I am frequently reminded that my life and my attitude are what I make of it. There is no outside force in the world holding me down and keeping me back. It is my responsibility and mine alone to make my life enjoyable and valuable. I choose the way that I think and feel.
There were two examples for me this week that hit me over the head and helped shine a light on my attitude, and refocused my perspective.
There was a building collapse in Surfside, Florida. Over a hundred people died suddenly when their condos collapsed while they were safely home sleeping in their beds. Horrendous! What hit me the hardest and affected me almost more than the loss of life was watching the first responders as they worked tirelessly digging through the rubble to rescue and recover the people who suffered this tragedy. The work that those people were doing was unimaginable to me. How is my veterinary job so difficult again? A client is frustrated and leaves after waiting 50 minutes. That client leaves me a bad review. I feel stressed during a surgery that is difficult to complete. Seriously Cappel? My life is cake compared to the folks' search in Florida.
The other thing that altered my attitude was Brianna. Brianna is a beautiful young veterinary student who came to my practice for an externship from Mississippi State University. Brianna is a young, intelligent, kind, "baby" veterinarian. (aka, almost a vet). She was assigned to spend two weeks learning veterinary medicine from me and I, in turn, got to learn to see my job through the eyes of someone just getting started. She was enthusiastic about everything and took pride in every detail of the day-to-day experiences in my hospital. All the details of veterinary medicine were exciting. Looking at my job through the eyes of Brianna reminds me of my passion for this job. I always want to have a great attitude like a new veterinarian.
Many veterinarians have a very negative story about our job and career, especially when we are understaffed and in high demand. We can easily slip into a pity party mentality if we let ourselves fall into that trap. The truth is that we can control all of it. Not the over-demand or the crabby clients, but we can control our attitude about it.
How do we take a clue from my new friend Brianna and honor our wonderful profession?
Know your reality. Our brain wants to tell us that everything is crap and falling apart all the time. It is our natural protective mechanism. In fact, our job is sometimes difficult, and bad things do happen, just like in life. We get to decide how we want to respond to negative situations —keeping in mind that we are trained to do difficult things and were once excited about that. Hard things often bring more significant rewards. Learning to question negative thoughts and changing our perspective will help us feel gratitude for the blessings in our work.
Watch your language. The more I complain about my life, the worse I feel and the poorer my overall attitude becomes. When you speak negatively about your life and your work, it will dictate your attitude. Your self-talk applies here as well. If you run yourself down internally, you will destroy your mood. Try to use more upbeat and positive language when things are difficult. Calling something a "challenge" feels much different than calling it a disaster. Try to use humor to lighten the mood and create a more positive atmosphere. If you edit your negative words about yourself and others, it will help you change your mind.
We, veterinarians, have it good — not easy, but good. We are doing the job that we dreamed about for most of our lives. Let's try to remember what we love about our work and help each other stay positive. Lean on your fellow veterinarians and take care of yourselves, so you have the energy and attitude to show up as your best self. Your health and our profession depend on it.
Thanks for the reminder — all of you young veterinary students — especially Brianna.
Dr. Julie Cappel
“Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” John Wooden
No comments:
Post a Comment