Yesterday (April 30th) was World Veterinary Day, defined by the World Veterinary Association as a day to “celebrate the contributions of veterinarians to the health of animals, people and the environment.” It was so nice to see messages of support, motivation and gratitude toward veterinarians fill my social media feeds. Many of these messages focused on this year’s theme, “Strengthening Veterinary Resilience.” There were many inspiring thoughts shared by leaders in our field about working through a pandemic, surviving long days and sad case outcomes, and navigating challenging client communications. These are all necessary skills for surviving and thriving in veterinary medicine.
But there’s something about the idea of resilience that just makes me grit my teeth. My gut reaction to being encouraged to be more resilient in veterinary medicine in the face of adversity brings to mind phrases like “grin and bear it” or “stop complaining” or “just keep coming back for more.” Maybe it’s just me, but the term resilience suggests to me that the problem lies with me–that I need to be tougher, more resigned to the long hours and time away from family, more willing to put my clients’ needs above my own, less emotionally affected by the toxic behavior of coworkers. From the point of view of someone who has experienced trauma, this is scary. So, how do we reframe this?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines resilience as:
1: the capability of a strained body to recovery its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2: the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
There is no doubt that all members of the veterinary team are subjected to stress, misfortune and change, with or without a pandemic. So having resilience means we can be made whole again. We can survive a hard day where all we do is give of ourselves, and not lose ourselves. We can recover and adjust. This is sounding a little more positive.
Let’s add to this definition with some examples of what resilience does and doesn’t mean. These examples apply not just to veterinary medicine, but to many different areas of life.
Resilience doesn’t mean:
- violating your own boundaries by always staying late, coming in on your day off, being reachable at home, skipping meals, and missing time with your family
- staying in a toxic work environment because you worry about the repercussions of your leaving on others
- tolerating abuse from anyone else to keep the peace or for any other reason
- continuing to do something that does not bring you joy because you feel like you shouldn’t give up
- staying silent about your suffering because you “should be stronger”
Resilience does mean:
- speaking up for yourself if you are in a toxic or abusive environment, and leaving that environment if necessary
- finding a schedule, location, work environment, etc that fits into your life as a whole so that it is sustainable
- practicing self-care to feel renewed and refreshed so that you have the energy and good physical and mental health to keep bringing your best self to work
- seeking out support and community so that you can learn and grow
- discovering new ways that you can use your knowledge, talents and interests within your current field of expertise and beyond
- reaching out and asking for help when you need it
The other great thing about resilience is that we can not only practice it for ourselves, but we can help foster it in others. As we come out of this pandemic, we can look back on all the ways we have had to adjust and adapt just to keep working and seeing patients. We can take a lesson from those experiences and find ways to adjust and adapt to make veterinary medicine more sustainable for everyone. We are a profession filled with compassionate, driven, intelligent people who seek to make the world a better place. There is much more that unites us than divides us. Let us use this energy and focus to lift each other up and nurture our own happiness and success.
References:
- World Veterinary Association: worldvet.org/news/world-veterinary-day-2022/
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience