{"id":1031,"date":"2019-09-17T18:43:19","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T18:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2019-09-17T18:43:20","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T18:43:20","slug":"outside-the-box-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/outside-the-box-2\/","title":{"rendered":"OUTSIDE THE BOX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This week the topic has nothing to do\nwith dentistry. It is a topic that some will be able to relate to and others\nmay not. It is a topic that some may appreciate and others may criticize. It\nmay be something you have thought about before or maybe have never thought\nabout. It is about thinking outside the box and being comfortable with the\nuncomfortable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of your line of work, there\ncomes a point when we all get comfortable with where we are and how we do\nthings. Initially, that is a good feeling, but eventually it is a feeling that\nchallenges us in our own growth. It is impossible to go through life doing\nthings the same way and feel content forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my 25th year in this profession, I do\nvery few things the same as the way I was originally taught. I am constantly\nlearning, but often struggle with how to apply things I learn, or whether to\napply them at all.  However, being uncomfortable\nwith being comfortable challenges me to grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us, and especially people in a\nservice-related industry, which I can relate to the most, can exhaust ourselves\ntrying to predict and control what other people think about us as individuals\nand about the work we do. This feeling is a trap and very self-limiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do people understand me? Do they like\nme? Do they know how much I care about what I do? Do they care? These questions\ncan paralyze us into inaction. These feelings can cause us to never even come\nclose to reaching our full potential. We \u201cplay it safe\u201d too often, and need to\nconsider going outside our comfort zone to realize growth, both personally and\nwith our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has this thought ever crossed your mind:\n\u201cWhat in the world is my purpose while I\u2019m here on this planet?\u201d We have to\nhave purpose, otherwise we are lost, and we have to have faith or we remain\nlost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all go through the various stages of\nlife and experience joy and happiness, sorrow and pain, confusion and\ntemptation. Some struggle with these things more than others, which can also impede\nour growth as individuals.  Each of us\nlooks for the things in life that brings us more joy and happiness rather than\nother things listed above. However, focusing on \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me?\u201d can be\njust as destructive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constant growth in mind, body and spirit\nare essential to mature as individuals. We need to be mature enough to\nrecognize that each of us has our own set of resources, and be able to\ndetermine how these resources can help others versus being a roadblock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have our faults, admitted or not.\nMost of the time we are unable or unwilling to express our faults to anyone\nbecause of pride. We want everyone around us to think that we have no \u201cissues\u201d.\nIt takes awareness to allow for self-reflection and at least admitting to\nourselves where we need to improve in our personal and professional lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is difficult to do alone. Your best\nbet is to work together with someone close to you who also has similar\nintentions so that you can hold each other accountable. Perhaps one of those\nareas you wish to improve is your own health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. St. Clair maintains\na private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to health-centered\nfamily dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to see written about\nor questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week the topic has nothing to do with dentistry. It is a topic that some will be able to relate to and others may not. It is a topic that some may appreciate and others may criticize. It may be something you have thought about before or maybe have never thought about. It is about thinking outside the box and being comfortable with the uncomfortable. Regardless of your line of work, there comes a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1037,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions\/1037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}