Goals and Babies

I've been thinking a lot about goals lately. My dad recently retired from the Navy. He put in 25 years as a physician and now he has had to try to figure out what he really wants to do for a living. Or, when he grows up. He wants to open his own practice. He wants to go to Africa to help the people there. He wants to do a lot of different things. The thing is, all he needs to do is decide and he could probably do it.

I have thought about what I would do in that situation. If I had my needs met already, possibly didn't have to go to work, what would I love to do? Would I still go to work every day, just because I like it? What would change? Would I still see all the same patients, or keep the team members I have? If the fear of failure was taken away, how would I operate? Why couldn't I do the same thing now?

I thought about these questions, and thought to myself, “Why not?” I get to choose what I do with my life, who I work with, how many days I work, how big a house I have to pay for...

My wife was due with our sixth baby last Saturday. We are still waiting for our now-overdue baby to come. So I have another reason to revisit my priorities. Kids grow up fast, and if you are not intentional, you might miss out. I want to be more intentional, so I have thought about some more questions.

What is most important to me? Who is most important to me? If I could accomplish one thing in the next month, what would it be? Even more thought-provoking is the "What if I had one month to live?" scenario.

I think sometimes I get caught in the current of life. I get swept away because something is urgent, or somebody asked me to do this or that. If I don't watch out, I will end up missing out on something I know is important, like my life.

Michael Lemme, DDS