The role of introspection in overcoming veterinary burnout: A 4-step process

When was the last time you spent at least an hour in deep introspection? 

When I was battling burnout for the first few years after graduating from veterinary school, I initially thought my burnout and subpar life was the result of my hospital and the really busy caseload. 

I won’t go into detail about what my burnout looked like, but you can find a good portion of the story here. 

I’m proud to say that I have completely overcome burnout and ANY possibility of ever reverting back to it. More importantly, I know that you - regardless of your current life situation - can completely change the trajectory of your life experience, and a big part of that is learning introspection. 

What is it that you need in life? 

When it comes to trying to find the answers to what you need in life, you have to dig deep into your soul and your mind to find the right answers you are looking for. It is a long process, and I’m not going to lie and tell you that it is easy; yet you can accomplish much by putting forth effort and taking massive action! 

So let me tell you how to get started by using this simple 4-step process!

Step 1- Get centered 

The first step is to get yourself centered. Perhaps meditation is a great way to do this. I also sometimes use peaceful music. YouTube has limitless music that will help you focus. I just type “peaceful focus music” or “peaceful meditation music” or “relaxing thinking music” into the search bar and click a few of the videos until I find one that ‘speaks to me’. 

You want to get centered so that you can be distraction free. You owe it to yourself to give yourself some quiet time that will help make a drastic impact on your life and veterinary experience. 

For more information on meditation, check out hour 3 of this RACE-approved online course by veterinary technician and mindfulness and meditation instructor Renee Machel. 

After you get yourself centered, the next step is to do a very careful self-awareness and introspection activity. 

Step 2 - Sift through the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’

Allow me to clarify the terms ‘good’ and ‘bad’. These words are highly dependent on one’s perspective, which is why I ALWAYS discuss this in my talks. 

What I mean by ‘good’ is the feeling. In other words, the things that feel good to you. What I mean by bad is the feeling. In other words, the things that feel bad to you. 

A busy caseload may feel bad to you and exhilarating to someone else who loves the fast pace! A slower caseload may feel good to you but completely bore someone else. This is why we want to focus on how YOU FEEL as opposed to labeling things as good or bad.

Note: As you can see here, perspective is vitally important. You can find a detailed lecture on perspective and how you can use it to become a master client communicator and veterinary professional. You can find the RACE-approved, self-paced course at our school of wellbeing for veterinary professionals! 

This second part is where you identify the good things in your life, as well as, identify the bad things in your life. This is important! You must know what sucks and what’s awesome! In a later article, I’ll explain how focusing on just one awesome area of your life can help you bring in much more awesomeness!  

Esther Abraham Hicks describes a process called sifting. Sifting is a process that all humans are going through, where they are constantly finding things that they do want (things that feel good) and things they don’t want (things that feel bad). You are now going to consciously sift and identify many things in this sifting process.

Step 3 - Idealization

The 3rd step of using introspection to help you overcome burnout is to use idealization. This is the process of thinking about the way you want things to be. The process of sifting in step 2 should make this fairly easy!

In other words, if you had a magic wand or a lamp genie, what would you ask for? How would you want your life to be? 

When I was in the process of overcoming burnout, it was idealization that was the ladder that got me out of the rut. It was the thing that provided me with hope and a daily reminder that “there’s more to life than what is”. 

This is a very complex process, but you can find details in my book, “Hard Work Ain’t Hard Work: How to Discover, Pursue, and Achieve Your Dream Life” in chapter 2 - design your dream life. You can download your free digital copy of the book here! Warning! The book is long! But it describes a lot of the challenges I had to overcome and skills I needed to learn to live my ideal and burnout free life! 

Also check out this podcast episode where Renee and I discuss how veterinary professionals can learn how to idealize! 

Step 4 - Enjoy the ‘Now’

In essence, all there is, ever has been, and ever will be is ‘now’. Whatever you did yesterday happened in a moment called ‘now’. Whatever you do tomorrow and in 10 years will occur in a moment called ‘now’. 

Understanding this, you can avoid destination addiction. Understanding and enjoying ‘now’ will allow you to dream big about your amazing life as a burnout-free veterinary professional, while enjoying each and every moment of the journey to achieve your best life. 

Final thoughts

Searching your mind and taking the time for deep introspection will help you to find your hopes and dreams as well as to feel motivated enough to make your wish of being a burnout free veterinary professional come true. This is all about finding yourself and makes you have a better insight of yourself.

It may take some time to change your current life situation, but you can find a sense of inner peace in a very short period of time. As you grow, you will find that it will be easier for you to handle your responsibilities. This will help you to be able to define who you are and what you want in life as a person. This will help you to become a more successful veterinary professional and human. 

In order to have a life of true wellbeing you have to work at it. This is not going to be something that does not take any time or effort; this is going to bean ongoing duty. Most veterinary professionals think that if they go to the right place of work, that they will have a more enjoyable career. 

While this is true on the surface, what if there is a leadership change at the new place of work and a tyrant boss comes in and the quality and kindness of the staff is changed? Then you’ll find yourself having to leave and find somewhere else again. It makes your happiness circumstantial and that is not ideal. 

So follow the 4-step process above and watch your life blossom into something… rather extraordinary! 

You can follow me on Instagram: @Dr.quincyhawley

You can also join our Facebook Group to be a part of a community of like-minded veterinary professionals who are dedicated to enjoying veterinary medicine instead of enduring it!