I was sitting in the waiting room for my regular dental appointment. Truth be told it was one of those things that I didn’t look forward to. It must have been the childhood memories of the dental nurse coming into the classroom with a list of names which would strike terror into the heart of any impressionable child. If you were called you knew you were doomed to sit on that infamous chair, looking into a bright light and having an assortment of equipment probing your 20 milk teeth or whatever that was left.
So to take my mind off the situation at hand, I decided to think about different things.
1. Things that we need to do but we don’t like to do.
Besides the dental visit, I also do not like to see the doctor or to undergo any medical tests because you’ll never know what you may be told. I don’t like approaching the weighing scales either or being on a rabbit food (a.k.a tasteless) diet or going three times a week at least to the gym. But I do them anyway because that is what I need to do.
2. Things we wished we had done but we did not
I am not good at thinking of a quick answer on the spot because I’m one who mulls over what I should say before I actually do so. In most cases this is good as words said in a wrong way at the wrong time could spell trouble. But sometimes there is a need to speak up. Take for instance when I went to a shop that sold pretty things in Adare. The shop keeper asked if she could help me. I said, no, thank you, I was just looking. She was certainly in a bad mood that day and she made a very sarcastic and racist remark that threw me off-guard. I was too shocked to answer and left the shop immediately. On hind-sight, I should have retorted and given her a piece of my mind. Most shop keepers are lovely. She was an exception.
And what about the time when someone’s child was bawling away on a long flight and the parent did nothing? Or when you were trying to rest on a hospital bed and friends visiting the other patient next to you were behaving as if there was a party? I must certainly make learning how to speak out boldly when the situation demands it, my next year’s resolution.
3. Things that we do and we don’t know why we do them
When I enter a cafe by myself for a coffee, the first thing I would do is to whip up my phone and let my finger scroll the screen. A totally useless activity given that I had just looked at the screen before I entered the cafe. Or if I didn’t have my phone with me, I would grab any reading material and start reading. Then I also have the habit of pressing the crosswalk button many times even though it won’t make the ‘green man’ appear any faster. And how many times have I gone back to my parked car to double check whether I have locked it?
4. Things that we wish we could do but we can’t
We can’t solve another person’s problems. We can advise till we are blue in the face and none of the advice will be taken. Sometimes it can be very frustrating as the solution can be as clear as day to you and yet the person will not take any action and will tell you the same problem every time he sees you. The bottom line is he is not you and the fact that he keeps coming back to tell you his problem shows that you are a good listener and a trusted friend.
5. Things we love to do and would spend endless hours on them
This is my favourite because I can spend such joyful moments engaging in the things I like to do. A friend who saw my garden asked me whether I spent a few hours daily to till the land or a few days at one go? Another person when looking at my crafts asked whether I slept at all? When I’m engaged in a project it is on my brain from the beginning till the end. The whole process of coming up with an image right up to actually painting the image is not limited by time. That is why it is said you can’t put a price on art and you can’t say how many man hours you have committed to it.
So back to the dentist.
He had a good look at what’s left of the 32 teeth and probed here and there. Then he said, ‘I’ve never seen an Irish come in without any plaque! Whatever you have been doing, keep it up and your teeth will serve you well into your 90s even.’
So I waved goodbye to him and headed towards a cafe. Now, would I take out my phone to stare at the screen while I wait for the coffee?
