I’m going to admit, I used to be one that really pushed a mantra that seems to be very prevalent with ‘woke’ culture and millennials.
I fed into the belief that we should always ‘pursue happiness’ with all our energies. Doing anything else but pursuing happiness left me with a bunch of empty calories and love handles. Eating that oozing glaze Krispy Kreme chocolate donut makes me happy. Playing 5 hours straight of Super Smash Bros makes me happy. Doing anything but work makes me happy.
No, F, the pursuit of happiness is what I say and think now.
Don’t believe me? Let me digress. Here I’m about to tell you why chasing happiness isn’t something we should inspire for.
Happiness, at its core, is that personal feeling, tingling, sensation of satisfaction. It is emotion. And at a more chemical level, it is a dopamine release within our brain.
Now think back to your biochem days learning about dopamine. It’s the natural neurotransmitter, triggering our happiness sensation. It is a binary all or none response. The neurons fire giving us euphoria or they don’t. And we naturally seek out the dopamine rush as a survival mechanism.
Let’s go back to cave man and cave woman days. We’d be bored as hell sitting around picking lice from another friends head. When the hunting group comes strutting in with a wild boar caught just an hour ago, it’s now an all out dopamine rush for a delicious BBQ feast that night.
Dopamine rushes didn’t come so easily back then. It was rare. But when those neurotransmitters pinged, there was an importance that came into your life.
Today, there is a little machine in your pocket. Giving you text messages. Giving you social media alerts. Giving you the latest crazy Kim K Turkey Basting Techqniue. Hearing the ding of a new message puts you at full alert. A ping of dopamine that drips throughout the day with each message.
Technology today is perfectly designed to give you the dopamine rush you don’t deserve. Every drip from a smartphone, tablet or screen is taking your focus away from a purpose driven life.
You must fight back! This is for your own sake!! Because I care about you. You’re an avid reader of the ‘Thrive’ because you know that there could always be a nugget in here, somewhere to help you think a little more about what it is you do. It’s not just about drilling teeth. It’s not because you’re a robot that just does what anyone tells you to do either. Or else you probably wouldn’t be here perusing through my poor word choices.
But Pahhhhleeeaseeee, STOP Pursuing Happiness.
Instead, we really should be pursuing Fulfillment.
What’s the difference?
Happiness is a short-term hit. It’s the chocolate chip cookie that breaks your already forsaken non-existent diet. It’s the candy crush app burning at you to attempt going after the next level. It’s the friend waiting for you to Tik Tok back another dance of you wearing your loupes.
Fulfillment is the journey, the sweat equity of making it to the gym every day, even when you didn’t feel like it, but eventually coming away with the body you always deserved.
So it’s time to ask yourself this, does what you’re doing in dentistry make you fulfilled? Or is what you’re doing right now just to help you get your next little happiness hit?
In a previous ‘Thrive’ article, I talked about getting my Tesla. Upon receiving it, it was such a happiness hit. Short lived and wore off quickly. But the journey up to the point of acquiring it, from investing in the stock, believing in it year after year til the investment could purchase itself, now that was the fulfilling journey.
I’ve always wanted to restore and place implants. I couldn’t do it with the first two practices I worked for. It took 8 years and my third practice stint to let me finally have the freedom to do so. What a journey, but patience, persistence and not giving up. That’s what I’m truly proud of and feel satisfied.
All these changes could not have happened without effort to make change, the actions put into place. The constant emphasis of wanting something different. To obtain the sensation of fulfillment, it’s a repetitive commitment to acquire something you don’t have that’s not easy. The key word there is easy. Fulfillment requires a bit of work, effort and difficulty. Happiness is as easy as turning on the TV with a tub of Ben N Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
Which would you rather choose?
Happy thriving as a fulfilled, woke reader! Love ya.
Lam
Last week, I mentioned Bitcoin as one of my investment strategies to allow me to retire by age 45 from dentistry. Some of you asked me a little more about why I thought that. So you ask and you shall receive, next week, I’m going to talk about how cryptocurrencies and ‘programmable’ money is going to change dentistry and the financial landscape forever. Ooooh, and how dental insurance may be the thing of the past with this new era.