PASSED!

I’ve been waiting and hoping to share this post for months. 

Nearly a year ago, I took the first portion of my licensing exam to become a dentist and failed. It’s a practical exam to prove that you have the hand skills to actually do dentistry. I practiced every-day for over a month and got the green light to sit for the exam. But my nerves truly got the best of me with having performance anxiety. For months now, I have been avoiding the inevitable-that I needed to retake the exam. On a whim, I signed up to retake the exam in Nashville this past weekend with only two weeks’ notice. I hadn’t done the procedure that is on the licensing exam since I failed it all those months ago. I practiced only a handful of times this time around, which sounds irresponsible. But I’ve never wondered if I could do the procedure, just if I could do it under the pressure of exam day. I practiced only 3 times (compared to the 36 times I practiced last time-not even kidding), got feedback, and practiced once more. And I PASSED! So, what’s the difference between now and then? Because if anything, I was more prepared the first time I took it. But this time around, I felt more confident. I’ve been treating patients for over a year now. On a regular basis, I do or see cases that I’ve never done before and it's really gotten me accustomed to tackling things head on. It just feels like I’m more confident in my skills now, which is why I didn’t feel the need to practice a million times this go around. I just practiced enough as a refresher and that’s it. I won’t pretend that I wasn’t nervous this go around. But I will say that I was confident to overcome that nervousness and it feels amazing.