Just got back from radiology. I was super proud of myself. I only had trouble with two places in the mouth.

I’m really glad my mentor Nevin let me shadow her in the radiology lab last year. She taught me how to put sensors and instruments together as well as place the instruments in the patient’s mouth. So I felt prepared going into radiology today. To be honest, I was relieved that I wasn’t having as much trouble as I was anticipating. Lately- I’ve been having so much trouble in sim lab with my daily assignments… it gets discouraging, but when I completed radiology today- I felt so relieved…

You know, there are different types of learning curves. For me, I always feel like I’m the only one behind. I feel like I’m the slowest one too. Even though deep down I know I am not alone… I can’t help but feel it. The trick in not letting these feelings and thoughts discourage you from succeeding is perseverance.

We are in fixed prosthodontics right now. We’re learning about provisionals, crowns, etc. And there is such a huge learning curve for me personally. I was still trying to finish day 1 assignments on day 3. So I felt really discouraged. It’s days like those that define your passion for dentistry as well as define your strength. It has a lot to do with your mindset and a lot to do with perseverance.

There will be days… tons of days… where you feel overwhelmed and thoughts of failing or being incompetent flood your mind. It’s okay. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed… you need to find the strength to remember that you are in dental school… that wise people (admissions committee) selected you- they saw potential in you. And you’re in school – you’re learning- you’re not supposed to know everything already. So when you get to dental school and experience these so-called bad days that I described above- just take a breath. look around. and tell yourself that you can do it. tell yourself that it’s going to be okay… maybe even great (i dare you to say THAT to yourself!)