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of the tooth fairy and life lessons

Today of all days I learnt that a lot of things are in your mind. And that the mind is a very powerful thing. It is responsible for what you think you see and perceive. It can make you demented. It can make you feel sick. It can make you hopeful and untouchable.

So the shortest story you ever heard. Last week I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled. I had procrastinated for over 6 months at least, and just kept managing it until it kept me up all night twice in one week, forcing me to the dentists' office. First thing, as every child knows, the dentist is not a pleasant place. It is a place of metallic instruments clanking against enamel teeth. The sensation is barely tolerable (damn the stupid lollipop) and you grow up with this fear.

(cthoman/Getty Images)


And so the very thought of pulling my teeth was almost as painful as the ensuing toothache. And the pain of toothache is intense. At some point it feels like a nervous breakdown and everything from the side of your neck all the way to the eye closest to the affected tooth will throb ceaselessly. I swear I concluded my enemies had found where I live finally as the painkillers stopped working.

Even then i still decided that a full market research was necessary. I needed to validate my preconceived fears through Q&A with those who had experienced it...and by God everybody seemed to have a horror story about the one time in 1865 that they pulled their tooth. There was every version of horror from dislocated jaws on the dentist table to infected gums that needed post-surgery surgery. And oh the pain they went through was like childbirth etc etc. Essentially, the chances of surviving the removal of a tooth is next to nil and one should just write a will. but when the toothache kept me awake for the second night running and I was snapping at colleagues, I knew I had to face the fire.

As I climbed onto the dentist table with a gospel hymn playing in my suddenly righteous mind, I resigned to helplessness. I told the doctor if I perish I perish. He found it hilarious (but still made me sign a liability waiver) and said once we get the needle in for the anesthesia, its smooth sailing. He even touched my face and said, your face is very different and I don't even expect swelling. I'm there thinking: "hang on a minute, are you saying I am so different so ALL the horror stories might not apply to me?". The confidence with which he said it, and the casual nature that only experience brings, suddenly made my mind begin to believe him. Then he said 'we can do this in 15 minutes and you are out of here like nothing happened'...and suddenly all of the negative stories began to seem like outright lies. My mind began to believe a new truth and frankly my resolve hardened. The gospel hymn in my head turned into the national anthem as I held my mouth wide and firm for the battle ahead.

Needless to say, he was very impressed. We actually did finish before i could say 'Atikulate' and they acted like I could proceed on my merry way without a care in the world. Of course armed with antibiotics and the world's best pain killers.

As i look back today having just removed the stitches (that took half a second), I have learned a life long lesson and it is that you are not others. Their experiences are not yours. If there is an off-chance that one person will have an exception to a generally horrible experience, believe that the person is you. It will surprise you that you are capable of bearing ten times the amount of pain you think is breaking you down today if push comes to shove. And in life, push often comes to shove one way or the other.

see y'all around peeps.


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