What a toothache taught me about speaking up 🦷

It started as any other day...crazy! My three boys, businesses, and family needs keep me running. As I returned home from the office, my six-year-old complained of a toothache. Odd, I thought. I’ve never heard that before. I figured perhaps he ate something too cold, not a big deal. I gave him some Hypericum and moved on to prep dinner.

The next day, he was out of school on break. I pulled my car into the garage after a morning of sessions to find him meeting me at the door, crying, because his tooth hurt so bad. Yikes, that got my attention! My kids usually calmly tell me they got hurt when there is blood everywhere. I dusted off a bottle of children’s Motrin that I bought years ago when one kid broke his arm and gave him a partial dose. Then I immediately called the dentist.

I was able to get him seen two hours later. Awesome. Not so awesome when the dentist looked up and told me she saw nothing but a little scratch on his gum and a cavity that needed filling. I looked confused and told her I needed to give him pain medicine it hurt so bad (and he’s never had pain medicine in his life before). She smiled and said maybe it was just a tooth feeling different. I knew something wasn’t right but in the moment of responding to a client via text and prepping for a trip, I thought “hmm, perhaps she is right.” She is a dentist after all. And it felt good to think it was nothing.

Later that evening, my poor kid was suddenly delirious with fever. In the morning, it was 100% evident he had a medical issue. His poor gum was massive and red. The infection his body had been keeping hidden had exploded. We called the dentist back. An xray quickly confirmed what was painfully obvious.

As I mulled all this over, processing these events, I wondered how this could’ve worked out with more ease and what energy blocks I needed to address. My conclusion: I missed two opportunities to speak up.

Most obvious, I could’ve demanded an xray before leaving the first dentist visit. I knew something wasn’t right but she had no answers. An xray could’ve found the issue. Yes, the dentist should’ve done this. But I could’ve pushed harder.

In November, I missed another chance to speak up. He had a cleaning and I thought I saw a small cavity but neither the hygienist nor the dentist mentioned it. I could’ve asked about it then. In fact, I was surprised when no one said anything. But while juggling my other kids, I neglected to listen to my intuition and speak up.

Two missed opportunities where the busy-ness of my life and my old habitual pattern of keeping quiet fused together in a perfect storm to keep energy blocks in place. With only one or the other, the outcome might’ve been different. Hindsight is 20/20.

I share this story not as a way to criticize myself but to notice the learning opportunity to bring more ease. And to shift energy blocks that keep us stuck. Remember my favorite saying: “What do I need to learn from this situation to make it go away?” When we listen to our intuition, honor our wisdom, and act on it, we operate from a place of creative flow and bust through energy blocks sabotaging our progress.

Do you avoid speaking up? Especially in the presence of perceived authority? Do you doubt your intuition when you know it is reliable, in the presence of scientific doubt? Does it sometimes feel easier to not ‘rock the boat’ and keep quiet?

If you answered yes to any of those, I encourage you to look for opportunities to speak up! May we each seize our power this spring and make the right choices for ourselves from a place of power, focus, and knowing. To allow our true potential to shine.