The Wrong Definition of Success

Yesterday was a hard and long day for me and it had me thinking, am I a failure? When am I going to be a success? How many times do I need to mess up before I get it right?

Working alone with no senior dentist around can be challenging. I find myself getting stuck when I fall into a hard case and I’ve got no one to turn to.

And the anxiety is real because I’m still learning what looks normal and what not normal is, how far is too far, how guarded is the prognosis, is it worth saving. All things that will come with time but as a new dentist, it’s hard not to want to be a hero. We came into this profession to be fixer uppers.

But going back to this convo with @drkylestanley. Success is not defined by the number of fancy cases you’ve done, it’s all about the relationships. As dentists, we focus too much on the dentistry and we forget that there’s more to life than work.

We need to stop bringing our work home with us. We need to stop letting these negative thoughts drain us and realize that fulfillment can be found in other aspects of our lives, not just dentistry.

So be kind to yourself and live a little.