Negative Consequence of Achieved Goals

Back in the early days of my veterinary career I found myself in a slump and a little defeated.

I’d worked So Hard for So Long to do all the things I needed to do to become a veterinarian. It had been my single greatest goal, my purpose…

But not long after graduating and beginning my work as a real vet, I found myself unhappy.

Sure, it was stressful being a new grad… but that wasn’t the problem. (Well, it was a problem lol… but not the cause of this problem! 😊)

This problem felt bigger…  it included thoughts like “I never should have gone to vet school” and “Is this it? Is this all there is?” and even “This is getting kind of boring”.

From there I started thinking about changing jobs…  a fresh start would be the solution. When that didn’t work, I began thinking about leaving the profession all together… and that came with its own set of thoughts and emotions… including guilt.

What I didn’t realize then was that the problem wasn’t actually anything veterinary related- it was simply the negative consequences of an achieved goal… and it was totally normal! (And Fixable!)

See, as humans we need to keep learning and growing. We need to be planning ahead… it’s a skill that is only available to us as human beings. When we don’t exercise that part of our brains, we become unhappy.

Status quo just won’t cut it, we were intentionally made to do more!

The amazing thing is, once we start planning ahead, and working toward those new goals (even really tiny ones), our brain shifts…  we begin living in the excited anticipation of what could and will be in the future…

The super-cool benefit: the hard stuff doesn’t seem so hard and we have more energy than we would if we kept living day to day without something additional to focus on and work toward.

Whaaaattttt?

Yep, putting new, challenging stuff in your brain makes all that vet-related stress get easier. 🤯

In a Joyful DVM Facebook Live Event I talked about this in detail and gave some specific examples of the types of things you could be planning and working for… and trust me, it’s waaaayyy easier than you think it will be!

You can check out the video RIGHT HERE.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!