# @new_smile_ortho on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CMcswApDQdK
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/13116249-new-smile-ortho-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/a62bf84b75.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-03-15T17:52:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** New Smile Orthodontics (@new_smile_ortho) — https://gondola.cc/new_smile_ortho

## Caption

Exactly one year ago COVID 19 closed our doors. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It couldn’t have been avoided. Pandemic was a word that almost never made an appearance in common parlance. Yet, it was at our doorstep for the first time in over 100 years and we were lost. 

The uncertainty was the hardest part for me. There was no road map to show us the way through. Of course, I worried about the health and safety of my family and friends. In the early days there was so much we didn’t know about the virus. There still is. On March 21st, New Jersey was forced into lockdown. For how long, nobody knew. What would be the consequences?

 COVID-19’s effect on our economy is complex and ongoing. Some industries were devastated, some thrived. Most fell somewhere in between. All have been changed on some level. As a self-employed orthodontist, I am supremely blessed. On many levels, I am a small business owner, the master of my own universe to some extent. I’ve always believed the harder I worked the more my practice would thrive. Covid 19 took that ability away from me. It was an obstacle I could have never have imagined and it shook me.

At the time I was consumed by so many emotions; anxiety, fear, anger, despair, disbelief to name a few. As I reflect upon those early days and the year that followed I am now mostly filled with one; gratitude. I am thankful I still have a practice and that I have been able to reopen my doors. I am thankful for my patients who trusted me enough to walk through them. I am thankful for my friends and family who supported me when things were at their bleakest. I am thankful they are all still safe and healthy. We have navigated this unseen and unpredicted battlefield together, making mistakes along the way, backtracking when needed, but always determined to find our way through. Permanently changed and forevermore resilient we can now look to the future with a new road map and with hope. #COVID19 #Hope #WeAreInThisTogether #NewJersey #Orthodontist

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 7
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- **Comments:** 2

## Tags

covid19, orthodontist, weareinthistogether, newjersey, hope

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