{"id":378,"date":"2021-10-24T22:31:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-24T22:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/?p=378"},"modified":"2021-10-24T22:57:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T22:57:34","slug":"why-am-i-a-dentist-did-it-really-make-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/?p=378","title":{"rendered":"Why AM I a dentist? Did it really make sense?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart_content_wrapper\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I recently was reading a book, <em>A Letter to a Young Female Physician<\/em>, in which the author talks about why she became a doctor. Some of what she said and wrote about in her book made me think, &#8220;Why did I become a dentist?&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">For a long time, like junior high through early college, I &#8220;planned&#8221; on going to medical school. At some point I became unsure of this path and some time in undergrad, dentistry came into the mix. I was a chemistry major and spent one summer doing research in a lab which I disliked so that ruled out graduate school since that is primarily what a chemistry major would be doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">My answer in the past to why I became a dentist were things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>I liked working with my hands.<\/li><li>I wanted to help people.<\/li><li>I enjoyed getting or seeing immediate results.<\/li><li>Compared to medicine I&#8217;d have more control over my life and flexibility with how much I worked.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/images-1-1.jpg?resize=322%2C322&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-391\" width=\"322\" height=\"322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/images-1-1.jpg?w=225&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/images-1-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">However, in recent discussion with my therapist I told her these reasons why I became a dentist and she said &#8220;no, why did you become a dentist? What is your emotional why?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-medium-font-size\">Umm&#8230;good question! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I honestly don&#8217;t know if I have one. Thoughts I&#8217;ve had thus far about this are &#8211;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>I don&#8217;t have one &#8211; it just made sense.<\/li><li>I wanted to be a doctor or something that people admired and respected. (aka successful)<\/li><li>I wanted to make a good living (as finances were a struggle when I was younger).<\/li><li>I wanted to be perceived as being smart.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To explain that it just made sense was I was good at science and math. It was something I could do (like get into dental school), succeed at, and be respected.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Also as far as &#8220;making sense,&#8221; I&#8217;ll never forget it was the first semester of dental school and I was probably dealing with my first real bout of depression, but I didn&#8217;t really know it at the time. I was on the phone with my dad saying that I wasn&#8217;t sure about staying in dental school, but then it came back to things like well what else would I do and what other job would I make that type of income&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download.jpg?resize=386%2C257&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-392\" width=\"386\" height=\"257\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I don&#8217;t recall when choosing what to do with my life ever considering<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>What do I <em>want<\/em> to do?<\/li><li>What will I <em>be happy<\/em> doing?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Now that I went to dental school, am a dentist, been practicing 15 years, I should be successful per what I wrote above, no? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">But, I am not happy. Nor do I want to be doing this much, if any, longer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I may be successful by our society&#8217;s traditional standards of measuring success. But, that&#8217;s one thing I&#8217;ve been working on is changing my definition of success. Success now to me is having freedom to do what I want when I want. Success is being happy and fulfilled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I&#8217;ve been realizing I think I&#8217;ve had this all backwards. For far too long I&#8217;ve been too externally driven. I&#8217;ve always wanted to be #1 &#8211; get the best grades, be the top athlete, be a doctor, get that praise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">But now where am I at, after &#8220;getting&#8221; all that? It doesn&#8217;t matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/download-1.jpg?resize=313%2C284&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-393\" width=\"313\" height=\"284\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In my exploring over the last several months, I&#8217;ve enjoyed painting classes, starting a blog, writing, just to name a few things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">So maybe I was to be a writer or someone who is creative. But for some reason, even maybe as young as middle school, I was sucked into that being good at science and math and then into the idea &#8220;being a doctor.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I&#8217;m still not totally sure why I am a dentist. It&#8217;s kinda sad when I think about it. Basically, that&#8217;s been the last almost 20 years of my life between dental school and practicing. Now here I am re-evaluating my whole life! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I&#8217;m going to continue contemplating this question of why I am a dentist. For now I&#8217;ll leave you with my thoughts thus far, and hope you found something helpful that resonated with you!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently was reading a book, A Letter to a Young Female Physician, in which the author talks about why she became a doctor. Some of what she said and wrote about in her book made me think, &#8220;Why did I become a dentist?&#8221; For&nbsp;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/?p=378\">&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[67,27,38,66,65],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/images-1.jpg?fit=259%2C194&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":394,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}