{"id":760,"date":"2022-05-22T18:35:07","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/?p=760"},"modified":"2022-05-22T18:35:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:35:12","slug":"yes-im-a-dentist-and-so-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/?p=760","title":{"rendered":"Yes I’m a dentist AND so much more"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We like nice, neat packages. Yes or no questions. One line or one word answers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m all for keeping things simple, but in many cases ideas, concepts, or even in this case, occupations are way more complex and need more than a word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a group I\u2019m a part of we are all dentists, but explore side gigs and some even the idea of a complete career change. One observation I have, from my own journey and others sharing theirs, is that we seem to struggle with being more than one thing. It\u2019s like an either \u2013 or, rather than a yes, and. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to make a complete change in one fell swoop \u2013 say going from full-time dentist to full-time something else. It can be done, of course, but it\u2019s safer and easier to do what we discussed as a \u201cbridge\u201d \u2013 where you may be doing multiple things, including dentistry at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe even doing dentistry part-time and something else part-time. Yet again though we seem to struggle with this \u201cin-between.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I observed the struggle with this idea, it got me thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why does it have to be all or nothing? Or one or the other? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it that we cling to that label or identity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we have to be either a dentist or a painter or writer or teacher? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why can\u2019t we be a dentist AND a painter AND a writer AND a teacher?! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we have to label or be one thing? Life isn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We as humans are complex. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a dentist, but I\u2019m also a writer, creative, athlete, dog mom, wife, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it just that our mind has a hard time managing all that information? Or, again we have a certain notion that comes with each identity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We like labels and boxes, (not just to send things via UPS, haha) I get it. It helps us understand and manage things to a certain degree but doesn\u2019t it also then put things \u2013 or people \u2013 in boxes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always disliked saying I\u2019m a dentist because one, most people \u201chate the dentist\u201d and two, they usually think of dollar signs, not just teeth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can be a dentist and other occupations. We create OUR life \u2013 each unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In thinking about this topic, I also think that this all starts at such a young age. We get asked when we are even just 4 or 5 years old, \u201cWhat do you want to be when you grow up?\u201d Talk about a big, anxiety -inducing question for a child! Because our answers stick with us as well as the response we receive from our answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I honestly don\u2019t recall what I said that young. For a long time it was a doctor. Now, I\u2019d say \u201call the things!\u201d LOL <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, similarly, even as we are older, one of the first things we ask someone when we meet them is \u201cwhat do you do?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you think about it, that\u2019s pretty intrusive, no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved hearing some fellow dentists say they stopped answering that \u201cwhat do you do\u201d question with dentist, and instead said other things like they are a writer or entrepreneur or whatever their side gig or hobby was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t that so much more interesting?! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However I do think for some it makes it harder to figure someone out and label or place them in a box. Like, when we meet people we want to figure them all out \u2013 wouldn\u2019t it be more interesting to ask people what do they do for fun or what brings them joy? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would also tell us a lot about a person \u2013 just in a different, more subjective way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m curious, do those of you in other fields find some of these things to be true? Do you fellow dentists agree or not? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look forward to changing my answers to \u201cwhat do you do\u201d and asking others, not what do you do, but what do you do for fun and what brings you joy? I know answering those is often much more fun!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We like nice, neat packages. Yes or no questions. One line or one word answers. I\u2019m all for keeping things simple, but in many cases ideas, concepts, or even in this case, occupations are way more complex and need more than a word. In a …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":769,"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":[27,77,148],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liveplayrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/download-1.png?fit=318%2C159&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\/760"}],"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=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions\/775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liveplayrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}