A couple of years ago, Dr. Shawn Velez, of Advanced Endodontics, woke up to two questions that had been facing him for many years. He wanted to know how to spend more time with his family and how to stay healthy. Like many Americans, he struggled with the work-family life balance, and often the scales were tipped in favor of work. He felt his health was far from optimal.
After all, being an endodontist, performing root canals and fixing dental trauma is often more than a 40-hour-a-week endeavor. His wife, Dr. Jennibeth Robles-Velez, is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and practices at Advanced Oral and Facial Specialists, a successful practice providing dental implants, removing wisdom teeth, performing bone grafting and jaw surgeries. Finding time together and with their children was difficult.
Shawn decided to stop asking “help me spend more time with my family” or “help me to be healthy.” The request this time was “show me how to do it, show me how to be more healthy and more present with my family and I will do anything asked of me.” Little did Shawn know that the subtle change of words from “help” to “show” would ignite all the cosmos and its benevolence to meet him at the point at which he was and show him the path to becoming the best version of himself.
Shawn explains: “I used to be the type of person that thought one person surely can’t make a difference but as I started to see changes in my life, the ripple effects began to spread out from the epicenter, first touching my wife’s life and behaviors and igniting the true self inside her and then on to my children. I never thought that making a decision like this would carry further than my own life, but to my surprise, my work team began to take notice. People would start to ask my wife and me: ‘Can we join you for a walk?’ ‘How can I eat healthier?’ and things like that.”
A new mission began: Advanced on the Move, a walking/running club that allowed Shawn and Jennibeth to share the benefits of what they were doing with their staff. Healthier meals started to show up at lunchtime. Substitutions with healthy habits and food began to overtake long addictions and behaviors that were imprisoning the beautiful potential of the team at Advanced Endodontics and Oral and Facial Specialists.
Fast-forward two years and with many races, workouts, and two half marathons now behind them, the team has embarked on a wellness journey together, sharing pearls of wisdom on everything from nutrition to workout templates to such spiritual truths such as practicing the power of the present moment. “Our team has lost many pounds collectively, but more important, they are all here and present with each other, with our patients, with our referring doctors, and with our community,” said Shawn.
So, yes, one pebble tossed in a vast ocean can send out ripples affecting many shores, many miles away. Don’t wait for the future, welcome to the now. Ask us today about our Advanced Way of Life!
