Bone-crushing weariness

This week was long and exhausting.  Covid has been long and exhausting. 

Do you feel emotionally or physical exhausted after your week at work?  Are you struggling to remain balanced and starting to feel apathy towards your clients or even yourself? 

If you say yes to these questions you are probably struggling with Covid fatigue, compassion fatigue, or heading towards burnout. Everything feels terrible and you are struggling to get through every day.  There has been an increase in veterinary cases and the decrease in veterinary team numbers.  This has caused many veterinarians to feel this bone-crushing weariness on occasion.  We just need to remember to take care of ourselves so the fatigue does not take us down.

How do we work through these feelings, carry on, and begin to feel better?

Work to educate yourself.  Take a little time to learn about yourself and your emotions.  If you feel chronically exhausted, over emotional, or irritable, you need to begin to work on yourself in order to avoid falling into burnout.  Understanding yourself and the warning signs early, will allow you to take steps towards prevention when you start to feel as if you are declining. Reach out for help from a mentor, friend, or professional.  Start to practice better self awareness and care.  Understanding is the first step towards resolution.

Practice increasing your resiliency.  You have the ability to practice and increase your resiliency. Becoming aware of your thought patterns and how they effect your feelings is a great step to editing your reactions to events. Vow to learn from your mistakes and forgive yourself.  Becoming more resilient involves owning your mistakes, but not punishing yourself for them.  Set goals, but maintain some perspective when things do not go your way.

 

Engage in hobbies and practice self care.  There is a difference between buffering away your feelings with food, alcohol, or social media and really taking care of yourself.  People who focus on proper self-care are less vulnerable to stress than those who constantly focus on the needs of others.  Proper self-care is an individual thing but in most cases it involves proper sleep, regular exercise, and boundaries.  Set boundaries to prevent long hours and constant demands. Adopting a relaxing hobby can also help relieve stress and focus your mind on something other than work.

When you start to feel as if things are just a bit too much, remember that we all have moments of exhaustion. Reach out for help, get some rest, and focus on yourself to overcome your bone-crushing weariness.

Dr. Julie Cappel

“Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.” - Dale Carnegie

“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t.” - Thomas Edison

Good People

I was watching a show on Netflix today and one of the lines in the show struck me.  The line was, “Good people do good things for other people,” 

What does it mean to be a good person?  Have you ever thought about that?  How can we develop our goodness?

There are several ways to define the word “good”.  We usually think about a person that follows the rules — a person that does not lie, cheat, or steal. We can also ask the other people around someone whether they are good people.  People who know you best will be able to attest to your goodness. Lastly, good people are those that contribute to others and leave the world a better place just by being in it.  

Do you make your decisions with virtue?  If you choose a course of action based on what you think you “ought” to do, you are probably a good person.  You possess a solid moral compass.  If you seek and take advice from trusted advisors, family, and friends, you are probably a decent person. If you have morals that are strong and unwavering your decisions will be those of a morally “good” person. 

If you are able to manage your emotions even if they are negative, you are probably a pretty good person.  When clients yell at you because they have been waiting too long or they don’t like your prices, you keep your cool.  Allowing others to express anger without taking offense is not only “good” but shows emotional maturity and confidence.  If you want to increase your good qualities, practice managing your emotions.

If you treat others that way you wish to be treated, you are indeed a good person.  Doing good requires that we respect the people that share our city, state, and country.  Keeping in mind the rights and needs of all those around you, without prejudice or judgment takes courage and conviction.  Allowing yourself to serve others makes you a good person. 

I like to believe that most people are good people and I know that most people that work in the veterinary profession spend their lives giving their time and energy to others.  In order to enjoy our work, we have to love doing good and knowing that we are creating good for the world.  Think about yourself creating value for others this week and you will create more “good” for yourself.

Dr. Julie Cappel

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."-Aesop

“There is no way that a person who treats others badly when he is unhappy is a good person! A good person is a person who treats others well even when unhappy!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

Love, three bucks, and a doe

Today is Valentine’s Day and it makes me think about love and the importance of connection. In our current environment of pandemic confusion, social and traditional media negativity, and political drama, we need to cling to love and relationships in order to feel more optimistic.  Without love and optimism our future looks bleak and we stop working towards common goals. Love is always better than hate.

I looked out my windows this morning and saw a quiet neighborhood, covered with snow and ice.  The deer that walk through my backyard looked content even in the freezing cold — three beautiful bucks and a doe.   They were quietly walking back from their breakfast at my neighbor’s feeding station.  She cares for them in winter, when they would struggle to take care of themselves.  There is no hate in my neighborhood.  The hate only comes into my life if I surf social media.  There I can find as much hate as I can stand.  Love and peace is better than hate. 

On this Valentine’s Day, in honor of my neighbor and the deer, let’s think about how we can increase love and decrease hate.

We can take control of our inner dialogue.  You have control of your thoughts even when it doesn’t feel that way.  Think about separating what you can control from what you cannot.  Start working on your self development — creating positive goals and planning the steps to get you there.   When negative things happen around you, look for the lessons.  Mentally turning a disaster into a challenge will help you to remain optimistic in the face of life’s challenges.  Always speak to yourself kindly and you will create more kind loving thoughts for others. 

We can practice spontaneous random acts of kindness.  Vow to help someone this week.  Offer your services to another without expecting anything in return.  Share words of encouragement or post something positive on social media and challenge your followers to do the same.  Giving to others is a great way to add love to your world and makes other people feel loved and appreciated too.  Generosity creates optimism and love.

We can reach out to someone.  Call a family member, friend, or neighbor just to say hello.  Sharing your time with others not only shows love, but feels lovely.  You never know when someone is feeling most alone and overwhelmed.  One call or word of encouragement will go a long way to increasing their feelings of being cared for and loved. 

We can practice self care.  Turn off social media, read an optimistic book, practice meditation, yoga, or take a nap.  Creating a healthy mind and body is a great way to increase self love.  When you are feeling cared for physically and emotionally you will have a higher capacity to show love and share love.  Take care of yourself and appreciate the blessings that you have all around you.  

Happy Valentine’s Day and much love from me and my three bucks and a doe. 

Dr. Julie Cappel

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”— Gandhi

“I am fundamentally an optimist . . . Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair.” — Nelson Mandela

Age doesn’t mind

I am sitting in my home — no parties this year, stupid pandemic — watching the Super Bowl on my living room television.  They are making a very big deal about the fact that Tom Brady is “old” and Patrick Mahomes is “young”. As the game goes on it looks very much like Tom has still got it.  At the half, my mother texted that she is “too old for the half-time show.”  A statement that I totally understand as I watch the commercials and see celebrities of my youth looking like retirement home inmates.  

The universe must be giving me a message this week.  So many age references and examples of how experience is often more valuable than inexperience. It is so interesting that earlier in the week I received an email from a well connected veterinarian. He asked if I was interested in joining a task force to investigate how senior veterinarians can be used to mentor and coach younger veterinarians.  Heck yes I am interested!  I believe that we need any help we can get in this profession to work smarter, not harder.  If older veterinarians can be utilized to help nurture younger veterinarians, we can all learn from each other and benefit from the collaboration. 

What are the advantages of honoring older veterinarians as mentors to the youngsters?

Older veterinarians know the drill.  They have been tested and tried in ways that many younger folks will never experience.  They worked without emergency clinics and took middle of the night call.  They are dedicated to their hospitals, clients, and patients that they have known and loved for years.  They have more time to devote to work because they no longer have young children in the home to raise.  They have been through economic downturn and staff shortages creatively adjusting practice to fit difficult circumstances. They possess conflict resolution skills, business knowledge, and the drive to advance the profession.  If we want this profession to survive and thrive we must work together to support and utilized all or our members’ talents.

The United Nations estimates that by the year 2050 one in three people in the developed world will be over 60 years old.    If that is true, our profession needs to keep older veterinarians in the work force in some capacity to lighten the burden of recent graduates. 

Whatever your age, demonstrate your value to gain new opportunities.  Experience is meant to be shared so that we can learn from our history and take those lessons into the future.  If you are older, check your attitude at the door.  You are not better than someone younger, but you do have something to share proudly and humbly.  Share your experience, but open your mind and your heart to learn from the juniors that you teach.  Age is just a number, it really doesn’t matter.

Tom Brady proved tonight that experience is a valuable asset.  We can learn so much from his drive and determination to share his experience and bring along his team to victory.  Let’s learn to set an example like Tom.

Dr. Julie Cappel

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Mark Twain