Scattered Thoughts

Today’s entry may fall in the TMI or “too much information” category. My apologies in advance. But it’s a concept I’ve been pondering lately as I rake leaves, climb on that dratted treadmill, and sort through piles of papers in an attempt to find my desk.

The concept is: Focus on the pleasure not the pain.

The other day I looked at my calendar and realized I have a dentist appointment next week. Talk about pain! Yikes! The last time I went one of my teeth was super sensitive to the cleaning process. I ended up having a crown put on that tooth. Double and triple ouch!

I focused on the pain.

Of course now I don’t have to contort my face to protect that tooth when I’m eating something hot or cold. I think that’s nice… pleasurable even.

One complaint… okay lecture… I get every time I go to the dentist is that I need to be more diligent in my flossing practices. Have you ever been told that? UGH! Flossing is high on my Richter scale of ickiness.

At every visit my hygienist scrapes some gunk from between my teeth, puts it on a little glass slide and then puts it under the microscope. Of course this microscope is hooked up to a big screen, high definition TV… she wants to make sure that I don’t miss seeing the creepy things living in between my teeth.

[I did warn you that this was a TMI post, right? Want to jump to a cute comic strip? Check out Hagen’s Cartoons.]

So I’m watching these itty-bitty wormy things swimming in my mouth (some wormy things are good for you) and listening to her tell me all the medical problems they can cause:

• heart disease
• diabetes
• blood infections
• suppressed immune system
• low birth-weight babies

After the first two lectures all I heard was “blah, blah, blah.”

I want to tell her, “I know. I know. But I’m just not gonna floss. It grosses me out.”

The other day when I thought about that upcoming dental visit I thought, “I should find that Waterpik I bought a few years ago and use it. Let’s see if it really makes a difference. Hmmm… I wonder where I put it.”

When I first bought the Waterpik I actually used it. For a few days. Then it got to be too much of a hassle. I skipped one day… then two. Then I forgot it existed.

I looked for it under the bathroom sink. I pulled out the towels, moved the hair care products that I never use but I couldn’t find that Waterpik. I checked the downstairs bathroom. No luck.

Just when I had convinced myself that I’d tossed the thing out, I found it. Apparently, it’s been sitting on the bathroom counter for years. I don’t even see if anymore when I’m cleaning.

I washed it off and used it. The whole time I used it I thought of the time I was wasting and the mess I was surely making.

But when I finished I ran my tongue over my teeth. Mmmmm… my teeth felt good. I smiled at myself in the mirror. They looked good… shinier… happier…

That’s when I realized that I was spending too much time focused on the pain and not enough time focusing on the pleasure.

Let’s break it down…

The pain is the time to set up and use the Waterpik, and clean up the sink afterwards. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not so bad.

The pleasure, however, is so much better. The pleasure is clean-feeling teeth, a brighter smile, healthier mouth, a healthier body. And of course, a dental visit without getting yelled at. Seems like the pleasure definitely outweighs the pain.

So my challenge is to focus on the pleasure. The long term benefits of flossing (okay, using a Waterpik) far outweigh the five minutes (I timed it) it takes to perform this task.

What activity (health, relationships, professional, etc.) have you been avoiding because you’ve focused on the pain rather than the pleasure?

I’m changing my perspective and so far it’s working. It will probably work for you, too.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 9:45 am and is filed under Misc. Ramblings, Fitness & Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.