hope – Mindflight

An Extravagant wish?

For many of us, health is an extravagant wish.

It was for me, and still seems so sometimes. I had to get a really good job (really good for me is a salary of roughly $30,000 a year with decent benefits so I’m not talking upper middle class here) in order to even be able to approach dental health!

It’s quite amazing how much dental health affects every other part of you. Trying to lose weight with messed up teeth? Good luck eating all those healthy proteins, vegetables, nuts, and grains! That’s just one of many examples.

I’ve been able to find a good dentist who thinks creatively and is working in an office with awesome staff. I’ve gotten some tips that have really changed my whole outlook on dental health.

Previously I had written off my weak enamel and many cavities as just another thing to deal with that couldn’t really be helped. Crowns are expensive, so are root canals, and dentures? Very expensive too. I was looking forward to spending at least a third of my life toothless. And it turns out it wasn’t just eating sweet stuff as a kid, I really DO have weak enamel!

I learned though, that enamel can reharden and dentin can regrow once the decay has all been cleaned out. I learned that yesterday from the dentist himself. He says the teeth are continuously regenerating themselves. Not so much in shape, like a cavity won’t grow back in, but renewing in other ways. He recommended fluoride mouthwash (of course) which I’m a bit up in the air about but am willing to try if I make sure and don’t swallow any. Other suggestions were flossing regularly, of course, swishing with water instead of brushing after I eat sweet or citrus foods, and chewing gum that has Xylitol. That helps harden enamel a couple of different ways, by stimulating saliva production and by changing its PH so that the bacteria doesn’t grow as well.

I happened to find some gum that has calcium in it as well as xylitol, and I’m looking forward to trying that too. Unfortunately it’s not made in the US (of course) so I’m buying it from Amazon. It’s made by Trident.

I feel hopeful about my teeth for the first time in years. And I’m ready to lose some weight, by eating less of those soft processed foods!

Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/extravagant/

Undreamed of possibilities

Personal Growth

In this post, I wrote about things I thought were true when I was five. I was reflecting today on just how different my life is from what I expected. My formative years were spent mostly before the internet was common, and though I grew up around my dad’s clunky yet trusty 286, I never dreamed computers would be such an essential part of my life. I’m sure everyone reading this can resonate on some level, so please feel free to provide your own examples in the comments.

When I was a kid, I never dreamed I’d…

…work with computers constantly, both at work and at home, have a monitor that’s about an inch thick, and consider my internet to be essential while cable TV is not.

…be able to pay somebody to shoot me or my loved ones in the face with a laser, for any medical purpose.

…actually have a published novel in any form, since self publishing in my youth meant you had access to a good copy machine and made ‘zines.

…have a blog, once again, see the lack of internet and lateral communication.

…become good enough at pen and ink drawing to do decent illustrations. Pen and ink was a loved but unheard of dream at the time.

…carry a tiny portable telephone that connects me to anyone anywhere in the country without long distance fees. I grew up in the bad old days of corded phones, peak calling times and long distance.

…learn to blue and parkerize metal, learn to use a mill or a lathe or a grinder, become comfortable with power tools, and learn the pure love of a good pressurized air system. I grew up being nervous even around hand tools.

When I look at the things I can do, that I never dreamed I would be able to, and would have thoroughly envied anyone I knew who could, the future doesn’t seem too dim. What possibilities are still in store for all of us that we never imagined would be possible?

I’m hopeful in spite of everything…

Thoughts About Life

This year some bad things have happened, quite a few of them, really. We’ve lost beloved performers, we’ve heard some truly odious lies told by politicians, and the national media has done its usual job to try and twist our perceptions outside the realm of reality.

Some good things have happened as well. For me, I have had some personal successes, and kept chipping away at a couple personal challenges that have galled me for years. We as internet users continue to reap the benefits of parallel communication so we can get an idea of what’s really going on, no matter what the media might say. I have improved my art and this blog and I’ve published two books and two short stories this year. I’ve also dipped my toes back into traditional media and had one of my drawings published in a magazine, so that’s a great thing to remember for me.

It’s been a mixed bag but there’s hope. Some friends of mine have revealed to me that they are terrified of what’s going to happen because Hillary didn’t win – to me there’s a glimmer of hope because she didn’t. I didn’t like her opponent that much, but when you get past the media lies he’s not quite the ogre everyone seems to think he is. So I have a little room for hope in politics. At least our current Anointed One won’t have the chance to catapult the US into World War 3 and make energy so expensive no one can afford it.

I take my hope in small doses. For another example, right now I make $2.79 above minimum wage. Come the new year, I’ll be making $0.79 above the minimum wage, and I’ll have to deal with higher prices and such as businesses find ways to pay their employees up to that rate. I work at the lowest paid call center in the city. But, there’s hope! Because I moved to a place that’s cheaper to live in, has lower utility bills, and has the most awesome landlord I’ve ever even heard of. I feel bad for all the families who will have to tighten their belts even more, but at least I, personally, will have hope, even as I watch my dollar grow weaker.

My books are starting to make a little money, so there’s a glimmer of hope there too. I’ll keep on writing, and drawing, taking pictures and doing what I do, and who knows? Maybe my audience will find me. Hope springs eternal. The important thing is, if you want to have hope, never give up, no matter what you do. If you stop, you can always start again.

As Winston Churchill said,

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”

via Daily Prompt: Hopeful

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/hopeful/

You still can…

Art of Womanhood

I spoke to a very charming and gracious woman who, over the course of our call, revealed that she had been playing piano and organ for many years. This was ever since she played for her first wedding, 64 years ago.

While I completed her order, we talked about music… I confided that I’d always wanted to learn an instrument and she said “you sound young, you always can.” I suppose I am. At 35 I don’t feel young anymore. But she ought to know… we spoke of bagpipes and their beauty, and how we’d both wanted to learn them at one point. As I closed the call I thought about what she said. The book isn’t closed.

You are still young.

You still can.

What skill have you always wanted to learn?