Taking Action
Today, I’m going to the dentist. And I am NOT looking forward to it.
I know: I shouldn’t complain. Life is good. I am in good health, and I have most of my teeth.
My grandmother always said: Take care of your teeth!
It’s why we should floss, it’s why we should brush, and it’s why we should go to the dentist regularly.
We know dentists are important people, right?
And it’s kinda sad: Dentists don’t get the respect they deserve.
You never hear anybody say: “Is there a dentist in the house?”
Anyhow… I have this ONE tooth that bothers me. It has been hurting for a while now.
And today, I am going to take care of it.
This morning, I’m dragging to get up. Because I know what day it is: DENTIST DAY 😮
So while I’m laying in bed and staring at the ceiling…
… I realize, that there are two important life lessons here:
Life Lesson #1: It has to hurt before we are taking action!
I really don’t know who wired us this way!
I recently read an article in Entrepreneur Magazine that said: “It’s easier to sell painkillers than vitamins.”
Why?
Because vitamins are “nice to have.”They PREVENT us from having problems down the line.
Same goes for exercise.
Or eating healthy.
Or flossing.
Or starting to invest when we are young.
We know we should do that, but we don’t see immediate gratification.
We’re not losing 10 lbs after we exercised for 15 min.
And that’s why often all these things are not that important, am I right?
However, when we are in pain, then we need a painkiller.
And we need it NOW.
Nobody needs to convince us that we need a painkiller.
“JUST GIVE IT TO ME!”
When we are in pain, we are taking action! When we’re not, we like to “do it later” or “start on Monday.”
Interesting, isn’t it?
Life Lesson #2: It’s never as bad as we think it is
In my mind, today will be the most painful day in my life – which of course is highly exaggerated.
In my mind, the dental assistant with her mask will look like the police during a riot in South Korea.
In my mind, the dentist’s tools are the high-tech version of medieval torture instruments.
In my mind, the dentist will torture me for 3 hours while I’m in excruciating pain.
In reality, the dental assistant is probably the nicest person, making sure that I’m comfortable.
In reality, the whole procedure will probably take 15 min at most.
In reality, I won’t feel anything, because we live in 2019 and no longer medieval times.
But somehow, in our mind, things often are MUCH scarier, aren’t they?
And after we took action and did it, we often say “Oh, that wasn’t too bad.”
Alright… time to get out of bed and GET IT DONE! 🙂
Final thought:
Do you think I should brush my teeth?
Or is that as useless as washing your hair and styling it before you get a haircut?
Just kidding…
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