The high pitch sound of a drill, the light covered in plastic, the terrible taste and grainy feeling of the toothpaste, stuck with your mouth wide open, hearing the scraping of the plaque off your teeth — it all sends chills down my back and my anxiety levels off the charts. Choose between the dentist or a spa day? The choice is easy…spa day! Thankfully I was blessed with really good teeth, so the dentist has never been a major part of my life. Regular cleaning was about all I needed. Nevertheless, over the years, experiencing the unpleasant combination of sounds and feelings in a dentist’s chair built up in my mind and the thought of doing anything beyond a cleaning delivered a hefty dose of fear and anxiety.
And recently, for me, this turned into self-sabotage that resulted in additional, unnecessary issues and quite a few extra expenses. Do you have loved ones who check in on you and ask what are you doing to care for yourself? They are probably asking because what they see is you putting everyone else first. It’s common for many of us. And even more common is always having a quick response ready, “I got my nails done.” “I had a massage.” “I took a walk.”
Yes, those are some great self-care actions, but there is more to it than a trip to the spa, a hike in nature, or getting a pedicure. Practical self-care is completing tasks that affect various aspects of your life in order to prevent future stressful situations. Having a budget, getting the car serviced, and even going to the dentist are all examples of practical self-care.
There are six areas of self-care that you should be intentional in addressing. Besides practical, there are physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and social. Many of these are often avoided out of fear, put off through self-sabotage, or dismissed as being selfish. Self-care is not selfish, it is essential. It is time you care for yourself as you do for others. It is a skill to be learned and it takes practice, which is a lesson I continue to learn as well. This last year, my fear of dental work became my excuse and I self-sabotaged my practical self-care, and boy it cost me — physically, emotionally, and financially.
I learned I needed some preventative work and putting it off would risk further damage that would result in even more extensive work. And wow, that news pushed all of my buttons. I scheduled and canceled the appointment twice. But the pain escalated to where I could no longer avoid it and I made the call. The result — you guessed it — two and half hours in the dentist’s chair and more than double the expense of just following through with one of the first appointments. This time, I told the dentist my fears and he worked with me to be sure I was as comfortable as possible.
And guess what, it was not nearly as bad as I had built up in my mind. Isn’t that always the truth. Fear is a liar. Plus…nitrous! (who knew?) If your answer to self-care is not more than a walk or the spa, it is time to take a look at why you don’t feel worthy to care for yourself as much as you do others. You are worthy! A little shout out to the team at Capitol Dental for taking such good care of me!