.  They did my exam and told me that I needed a deep cleaning and a root canal on a front tooth.  ROOT CANAL?  I had never had one of those in my life and honestly, had already set in my mind that it wasn't going to happen.

So...for the next year...I went along my merry way.  The tooth didn't hurt, but there was definitely an issue with the hole that had been created by the portion of the tooth that was gone.

Then finally, I couldn't ignore it any longer.  I was in jeopardy of losing the entire tooth because of my fear of the process.

I called the dental office and made the appointment.

The night before the procedure, I spent a lot of time thinking about what it would consist of.  How much pain would I be in.  How long would it take.  I scheduled it on a Friday so that I could be "sick and shut in" for the entire weekend.

The fateful day had arrived - and I went into the office feeling anxious.   They brought me back to the room where the procedure would take place and told me that I would get the deep cleaning on the right side of my mouth first.  That wasn't fun, but it wasn't too bad.  they left me in the chair - waiting - and thinking about what was coming next - and getting more anxious by the moment.

They came in to take my blood pressure.  Why?  I had never had a situation where they did that prior to a dental procedure before.  134/93.  Uh oh...."You have to calm down Ms. Smith or we can't do the procedure."  NOT do the procedure?!?!  OH YEAH THAT WILL MAKE ME MORE CALM!  So they turned off the lights, and left me in the chair - waiting - and thinking.

The next reading was 158/103.  "NO", they said, " You have got to stop this.  The anesthesia we give you for the procedure will increase your blood pressure.  Right now if we gave it to you IT COULD KILL YOU.  CALM DOWN!"  :::insert blank stare at the dental assistant::::

I walked.  I prayed.  I chanted.  I watched Undercover Boss.  The next reading - 181/114!  The dentist came in and said, "We cannot do your procedure today.  We will have to reschedule."  I felt embarrassed and angry that I couldn't get past this anxiety to get this over with.  I sulked for about 4 hours....and then I realized, that being anxious and angry did not do anything to make the situation better. So I had to come up with a plan to make SURE the next appointment happened and get past the fear.

I asked them to give me something to help me calm down - and they did.   I  made sure that I spent the evening before relaxing and got a good night's sleep.  I took the meds one hour before the procedure.

The process went without a hitch. I felt no pain during and only a small period of time with an ache afterwards.  I realized that my tooth HAD been hurting me but I had was so accustomed to the pain that I didn't feel it anymore. I wished I had done it over a year ago.

Isn't that just like things we need to change about ourselves?  We KNOW that there are holes in us but we don't do what is necessary to fix them.   We display bad behaviors to people that love us and hurt them in the process. We are so afraid of doing the work of making the changes that we convince ourselves that we don't need it - everyone else is wrong. Our conduct and integrity becomes questionable. We are in denial and it's all because of FEAR.  So the fear wins - and we lose.

If I hadn't face the fear of getting the root canal, I would have lost the tooth, and possible damaged other teeth in the process!  Your fear of change could make you lose things and people and damage other areas of your life in the process. Get some help if you need help with the change. What is the results you want? How are you going to make it happen?  Play the Keep, Stop, Start game.  What things do you need to KEEP doing?  What do you need to STOP doing?  Most importantly, what do you need to START doing?  LET YOUR FAITH BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEAR! (Thanks Kirklands)

When you remove the decay and close up the hole, you can then see just how much pain you had been in before and are now pain free! What in your life needs a root canal?  I will no longer allow fear to hold me in bondage. You will not break me!  #itsasnake  #andarat #killit  #promise  #power  #preeminence  #iamextraordinary  #release  #reclaim   #reconnect   #relineyournest

Become Resilient!

Just wanted to pass on some great information on being resilient - that's the foundation of relining your nest. Use the change and transition to not only bounce back, but be better!  Enjoy!!

Resilience is the ability to recover after experiencing a difficult or stressful event. Do you consider yourself a person who bounces back from life's challenges and setbacks? There are things you can do to improve how you react or cope with difficult or stressful situations. Consider the following resiliency building strategies:

Build relationships – Spend time with people who care about you. Develop new friendships with people who are experiencing common life challenges or have similar interests.

Allow others to help - Be courageous and ask for help from family, friends, support groups, or counselors and therapists when you need it.

Be confident in you - Focus on your abilities, and trust your instincts.

Be goal-focused - Instead of feeling overwhelmed by what you cannot do or control, focus on small, attainable goals you can reach.

Focus on the facts - Most of our worries in day-to-day life are about the "what ifs", what could happen rather than what we're actually facing. Focus on today and now.

Discover your strengths - Reflect on what you have accomplished and take note of any positive traits you've acquired as a result of or in spite of tough times.

Help others - Helping another person in need can help you find hope during your own stressful times.

Take care of you - There is no substitute for proper rest, nutrition, exercise, and relaxation techniques.

Laugh - Resiliency experts have found that laughter helps people cope better during difficult times. Laughter can even ease physical and emotional pain.

No matter how resilient we are, we are all still human. We have emotional and even physical responses to a bad day, but we can teach our mind and body to "bounce back". You do not have to wait for a crisis or stressful life experience to practice building resiliency #relineyournest

...and here we are again!

It seems that around this time every year I return to this place to pick up again the recording of my thoughts in a blog.  In looking back over the past year, especially the past few months, I see how important sharing those thoughts and experiences has become.  It's a part of who I am - period. Usually I talk them out, but lately that hasn't been enough. The result of that has been the publishing of my first book - Relining the Empty Nest.

Most people think of children leaving home when they think of an empty nest, but it is so much more than that.

Your heart, home, and daily life is a nest. The nest can be made up of one or more things and it is not important to number them.  Just recognize that your nest can and does become empty.  Relationships end....people pass away....jobs are removed....you get older.....you move to another city or town or state....your nest become empty and in order to continue life and move forward in it, you have to reline it.

My book was a labor of love.  It's not meant to be a deep intensive therapy session but an easy read with my personal experiences as a part of it, but you do have to look within yourself and ask some hard questions.  That's where the difficulty happens because we are quick to just not think about something in order to not deal with it.  Yet that doesn't mean it's gone away.  I heard someone say recently that "you cannot fix what you will not face".  I've laid it out for you.

So...the time is now to work on YOU and only you know what is the work that needs to be done.  For me?  I didn't want to look back and say "I wonder what would have happened if" AND I needed to get over/through/around some things that fear seemed to continually place in my path.  I pushed fear aside and guess what?  Now I have a book.....

The book is available online as an ebook on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or you can purchase the paperback at Uniquely Me Press.  There is also a workbook that you can purchase if you would prefer to have something separate from your book to record your thoughts.

What are you waiting to do? Let's reline that nest!    #relineyournest    #itsyourtime

All in the name of love, peace, and happiness...Roberta