The Dreaded Root Canal! And yet the 4 Positive Life Lessons Learned from the Experience

Now, this doesn't mean that we shy away from the real time.

No, not a chance.

Matter of fact, we explore all aspects of life.

From the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But all of that is done with one purpose.

One purpose.

To inspire you to never give up on life.

Even when it may seem like life has given up on you.

Now I get it, life is hard.

But starting today, you've got grit, grace, and inspiration.

Let's happen in, and welcome back to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

I am your host, Kevin Lowe, and today you are joining me for episode 140.

First and foremost, thank you for coming back again to the podcast.

Hopefully, you've been loving the content that has been released.

And well, today we're switching gears a little bit.

Because rather than talking about something truly inspiring or diving into a subject that is gonna light you up, instead, we're gonna talk about a root canal.

But before you go ahead and hit the skip button and turn this podcast off, because who cares to hear about root canals?

But just pump your brakes real quick and hear me out.

Because I had the pleasure of having a root canal.

Pleasure was in air quotes.

But at the end of the day, I feel like some valuable lessons on life came out of it.

And that's exactly why I decided to quick sit down in the studio and record this very podcast.

Now, you gotta know one thing about me.

I'm a big dude, a big guy.

But the bigger we are, the harder we fall.

Or you could say the bigger we are, the bigger babies we are.

And two things that truly can make this big guy really scared.

Well, that's the dentist.

And maybe not so much scare me, but can certainly bring me down, that's stubbing my toe.

But today we're not going to talk about stubbing toes.

Instead, we're talking about the dentist, the dreaded dentist.

Now, coming from a family of orthodontists and dentists, you would think I wouldn't be scared about going to the dentist.

That why would I be scared?

I'm going to see a family member for Pete's sake.

Well, I just want to say this.

I don't care if it's my aunt or my uncle, or if it was my mother or father for that matter.

When you enter the office, they're nothing more than a dentist.

So when I got the dreaded news that I had to have a root canal, I was about sick.

Because I have heard horror stories about root canals.

It's the thing that everybody dreads and nobody wants.

You thought the filling was bad?

Ha ha ha.

Just wait because you've got to have a root canal.

I believe my grandmother told me that her past experience was kind of like water torture.

As if I wasn't already worried enough.

Now I've got my own grandmother telling me that it was like some torture chamber or something.

Wow, thanks a lot, Nana.

Thanks for making me feel a little bit worse about this idea.

Well, fast-forwarding to the event, wow, what an experience I had.

And the experience had both actually having the root canal, as well as then a couple of weeks afterwards going back to the dentist to have a crown put on totally kind of changed my mind about things that we view as scary.

Things of the unknown.

And I think that's what scares us the most is things that we don't know.

It's the unknown.

We only know about them based on the experience of others.

And the truth is, is that each of us are individuals.

We each have our own experience.

And mine was nothing like my grandmother made it out to be.

Instead, my experience having a root canal was honestly quite pleasant.

And so why am I talking about this?

What does this matter to you?

Well, it matters because me, Mr.

Positive, me, Mr.

View things from a different view.

I've come up with some life lessons learned from this experience.

Lessons that I want to share with you today that I feel like could be a benefit to you.

So with that said, buckle your seat belts, brush your teeth, floss them too, and let's dive into today's episode.

So, what possible life lessons could be learned from having a root canal?

Well, I'm about to blow your mind because I got four of them for you.

First up, hard things aren't really hard when done with good people.

I was lucky enough that I got paired up with probably the most amazing doctors in the world.

Dr.

Bohr in Ormond Beach, Florida, shout out to you in your office.

Dr.

Bohr is the endodontist who actually did my root canal.

But it wasn't just him who was so amazing.

It was his staff, his assistant.

And I can say this: when you go in for any type of procedure, dentist, doctor, of any kind, shape, or form, you're most likely a little bit nervous.

Me walking in for my first ever root canal, yeah, I was nervous all the way.

Well, talk about a change when you walk in the door and you're not greeted by the typical stuffy office setting, the people with the dreadful voice, the boring local news on the TV.

Instead, the assistant who comes out to get you to take you back for this dreaded root canal is like OMG, super party time.

I kept trying to think of the person, the movie, but it's just summed up as you know those fun movies you watch, maybe some type of comedy, romantic comedy.

And I'm thinking of the scenes where it's a group of ladies going out for, say, a bachelorette party.

But there's that one lady in the crowd who's extra crazy, extra fun.

That is who I was greeted with at this office.

It immediately changed my entire mood just because of her excitement, her enthusiasm, her electric energy that made what I thought was going to be scary a super fun experience.

Then when the doctor comes in, again, such a nice guy.

So not what I expected from a doctor who performs the dreaded root canal.

No, instead, it was just like this incredible fun experience.

My nervousness completely went away.

And I was reminded: hard things are only hard if you're not doing them with good people.

Same thing can be said for the follow-up appointment with my dentist when I had to go get the crown put on.

That, of course, being Dr.

Chang Lo.

Dr.

Chang Lo, let me give it up to you.

Now, yes, as insider knowledge for you, a listener of this podcast, Dr.

Chang Lo is my aunt.

But as I said earlier, it doesn't matter if she's my aunt or not.

I much rather see her at Christmas dinner than in her office.

Because at her office, she's just my dentist.

But when I went for that follow-up appointment, again, I told you I'm nervous about the dentist.

So I was nervous about this appointment.

And yet, it was amazing.

Why?

Because we started off having a good time, laughing, and it just put me at total ease.

Again, it's only hard if we're not doing it with good people.

Lucky for me, I got to do it with good people.

For you, I would encourage you.

The hard things in life, be sure that you're going into them with good people by your side.

You gotta have your crew, your tribe, your best friend, your family member, whoever it is, be sure it's somebody who's there who can support you, can light you up, and can help you get through the hard times.

Second life lesson: laughter truly is the best medicine.

This kind of goes back to what I was talking about.

Both offices, both experiences, laughter is what made it amazing.

And so I would encourage you when you're going through hard stuff in life, try to find ways to laugh.

Now, I understand that when we're in the midst of the hard times, laughter is not something that comes naturally.

But I would encourage you to remember this, to remember this podcast episode today, and remember the tip that I'm telling you.

That if you're in the midst of a chapter of your life, or if you're in the midst of a moment that is absolutely dreadful, just pause.

Literally do a timeout and reset yourself and find something that you can laugh at.

Whether you're laughing just because the situation is totally absurd, whether you're laughing at somebody around you, whether you're laughing because you literally remembered this podcast episode, just start laughing.

I promise you it will help tremendously because laughter truly is the best medicine.

Third life lesson learned: don't let pride or boastfulness stand in the way of you asking for help.

I told you, I don't like the dentist.

You've got the picture.

I was scared of having a root canal.

And so I let it be known.

I let it be known that I was nervous, that I was scared.

And by doing so, well, they were able to help me out.

Not only with laughter, but I was able to have medicine to help me relax, to help chill me out before the appointment.

To be honest, it kind of made me wonder wow, were these two dentists really that great?

Or was it just the medicine they gave me?

Just a joke.

Just a joke.

They were incredible and we know it.

But my point here is to don't be afraid to ask for help, whatever your situation is.

You don't have to feel like you're gonna be any less of a man, any less of a woman if you ask for help, if you admit that you're nervous, that you're scared.

And even if it's a situation where you can't just be given a pill to help calm you down, maybe it's just admitting it to your family member, to your spouse, to your sibling, to your best friend.

Hey, you know what?

I'm really struggling.

I'm really nervous about this or that.

I'm really upset and worried about what's gonna happen.

And by you opening up, it allows them to be a friend.

Because we can't be friends if we're not honest with one another.

So I would encourage you to stop being fearful of putting the burden on other people, to making other people upset.

Stop trying to protect everyone.

Instead, be open, be honest, and let them be a friend.

Let them know that, hey, I need to wrap my arms around them.

I need to pray a little extra hard for them.

You just gotta be honest sometimes, and you gotta let people know, hey, I'm scared, and I could use your help.

My fourth and final life lesson learned from a root canal is that you got to let your appreciation and gratitude be known.

This is something that's been a big part of my life for honestly as long as I can remember, is telling people thank you.

If somebody does something for you, if they hold the door open for you as you're walking out of the grocery store, if they pick up something that you've dropped, if they do anything for you, and I don't care how routine, how minuscule it is, you need to start showing your gratitude.

You need to get used to saying thank you.

I appreciate that.

It means the world.

And I believe that this world could be made such a better place if we would all practice gratitude a little bit more.

Because, you know, sometimes in life we're going through and we're we're doing stuff for other people all the time.

We're always the one going the extra mile.

Well, sometimes, though, you feel a little burnt out when you feel like, why?

Why am I doing this?

Why am I making the extra effort when no one even notices?

No one even appreciates what I'm doing.

Why do it?

Well, imagine if somebody never had to feel like that.

Because instead, the other people are constantly saying, hey, thank you so much.

Hey, I appreciate that.

And so I would encourage you to make this a practice in your daily life of giving thanks, of showing your appreciation.

For myself, after each appointment, I literally couldn't thank these two doctors enough.

I wanted to give them a hug.

Well, my aunt, I did give her a hug.

But, you know, it's just this simple fact of letting people know that you care, that you appreciate them.

And in terms of this with our doctors, you know, they're just people too.

And even though they may have this fancy title in front of their name, they're just people.

And we need to remember that they're going through stuff too.

Their job isn't easy.

And there's a whole lot of people that they encounter every day who are upset with them because they give them news they don't want to hear.

They tell them that they have to have a root canal.

But you be that one person who flips the script, who says, okay, okay, well, thank you.

Thank you for telling me that.

Thank you for doing your job to figure out that I need this extra work done, that I need to have this root canal.

Whatever it is, I just encourage you to show your thanks because it means a lot to people.

And that right there is four life lessons learned that I hope you can start to implement in your daily life, all at my expense of having a root canal.

I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

Hopefully you've laughed.

Hopefully you've maybe taken note of something I've said and thought, you know, maybe I could do a little bit more of that in my life.

And hey, you know what?

At the end of the day, we're all just trying to make it in this crazy, messed up, insane yet kind of beautiful thing called life.

And well, I'm just kind of glad that we're all doing it together.

Until next time, this is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Get out there and take on the day every day with grit, grace, and inspiration.

Hey, real quick before you go, I have one last thought to leave you with.

I of course hope that you've enjoyed today's episode, but more importantly, I want to remind you that I never want you to listen to an episode of this podcast to hear something that I have to say or that my guest has to share and think, wow, I wish I could be like them.

I wish I could overcome my own challenges and do the great things that they are doing, but I just can't.

Well, friend, that's where you're wrong.

unknown: You're wrong.

SPEAKER_00: You are capable.

You are able, and you darn sure are deserving of having all that you can imagine in this life.

There's nothing special about me or any guests I have on this podcast.

We are all just normal people trying to make it in this life.

And so I encourage you to take a look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you know what?

I can do it too.

Now, of course, if you would like help along that way, reach out to me.

Whether that's as a listener of this podcast, a friend, or if you'd like to work with me as a coach.

My contact information is inside of every episode's show notes, just like this one.

So go down, check out my contact information, and reach out to me today.

With that said, I encourage you to take on the day every day with great, grace, and inspiration.