Somehow, both of the following statements are true of my life and veterinary experience: 

One of the best things to ever happen to me was that vet med became a HUGE part of my life. 

One of the worst things to ever happen to me was that vet med became a HUGE part of my life.

Allow me to explain.  

The advice that all veterinary professionals should hear: 

You are a human first, and you are playing the role of a veterinary professional. Remember this as you move throughout your life and veterinary career, and be sure to invest time, money, and energy in the human aspect of you, as well as, the veterinary part of you.

Much like many veterinary professionals, my love for animals and making them better led me to investing lots of time, money, and energy into becoming a veterinary professional. 

After graduating from veterinary school, I quickly became engulfed by my job as a veterinarian, and it seemed that my role as a veterinarian never ended. 

I was a veterinarian at the hospital for 10 hours, 5 days a week. 

When I came home in the evenings, I was exhausted from being at the hospital for so long. Oftentimes, I would still be thinking about certain cases or talking about something that went wrong that day. 

Sometimes, I even dreamed about an upcoming case or a case from the previous day! I was literally eating, sleeping, and drinking vet med! 

My days off and vacation time became recovery periods from the exhaustion of working so much. In essence, I was counting the days and hours to my upcoming off days and vacations, and when they finally arrived, I would start counting down and dreading the return back to the vet world.

I was tired. I still loved animals, but I was worn out mentally and at times physically. I was suffering from burnout. I was starting to resent the veterinary profession.

I was a veterinary professional trapped in a world that was 99% vet med. I guess you could say I didn’t have many boundaries.

Now, 7 years later after graduating from veterinary school, I am investing about 75% of my learning on the human aspect of life and 25% on veterinary science and doctrine. 

Interestingly enough, the 75% helps me do the 25% even better! 

 Why this advice is vitally important to you 

If you neglect the human aspect of yourself, then you run the risk of being an amazing veterinary professional but having a sub-par human experience. No one wants to do that.

You can’t ‘not be a human’. It’s impossible. But you can technically take off your hat as a veterinarian at any time. In other words, investing more into vet med than you do into the other parts of you would be like caring about an outfit more than you care about the person wearing the outfit! 

Let me ask you, if you were to take off your hat as a veterinary professional, who would you be? Would you be happy with that person?

The core of who you are is a human, and it is a MUST that you invest heavily in making sure you have the best human experience possible! A part of that will be you investing in your career as a veterinary professional and your passion for animals, but that is only a part.

If your life is 99% vet med, then you are likely neglecting major portions of your life as a human, and at some point, it will show and reflect in your level of life fulfillment and inner peace. 

Furthermore, by focusing on your life as a human outside of being a veterinary professional, the quality of human life that you create for yourself will CARRY OVER into your veterinary experience! Your co-workers, clients, and patients will benefit from you investing in yourself.

Regardless of what you do in life, the human aspect of you goes with you! 

Your skills as a human being show up in your personal relationships (family, significant others, and children).

They show up when you have to solve both veterinary and non-veterinary related challenges.

They show up when you are stressed. They show up when you are supposed to be vacationing and relaxing. 

They show up when your emotions are strong. 

The human part of you is always there! So if it sucks because you have neglected it, then it will reflect in the quality of your life. Likewise, if it’s awesome because you have nurtured it, then that too will reflect in the quality of your life! 

You get to use your human toolbox 24/7 and 365 days a year for your ENTIRE lifetime, yet, many of us as veterinary professionals spend very little time, money, and energy into our lives as humans. 

In essence, wherever you go, there you are. And it is strongly recommended to make sure that “you” aren’t sucking at the human experience due to self-neglect!

3 simple ways to invest in your human experience: 

1. Do CE that is unrelated to your clinical skills as a veterinarian - While most states only require 20 hours of CE, it is my suggestion that you aim for WAY more than just 20 CE hours, and to spend them on non-clinical topics that interest you. This can come from reading/listening to books/audiobooks that teach you skills like resilience, mindfulness and meditation, self-discipline, etc. You can also participate in online webinars or get unlimited lectures from YouTube University (aka “YouTube”) on just about any subject! For veterinary specific wellbeing tools, you can check out Get MotiVETed University: School of Wellbeing for Veterinary Professionals. 

2. Gain clarity on what things really matter to you in your life - One way of accomplishing this is to come up with a purpose and vision for your life. These aren’t particularly easy to come up with, but the process is simple. You can ask yourself the question, “When I’m old and gray or on my deathbed, what things in life will matter to me or would have mattered to me the most?” Write down the list and why you think these things would matter to you. 

3. Reflect - You can use tools like the wheel of wellbeing to make sure that you are investing time and energy into each of the important areas of your life. Also, look at your “old and gray list” and ask yourself if you’ve been investing time and energy into the things youlisted. From there, take action to correct it!

I don’t know you personally, but I do know that you are full of potential. Regardless of what your quality of life is now, you can completely revolutionize and energize your experience in life as a human and veterinary professional by simply investing in the human part of you! 

I explain this further in a short article titled “The Major Key to Your Veterinary Wellbeing is You”