Smiling Again

This Monday morning, a wonderful thing greeted me as I opened the door to see my first patient of the day.

A smile! Bright and beautiful, and…with no mask to cover it up.

On my end, I was able to give a smile that had not been seen in my clinical work since March of 2020.

Over three years. 1,133 calendar days ago to be exact. Over a thousand times that the sun had risen and then set.

On April 17^th, UNM took off the requirement that masks must be worn in our clinical settings.

“My face feels naked,” I kept saying throughout the day. It was surreal to see patients faces again. And to be able to share mine.

About a year ago, as the pandemic dragged on like a movie with an inadequate budget for editing (“Where is this thing going? The exciting stuff already happened in the first 30 minutes.”), I made a conscious decision to stop waiting for masks to go away. 

I resigned myself to doing masked medicine for a while longer. I tried to forget how much I enjoyed seeing people’s smiles and expressions. I even stopped wondering or worrying about what stories and connections were missing beneath our face coverings. 

I got used to trying to comfort people who were crying or expressing deep emotion – the eyes becoming the one part of the face left with which I could read and respond.

There was an article pre-pandemic that reported "Science has shown that the mere act of smiling can lift your mood, lower stress, boost your immune system and possibly even prolong your life."

But what if you know others can't see the smile you are trying to express. And what happened to the similar benefits of seeing others smile during these COVID years?

Now, I am able to see those beautiful smiles again. Equally excited to share my smiles with the folks who call me their doctor.

It brings me back to my first time seeing patients via virtual visits five months into the pandemic, having done exclusively phone visits until that point.

Don’t get me wrong – I am thankful for what masked life represents. Doing the best we can to protect each other, adjusting to a new normal.

But man, is it great to see people – all of them – again.

Enjoy smiling today. My wife always reminds that it is simplest way to give to others.

And enjoy receiving smiles in return. Each time, you are receiving a wonderful, unmasked gift.