EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY

Hard Times Have Taught Darrell to Just Relax

When something unexpected happens, how do you usually react? Does your heart rate spike? Do you have dozens of thoughts and solutions racing through your brain throughout the day?

I used to react like that. But now, instead of reacting, I respond during these situations. I’ve learned to calm myself down and solve an issue without overthinking or obsessing about it. I had to use these strategies to fix a problem that occurred the Thursday after Thanksgiving — and some of you may remember me reaching out to you about this!

The computer I use to design cases for you on my cad/cam system stopped working, meaning I couldn’t proceed with the cases. I had no idea what was happening, and for a short moment, I started to panic. I began to stress because I know all my dentists rely on me to have their cases delivered on time for their patients’ scheduled cement appointments — I would feel terrible if a patient couldn’t get their crown cemented because my computer was unresponsive.

Dentists who use my services know how much I appreciate their work, and I know what they need from me to take care of their patients — I didn’t want this to hurt our relationship. But my concerns disappeared when I called several of my dentists to let them know about the situation, and they were all very understanding.

Since I’m no tech-wiz, I called the technical support line and scheduled an appointment for Tuesday. While I did not like to have to wait a few days to fix everything, this situation was out of my control. I did everything possible by communicating with my doctors about the updates. I can’t thank you enough for being flexible and willing to reschedule your patients’ cement appointments, in case it would be needed.

While anxiously waiting, things didn’t go as planned. The service technician called me and said they couldn’t make it out on Tuesday and had to reschedule for Thursday. I was disappointed, but instead of becoming stressed, I called my dentists once again to let them know it will be a couple more days before I can proceed with their cases. Fortunately, because it was the first week after the Thanksgiving break, most of my doctors did not have any cement appointments scheduled until the following week. I only had one doctor who made a change in his schedule. Thankfully, he was very understanding, and his patient actually preferred to come in at a later date. So overall, it wasn’t as bad as I initially thought it might be.

In fact, in the end, it worked out great! While I waited for the computer to get fixed, I took advantage of the extra time I had by researching different ways to improve my lab services for my doctors. I learned about new lab equipment, and as a result, I now use an improved system to print models from your digital impression scans!

Thursday finally rolled around, and the service technician arrived. I excitedly let him in. After installing a new hard drive and graphics card, he got my computer ready for me to use. Everything is now in great working order, like new again!

If this instance had happened a few years ago, I would’ve been up all night worrying and having worst-case scenarios race through my mind. But I’ve grown a lot over the years, and those who know me personally know that I experienced so much back in 2021 — going through all of it has made me stronger and more excited than ever for the future. I realize I’ve endured much worse than a computer issue. When I find myself overwhelmed, I look back at everything I’ve overcome and tell myself everything will be okay.

Because at the end of the day, minor inconveniences don’t matter as much because they can always be fixed and replaced. And if you really look, you can find the good in every situation. Everything will work itself out.

Thank you again for being so understanding and patient during that minor hiccup. I appreciate all of you! Thank you for reading! Until next time