When we are unhappy or discontent in veterinary medicine, or any area of our lives, we begin searching for the cause.

We then draw conclusions about our circumstances and determine the way to be happier is to get away from the "bad" circumstances we've identified.

In VetMed these "bad" circumstances are typically jobs, fellow veterinary professionals, clients, student loan debt, scheduling, staffing, etc.

When we can't get away from those circumstances, we begin a habit-pattern of negative thinking about them... and this sustains the emotional misery we experience.

What's worse, it's nearly impossible to make the decisions needed to change our circumstances from that low emotional state. 

Thankfully, there is a much better way!

In this episode I share the 3-step process of Starting Over that guarantees you will begin feeling better immediately, even before your "new circumstances" become your reality. 

This process absolutely essential if you want to create a new experience for yourself.

Best part, it's pretty easy too... as long as you commit a little bit of time to it on a regular basis.

Ready for a fresh start? Listen now!

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Hopping from job to job is a common coping mechanism in Vet Med.

When we hit the breaking point of discomfort in our current jobs, we start looking for a new position.

We justify it with a list of all things that are "bad" or "wrong" in our current job, and set out to find an alternative. 

When we find it, we feel excited, relieved, and even validated in our choice to leave.

So, for most of us, this coping mechanism kind of works, at least for a while...

At least until the issues from the old job become evident as issues in the new job as well.

And when those old issues create a breaking point of discomfort in the new job, the cycle begins again... looking for a better alternative, the one that will allow us to be happy.

After a few cycles of this, we start looking for alternative careers, or total exits from all things veterinary medicine... 

We wonder if maybe we weren't cut out for this profession after all...

We conclude the profession is toxic and broken...

We discourage anyone who considers entering it themselves to try to save them from the disappointment and unhappiness we've experienced.

But what if we're wrong about all of this?

What if our coping mechanism and the conclusions we draw are all based on false information?

I believe they are, and I explain it all in this episode. 

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Did you know that reacting and responding are actually two different things?

Not only that, our emotional experience of any situation depends on which path we choose.

When we react, we engage without deliberate choice. In doing so, it is easy to believe we are at the mercy of our circumstances and what is happening around us. 

When we respond, we engage with intention. This allows us to decide purposely what we want to believe, how we want to feel, and what we will do in response. 

When we respond we maintain our personal power.

When we react we give our power away.

In this episode I dive into the differences between reacting and responding, and share why it is so important for each of us to learn how to respond with intention. 

The quality of your life depends on developing this skill.

Let's go!









Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Corporate veterinary practice is a common villain of choice for veterinary professionals... especially those who have had a bad experience working for a corporation.

The commiseration around bad corporate experiences is wide-spread, often showing up as attacks on the organizations themselves, and the veterinary professionals who elect to work there.

But why?

Is corporate veterinary medicine a true threat to our profession, or is it just a fabricated "flavor of the day" foe we use to absolve ourselves from responsibility over our own wellbeing?

Veterinary professionals have a long history of "us versus them" mentality. It shows up with our clients, among our colleagues, between private hospitals, and now includes corporate entities as well.

But why?

It's because we work in a high pressure career as a group of highly compassionate people, and when we recognized we are unhappy, stressed out and full of anxiety we look for something to blame simply because we have not been taught that the external circumstances are not responsible for our emotional experience of them.

Our world teaches us from a very early age that experiencing negative emotion means something is going wrong so something must be fixed before we can feel better.

Neuroscientifically speaking, that's not accurate or true. 

What's worse, staying in this perspective gives all of our power away. It eliminates the ability to choose differently for ourselves. It fosters hopelessness and despair. It provides no path to happiness or peace.

What is true is that the practice of veterinary medicine is ever-evolving, as is the market of veterinary business and the personal needs and desires of veterinary professionals. 

What is also true is we always get to decide. We don't need someone or something to be wrong in order to make the right decisions for ourselves.

In this episode I share about the Corporate Divide and explain why it more important than ever to create our individual emotional wellbeing and thrive in our lives and careers.







Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

In Veterinary Medicine, our client interactions often end up in "us against them"... especially when the interaction is emotionally charged or perceived as negative or aggressive. 

Given the state of our world these days, it's not surprising.

We are seeing this type of fear-based division everywhere.

In our heightened states of emotional reaction, the consequences are often not intended.

Negative interactions can escalate quickly, often ending with everyone feeling victimized.

Where does the veterinary patient fit into this?

When are egos take over, the veterinary patient never wins.

As veterinary professionals, we also totally miss what we have in common with the client.

It is this common ground that builds the foundation of veterinary medicine.

It's why we do what we do.

Turns out, we actually want the exact same things...

Veterinary Professionals & Pet Owners both:

...want to help the pet.

...want the pet to get better.

...don't want the pet to be scared or in pain.

...want treatment to be affordable.

...want to be a respected parter in the pet's care.

When the ego gets involved, it is fear rather than concern and compassion, that drives the human interaction. 

Thankfully we get to choose which version of ourselves shows up in the moment.

In this episode I share how the common ground is the path forward for veterinary professionals, pet owners, and most importantly, the animals.

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

"It's not about you."

That phrase rings true and is very helpful to remember when we are interacting with people or experiencing circumstances that are uncomfortable. 

It's a short reminder we can offer ourselves and others to fast-track calm and peace.

However, what isn't talked about is the other side of the foundational concept.

In this episode, I dig into the flip side... the side where it is actually about you, 100% of the time... and share how we can utilize the flip side to improve and expand our wellbeing no matter what or who is happening around us.









Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

When you take a bunch of smart people, enroll them in a professional program, and then tell them that their chosen career puts them at an increased risk for suicide... they believe you.

It's a dangerous perspective to share, it offers no solutions, and it's not actually true.

In this episode I share why the way we talk about historical data points and statistics actually perpetuates the experiences we're trying to eliminate.

I also share how modern veterinary culture continues to add fuel to this fire, and what we can do individually to break this life-threatening cycle for ourselves and those around us in the process.

Resources mentioned in this episode can be found at https://joyfuldvm.com

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

The decisions we make exclusively from our emotional experience often do not create the results we ultimately want.

We make decisions this way because we want to feel better.

And when we make these decisions rashly. It’s simply evidenced that we want to feel better immediately.

It works… for a while.

When we change our circumstances we automatically experience different emotional feelings…

… not because the new environment is better than the old, but only because our thoughts are different.

In the new environment, we think about different things.

Thoughts create Emotions.

When it comes to our career, this decision-making approach does NOT move us closer to the career and vet life experience that we actually want.

In this episode, I introduce an emotion-proof strategy for determining and evaluating current and future job opportunities… and share why we tend to leave bad-fit jobs in anger, rather than in brave pursuit of what we want next.







Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Thinking about quitting Vet Med?

You aren’t alone.

Thoughts of leaving this sh*twshow behind are pretty common for a lot of us.

Ya, Really!

But, why?

Here’s where it gets interesting…

Why are you thinking about leaving your job?

Why are you thinking about ditching the profession altogether?

My guess: the VMVs…

Blame directed at the Vet Med Villains is the most common response to “Why” we leave Vet Med.

Makes sense.

Seems logical.

Feels justified.

We experience a lot of suffering at the hands of those villains…

Entitled clients

Cranky coworkers

Greedy bosses

Terrible schedules

Inadequate pay

Crushing student loan balances

TOUGH LOVE: WRONG ANSWER!

The VMVs are never the reason we change jobs or leave the profession.

We flee because we want to get away from the way we feel in relation to the VMVs.

It may seem like an insignificant difference, but it’s actually a critical differentiation!

See, when our Why for leaving blames the VMVs, then we hand over our power and our personal well-being to them. 

We make them responsible for our experience, and life choices… but they never are.

Changing jobs or leaving for these reasons has us running away…

We are leaving to get away from how we feel as quickly as possible… 

We leave because we believe we will feel better anywhere else…

(and we probably will, for a while). 

The problem with this is what comes NEXT: more of the same…

When we leave to get away, we don’t intentionally choose where we are going… 

But, more on that topic next week.

Right now, consider this…

When all the dialogue and beliefs about why our job is so hard focus on blaming the VMVs… 

And when we make decisions about our own lives and careers as a result of what we believe about the VMVs and their influence… 

And when we draw conclusions about our own abilities and future potential from a mental space primarily occupied by thoughts about the VMVs…

Then we really do live our lives at the mercy of the VMVs… which we will never control and never change.

Living as a passenger in our own lives sucks.

Want to learn more? Check out this episode!








Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

The veterinary environment can be rough.

Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.

We often blame the clients, and their behavior, for our experience.

But, it doesn’t start there.

It starts closer to home.

Many of us experience work environments where gossiping and back-stabbing are the norm…

… where “us against them” is common…

… where nobody seems happy, and nobody feels safe.

In these environments, we turn on each other.

We become self-righteous.

We judge harshly.

We become control-freaks and perfectionists.

We think these things are useful. (They aren’t).

Evidence of this can be found within the walls of our organizations, and also in how we interact outside of those walls.

> Every time we bash a neighboring clinic, it’s proof.

> Every time we talk negatively about a referring colleague to a client, it’s proof.

> Every time we believe there is an authority to fight against, it’s proof.

So what are we actually trying to achieve with all of this anger?

We are just trying to feel better.

See, anger is familiar, and it feels more powerful than fear and uncertainty.

Anger feels justified… and we justify it through blame.

But what are we really angry about?

It usually boils down to one simple concept:

The way things are is different than the way we believe they should be… and if they were different, we’d be happy.

We think we know best how things should be.

We believe we don’t have any power to change how things are.

We believe that the way things are is the cause of our current quality of life.

When we believe we don’t have power over our own lives, we often feel afraid.

That fear takes many forms….

1. fear of patient outcomes
2. fear of client reactions
3. fear of getting fired
4. fear of not making enough money
5. fear of paying off our debt
6. fear of making mistakes
7. fear of negative reviews
8. fear of board complaints

You get the idea.

Bottom Line: Fear feels terrible.

Fear feels life-threatening.

Anger feels much better.

Anger has become the veterinary industry’s coping mechanism.

Rather than tackle that which we are afraid of, we become angry.

Anger brings a false sense of control and builds a community of sorts with others who share in our anger.

We become a profession of very angry people. 

That anger bleeds into every crevice of our hospitals, and onto our profession as a whole.

We think the solution is for other people to behave differently.

We think the solution is for things to be different than they are.

Friends, we’ll be waiting on that forever.

Thankfully, that is not the solution.

The solution is in learning just a few things…

1. Fear is just an emotion, and its presence isn’t a problem
2. Anger is always optional and gives away our power
3. There are very few things we control in this job, and that’s okay
4. We can always choose to do our best

Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay