The Guide to MAKE You Smile

Here at Josey Lane, we’re not only concerned about your smile, but also what makes you smile.

Happiness is key to full body wellness, and as you know, oral health is directly correlated to your overall health. The subject of mental health can be difficult to address. Unlike when you have a severe tooth ache that’s easily identified and can be fixed quickly, your mental health is infinitely more delicate and complex.

Our goal today is to give you a quick guide to help you identify the things in your life that keep you centered and emotionally healthy. We understand that these long winter days can cause internal struggle, and here at Josey Lane we want to let you know that we are in your corner and fighting for your full-body health!

What makes you happy?

This is a loaded question that most of us can respond to with a short list of “stock” answers. Sure, friends and family or a beloved pet make us happy, but are we saying those things because we’re on autopilot and they sound nice, or because they’re at the forefront of your mind when you’re most joyful?

To answer this question truthfully, it takes time and introspection. For the next week, consider this simple activity to pick out what you can about what actively makes you most happy:

1. Every thirty or so minutes, take stock in what you’ve been doing, and write down what part of it has made you happy. What part have you enjoyed? This practice is hard to keep, but see if you can “flip the switch” and keep track for a few hours each day.
2. At work, reflect on what aspects of your job you find enjoyable, or where you find the most success. Most of us prefer not to be at work (that’s why they pay us, after all), but try to look at the smaller details of the job that you might be overlooking on a daily basis. Maybe you’re great at PowerPoint and others seek your counsel, or you can lead a meeting really well.
3. In your personal time, focus on things that energize you. Think critically about specific activities and if they bring you joy—if not, identify the emotion surrounding the activity.
4. After a week of peppering these daily practices in, compare all your lists and look for trends. The commonalities between the lists won’t always be explicit. The joy you experienced helping at your child’s school, for example, plus the energy you felt from working your team through a hard project at work can be correlated: in both cases, you were able to work collaboratively with others to accomplish a unified goal. Look for small trends like this!
5. Once you identify the trends, try to add more of those actions into your life. To do that, simply frame leading questions like: “I look format to _____ the most; I value _____ the most in life, or; Accomplishing _______ gives me energy.” 

This quick guide will help you identify the small things in life that make you happy! And we’ll be so pleased to see those smiles.

Is it Season Affective Disorder or could it be something else?

If we’re discussing “finding our happiness,” it’s also important to discuss symptoms of depression—be it chronic or affected by the season.

Remember: we’re dentists, not psychologists. But for those who are feeling sluggish and sad, or experiencing a decidedly low sense of worth, it could be difficult to work through this guide or discuss what makes you happy at all.

The first thing that must be addressed is getting to the root of what’s happening. Seasonal Affective Disorder (a type of depression that’s related to the change in the season) is a common culprit this time of year, but be sure to get in to a specialist if you have any concern of this or another mental illness. While it is normal to feel down every once in a while, if you are struggling to get motivated to do normally daily activities then it is time to see your doctor.

As winter continues on, it’s important to examine your mental health and examine if you are suffering from depression or otherwise struggling with the seasonal change. At Josey Lane we are dedicated to creating a beautiful and healthy smile. But we’re only halfway there until you feel happy enough to show it off!