Ever have one of those questions that haunts you?

The kind that you keep hearing over and over that causes you to start really pondering the answer.  You hear it enough that you know it is significant and needs to be dealt with.  I don’t know about you, but I have one of those haunting questions.

Why Don’t You Just Be A Dentist?

If I had a dollar for every time I have heard that question. Just be a dentist.  I think it’s the word just that really gets me. As if someone else gets to decide what I do with my life.  Just a dentist.  But what if I was made for more?  What if we were all, as the band Switchfoot says, meant to live for so much more?  Why is it that I need to fit so well into someone else’s neat little box of a definition of who I am?

Here’s the reality…

I am a dentist.  And I love it.  What I truly love about it is the relationships I am blessed to share with my patients and my team.  The life we get to share together.  At this point in my career, 23 years in, I am pretty good at the technical aspects of my craft.  The relationships keep me coming back for more.  But I am, in no way, just a dentist. That is just a part of my identity.  A part, like any other, that can get out of proportion to the rest of my life really quickly if I am not careful.

Here is a partial list of who I am…

Husband, father, brother, son, friend, follower of Jesus, success coach, consultant, practice owner, author, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, pilot, runner, mountain biker, mountain climber, board member, mentor, and content creator.  And, if I go all in on any one of these, everything else suffers.  Especially my primary relationships with my family and friends.  So, whenever I think about the so much more, I also have to consider what needs to go.  I have to say some good no’s and set some boundaries!

Sometimes I think people are threatened…

They are threatened because they have never stepped out of the boat and stepped into their dreams and the so much more that they were meant to live.  And when they see someone else do it, they remember that they haven’t stepped out. But here’s the good news… it’s not too late!  You can step out of the boat.  You can step into the so much more!

So what do I do with this?

I want you to get out a piece of paper.  And I want you to draw a line down the middle.  On one side I want you to write “who I am.” Write down all of your identities that you can think of.  Take a pen or pencil and take note of all the roles you play or things you are involved in. On the other side I want you to write “who I might also be.” And then I want you to dream about the so much more.  What are called to be?  How are you called to impact the world?  What is the so much more for you?

And if you find yourself stuck…

Or not sure how to move forward, let’s talk.  I was there.  I falsely believed that I was supposed to be just a dentist.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  But that is just part of who I am.  I love helping people figure out who they were meant to be.  Whatever you do, believe that good days are ahead.  You have a bright future.  This is what I want you to walk away with- you were meant to live for more.  Now go figure out what that “more” is! Who’s with me?