If I had a choice, I’m not sure whether I’d rather be a doctor or a dentist. Probably a doctor because I think digging around in people’s mouths for decades would start to give you a lot of shoulder, arm and neck pain. So the Dentist thing is out.
Be that as it may, I think about joining their ranks occasionally because of what I do and don’t see in their waiting rooms: magazines. Currently with Covid, we still have not seen a return in many waiting rooms of those discarded magazines that you used to peruse while waiting to get into see the specialist.
Reading new magazines is always an expanding process. You get to dig into issues and news you had not previously considered. That’s a good thing to grow your mind, even if it means injecting stupid celebrity gossip into your brain cells. Wait, maybe not. Strike that. “Most” magazines help you expand your brain matter into positive territory. There.
As a kid, I remember massively looking forward to reading Highlights magazine and finding all the hidden pictures. I doubt I thought much beyond that and the stitches I was about to receive or the shot that was going to jolt my shoulder. But, if I found that hidden flag wrapped inside a candy cane, my day was golden.
Moving into adulthood, hidden pictures still provide some challenge. People magazine, for example, picked up on the challenge and inserted a section in the back pages to challenge you. I’d skip all the entertainment sections and head for that to figure out how picture one differed from picture two, and in the process forgetting about how my cracked tooth was going to require two visits and multiple injections of Novocain while the dentist pounded in my jaw.
Having fun is a good thing about waiting room magazines. You also frequently are rewarded with new topics to delve into, ones that you had not previously considered, or would have chosen on your own free will to explore.
An example could be Atlantic magazine, which, in our short-term reading and memory society, still chooses to write in-depth articles on important issues facing our country and the world. While you wait for that annual physical, you might be able to get through one full article, and be more informed than 27 eight-second segments you watched on TV. You use your brain while reading, and must put together the pieces, rather than passively being told what happened by an announcer with perfect teeth.
It’s that ability to share good reading with your patients what would drive me to want to be a doctor or dentist, a physical therapist or owning a fitness facility – putting out magazines of my choice to help better inform the world. I’d include humor magazines (too bad Mad magazine has been discontinued). If I found a quality story while randomly reading, I’d bring it to the office for display so others could partake of the information inside.
Calvin and Hobbs and Far Side compilations would adorn the tables. Patients would have time to chuckle and relax before joining me for their visit. Sports Illustrated would be a must. Milwaukee magazine would be included. The local daily newspaper would open for inspection.
Maybe conversation would be sparked. Maybe patients would feel better after some belly laughs. Maybe someone would tear out a page on a new local restaurant so they could go visit it in the future with a loved one. Regardless of the benefit, I’d feel I’d done just a little bit to make the world a better place.
Be that as it may, I think about joining their ranks occasionally because of what I do and don’t see in their waiting rooms: magazines. Currently with Covid, we still have not seen a return in many waiting rooms of those discarded magazines that you used to peruse while waiting to get into see the specialist.
Reading new magazines is always an expanding process. You get to dig into issues and news you had not previously considered. That’s a good thing to grow your mind, even if it means injecting stupid celebrity gossip into your brain cells. Wait, maybe not. Strike that. “Most” magazines help you expand your brain matter into positive territory. There.
As a kid, I remember massively looking forward to reading Highlights magazine and finding all the hidden pictures. I doubt I thought much beyond that and the stitches I was about to receive or the shot that was going to jolt my shoulder. But, if I found that hidden flag wrapped inside a candy cane, my day was golden.
Moving into adulthood, hidden pictures still provide some challenge. People magazine, for example, picked up on the challenge and inserted a section in the back pages to challenge you. I’d skip all the entertainment sections and head for that to figure out how picture one differed from picture two, and in the process forgetting about how my cracked tooth was going to require two visits and multiple injections of Novocain while the dentist pounded in my jaw.
Having fun is a good thing about waiting room magazines. You also frequently are rewarded with new topics to delve into, ones that you had not previously considered, or would have chosen on your own free will to explore.
An example could be Atlantic magazine, which, in our short-term reading and memory society, still chooses to write in-depth articles on important issues facing our country and the world. While you wait for that annual physical, you might be able to get through one full article, and be more informed than 27 eight-second segments you watched on TV. You use your brain while reading, and must put together the pieces, rather than passively being told what happened by an announcer with perfect teeth.
It’s that ability to share good reading with your patients what would drive me to want to be a doctor or dentist, a physical therapist or owning a fitness facility – putting out magazines of my choice to help better inform the world. I’d include humor magazines (too bad Mad magazine has been discontinued). If I found a quality story while randomly reading, I’d bring it to the office for display so others could partake of the information inside.
Calvin and Hobbs and Far Side compilations would adorn the tables. Patients would have time to chuckle and relax before joining me for their visit. Sports Illustrated would be a must. Milwaukee magazine would be included. The local daily newspaper would open for inspection.
Maybe conversation would be sparked. Maybe patients would feel better after some belly laughs. Maybe someone would tear out a page on a new local restaurant so they could go visit it in the future with a loved one. Regardless of the benefit, I’d feel I’d done just a little bit to make the world a better place.