In this episode, Dr. Cari Wise discusses the importance of having a support system and community in both personal and professional life. She emphasizes the need for people who will stand up for and support us, even when we make mistakes or behave poorly.
Dr. Wise believes that having a community of like-minded individuals who understand the challenges of veterinary medicine is crucial for maintaining balance and avoiding feelings of isolation.
She particularly highlights the pressure faced by solo practitioners and encourages veterinary professionals to find someone who has their back.
Dr. Wise created Joyful DVM as a supportive and inclusive community for veterinary professionals and recommends joining the Vet Life Academy program for life-changing support and resources. She concludes by urging veterinary professionals to consider who in their life holds a supportive role and to reach out for help if needed.
Key Takeaways:
– Having a support system and community is important for veterinary professionals to improve their lives and careers.
– It is crucial to have people who will stand up for and support us, even when we make mistakes or behave poorly.
– Solo practitioners in veterinary medicine often face pressure and can benefit from finding a supportive community.
– Many of the pressures felt in veterinary medicine are self-imposed and stem from a belief that we are responsible for things beyond our control.
– Veterinary professionals should find someone who has their back, whether it be a colleague, a friend, or someone outside of the veterinary field.
– The Joyful DVM Organization and Vet Life Academy program offer supportive resources and a safe community for veterinary professionals.
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RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
Website: https://joyfuldvm.com
VetMed; JOY CLUB
⭐Get The Alternative Career Guide for Veterinary Professionals: Create A Career Tailored to You!
https://joyfuldvm.com/jobguide
⭐Join VetMed;JOY CLUB: Elevate Your Life & Veterinary Career Experience
⭐Listen to The Joyful DVM Podcast: Be Inspired by Empowering Perspectives on Navigating Life as A Veterinary Professional
⭐Join VET LIFE ACADEMY: Transform Your Veterinary Life & Career from the inside out
https://joyfuldvm.com/vetlifeacademy
⭐Learn How to Support Your Organization and Enhance Employee Wellbeing
https://joyfuldvm.com/organizations
Music Credit: Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain typos.
Hi there. I’m Dr. Cari Wise, veterinarian, certified life coach and certified quantum human design specialist. If you are a veterinary professional looking to uplevel your life and your career or maybe looking to go in an entirely new direction, then what I talk about here on the Joyful DVM podcast is absolutely for you. Let’s get started. Hello my friends. Welcome back to another reflection Friday.
Today is Friday, March 29th, 2024, and today I have a question for you who’s got your back. The reason that I ask this question is because there are so many times in our lives where we are facing challenges both at work and at home, and it’s important for us to have people in our lives who will stand up for us, who will support us no matter what is going on,
even when we’re wrong. Now, I’m not saying that if we’re doing something wrong or that we are in the wrong, that we need people to tell us that we’re doing the right thing. That’s not exactly what I mean, but what I mean is we need people in our lives who are going to care for us and care about us even when we aren’t on our best behavior.
So my question for you is who’s got your back? And maybe even more importantly, whose back do you have? This question comes to me this week because I have considered a lot of things that have been going on in my life and at work and in joyful DVM, and there’s just this theme recently of this need for community. I think now more than ever having your group of people who get what you’re trying to do,
who support the journey that you are on and still respect that it is your journey to pursue, I think that is more important than ever. We are not supposed to live this life alone in a silo. That is not the way that we were created in veterinary medicine. It’s very easy to feel isolated, especially as we start to feel more stressed out and anxious about the components of the job itself.
And if we do not have a community where we can talk about those things, if we don’t have people who are experiencing those things as well and can relate to what we’re saying, it’s easy for us to feel isolated. I see this to be the case quite often in solo doctor practices where one doctor feels like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders,
trying to not only care for all of the patients that come in and interact with all of the clients, but also caring for all of the staff as well. There’s a responsibility that comes with being a solo practitioner that’s a little bit different than being part of a team. Now, I’m not saying one is right or wrong, good or bad. I think that they both have their place,
but for those of you out there who are at the top of your leadership structure, so you’re the the primary veterinarian, you are maybe a solo veterinarian, you are the senior technician, even a practice manager, I want you to know that I see you. I want you to know that I understand that there’s a lot of pressure that you carry that comes with your role that doesn’t make you a victim.
I’m not gonna play into that and and coddle you and help you to continue to foster victimhood because that’s not helpful for you. That’s not empowering for you. It’s not empowering for any of us, and the truth is that you’re in the position you’re in because you chose it in one way, shape, or form. Even if you believe that you didn’t choose it,
even if you’re believing that it got forced on you, the fact that you continue to show up every single day and do that job is evidence that you are continuing to choose it. And I’m not saying that to shame you or to be to pass judgment, not at all. But what I’m trying to get across to you here is that it, I understand the pressure that you feel,
and I also know how you can start to relieve some of that pressure for yourself. So much of the pressures that we carry around are associated with simply what we believe our responsibilities are. We take on responsibility for things that actually are never ours to control in the first place. This is really common in veterinary medicine as a whole, and what I have noticed is as we increase our level of leadership,
if we go into higher positions of management and organizational structure, oftentimes we just start to stack on more pressure. Now, notice that I said that we stack on more pressure because the job, yes, the actual technicalities of the jobs they may change, the things that we are responsible for are going to expand, but that responsibility still will always be limited by what we can control.
No matter what your level of responsibility is in any organization, what you can control will never be client behavior. It will never be patient outcomes. My friends, we don’t control either one of those things. It won’t even be your staff. You’ll never control your staff. The best that we can do is lead and guide and teach and encourage and set expectations and provide feedback and provide opportunity for growth.
And beyond that is up to the individual people in our organizations to step up into those roles that they’ve been hired for. Some of them will, most of them will, and some of them won’t, and that’s okay. It’s when we take it personally that it starts to really create all this extra pressure because many of us, we take it personally and we also hold onto this tiny little belief that if we were better at our job,
that they would be better at theirs. All of this comes back around to asking that question, who has your back? Is it somebody that is at the organization that you can confide in, that you can talk to? Is it somebody outside of the organization that you can confide in, that you can talk to, who can relate to what you’re going through?
Is it somebody that’s not even in veterinary medicine? I don’t know who it is for you, but here’s what I know. I know that if you don’t have that kind of person in your life, that you need that kind of person in your life because what we experience in veterinary medicine is something that is not meant to be carried alone. It is something that is quite honestly integrated into the fabric of how,
who most of us are who practice veterinary medicine and being able to share those experiences with people who understand really is a huge part in being able to create balance. If you do not have that person by God, you need to find that person. And I know you might say, well, Cari, I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even know who to go to.
I’ve tried to talk to my friends and family and they don’t understand. They don’t listen, tried to talk to my therapist, and she just doesn’t get it. I know I’ve had all of those experiences myself, and some of you are probably gonna say that, and Cari, I’ve joined Facebook groups and those groups are just so negative. All they do is attack each other and bash each other and bash the clients that I leave those groups feeling even more defeated than I did when I went in,
and I’m gonna say, yes, absolutely. That was my experience too and my friends. All of this is the reason that I created Joyful DVM back in 2017. All of this is, it’s a place for encouragement. It’s a co, a place for inspiration, it’s a place for inclusion, and it’s a very safe place to share your journey and to receive the support that actually helps you thrive in your veterinary career and your life as a veterinary professional.
No matter what your official role or title is, my friends, the place for you to start is the Vet Life Academy program. So by all means, if you aren’t on our wait list, please jump over to joyful dvm.com/vet Life Academy so I can send you some information about Vet Life Academy. The next time the opportunity to join us opens up. Vet Life Academy has been literally life changing for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of veterinary professionals since we started that program back in 2019,
and it’s just getting better. There are some really interesting things going on inside of our Vet Life Academy community right now, and we do have our own private community space that’s not even on Facebook. That means you don’t have to get onto Facebook or Instagram to get that kind of support that you have your group of people who understand what you’re going through right there at your fingertips whenever you need them.
And my friends, what we keep adding to the program is just kind of mind blowing when I think about my vision back all those years ago. My takeaway for today as I think about this reflection Friday and thinking about who has your back, who has my back? I can come up with a handful of people that I know that I can turn to at any moment with whatever’s going on in my life.
And I know some of those people are not gonna quite understand exactly my experience because my experience is individual to me, just as yours, as Indi individual to you. But what I do know about those people is that they care about me and that they do have my best interest in mind. And even if they can’t do anything about whatever I might be going through,
simply that they are there and I know that they are there speaks volumes and is a huge safety net for me. If you don’t have that in your life, my friends, I want to help create that for you. I want you to consider who in your life holds that place. And if some of you are hearing me and you’re like, there just isn’t anybody,
then by, by gosh, please consider joining us. You can even join our FA free Facebook group. It’s over. It’s just the joyful DVM community on Facebook. Jump in there if you want to as a place to start, there is no drama in there. I post in there every single week. There’s a place you can always ask questions. That is a great place to start if you’re feeling a little bit like an island in this crazy veterinary journey,
often feeling isolated and alone, because I do not want that for you. And there is no reason why in this day and age where the technology that we have available to us that any of us should feel alone and isolated as part of a veterinary professional career. There is no place for that now, and if you didn’t know where to go, well now you do.
Join us in the joyful DVM community. Sign up for our Vet Life Academy wait list so I can send you information as soon as we open up for registration again, and just know that at the end of the day, you are never alone in this journey. I’m always just one message or one email away, and I encourage you to send me a note to send me a DM and help me to know that you’re out there so that I can help support you so that you can thrive in your life.
All right, my friends, that’s gonna wrap it up for today. I’ll see you soon. Bye for now.