Physical Appearance

Physical Appearance shouldn't matter. After all it's whats inside us that counts. But the reality is our appearance does matter to us.

Over the years, I have become self conscience of my teeth. They are too crowded for the size of my mouth and protrude outward like "horse teeth". Going to the dentist always frustrates me because no matter how hard I work at taking care of my teeth, I always have tarter build up. So now that my kids are pretty much on their own, at the age of 50, I decided to get my teeth fixed with braces. (Yes, I am crazy!) I had to have 3 teeth pulled first and that turned out to be the easy part!

I am miserable. Did I mention that I AM MISERABLE! Eating is no fun! The time it takes to clean my teeth after eating makes me think twice about eating at all. Consequently I have lost some weight (of course in the wrong places!) The braces constantly irritate the inside of my cheeks, and I feel like I have a mouth full of gunk at all times. (which I do)

If I knew what this experience was going to be like, there is no way I would have even considered it. My hubby says "It will be OK, just wait until you are done and you will be happy you did it". I keep telling myself this will be worth it in the end but at the moment 2 years of braces seems like an eternity. I feel more like throwing myself a pity party and then having the braces removed immediately. In case you haven't figured it out - I am not enjoying this experience!!!

It occurred to me the other night that most of our trials in life are like my braces experience. Typically in order to become a better person, we have to go through things that make us miserable. At the time we just want to give up and quit. We would never agree to go through the trial if we knew in advance what the experience was going to be like. We are often told by others that we will be "OK, and everything will be worth it in the end". We don't believe them. We seldom , if ever, enjoy the journey!!

But in the end usually our trials refine us and we do become better people.

Hope it works with the braces cause this is not FUN!