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
