“The world rewards those in motion.” – Michael Bernoff
This quote is my absolute favorite. I heard these powerful words spoken by Michael Bernoff, a personal development and life coach, during one of his coaching sessions in March of 2020. It clicked with me naturally and has stayed with me ever since that day. I loved it so much I created a poster with those words to hang in my house and now it is part of my email signature. It truly gives me the fuel to keep going… to grow myself as a dentist, business owner, mom, wife, daughter, sister, colleague, friend, and quite simply, a human being.
This quote by Michael Bernoff reminds me of World War Z, one of our family’s favorite movies. In one of the scenes, the main character in the movie, Gerry, is advising a couple and their young son to leave their apartment and join them on their journey in an effort to find shelter and safety from the zombies. He tells them in Spanish, “Movimiento es vida.” It translates to “movement is life.” In other words, if they stay where they are in their apartment, they will be attacked by the zombies and consequently turn into zombies themselves. That family decides to stay in their apartment and declines to follow Gerry. A couple of scenes later, it becomes apparent the couple in the apartment become zombies. The message is very clear…stay where you are and life ends. That’s exactly what happens to that couple.
Have you met someone where they retract in life, fear taking that next step that you know with certainty will help them level up, or avoid change while everyone is changing around them? Most likely the answer is yes. I have met patients who are fearful of living life and choose to retract and say "no" to treatment that will naturally improve their smile, heart disease, diabetes control, and overall quality of life. I’m happy to say that the majority of our patients say "yes" to growing and choose to take care of themselves and improve the quality of their lives. It’s amazing to witness. That once fearful patient is now less nervous and has gained the confidence to smile and feels empowered to continue a healthy lifestyle. That once embarrassed patient who felt shame and disappointment for allowing his or her teeth to become rotten has found the courage and self-respect to say "yes", do what needs to be done to smile again freely and confidently around their loved ones, friends, co-workers, clients, and customers. The team and I are truly honored to be part of our patients’ journeys and support their growth. When we help others grow, it naturally grows us, too. And, isn’t that the best part of life and why we do what we do? Absolutely, YES!
Our love and commitment to help our patients achieve their success can be seen with all of the photos we have displayed in our smile gallery in our practice. We love it when we hear patients tell us that they want to get on that wall. Those words alone give us all that we need to make that dream possible for our patients. We also devote time at every monthly team meeting to learn about ourselves, what holds us back and how we can grow so that we can help others inside and outside of our practice. We ask ourselves on a daily basis, how are we growing and in turn growing each other and our patients? The rewards of growing ourselves and sharing that growth with our patients is evident when we see their smile, hear their happiness, read the emails and cards of gratitude and feel their joy. Michael Bernoff is absolutely correct when he says, “The world rewards those in motion.”
Written by Dr. Jeannie Ju
