December 2023

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education blog, Dr. Justine Lee, DACVECC, DABT talks about the top 5 things that she’s grateful this holiday season.

By Dr. Justine Lee, DACVECC, DABT
Director of Medicine / CEO, VETgirl

What I’m Grateful For in Veterinary Medicine

As the holidays approach and 2023 comes to an end, it’s always a good time to take some time to reflect on what you’re truly grateful for in life. I try to actually focus on this daily with a “high-low” of the day. Every dinnertime, my husband and I ask our son what his “high-low” is for the day, and we all take a few minutes to reflect on what we’re grateful for… no matter how small. So, what am I grateful for as 2023 comes to a close?

1. My Health
If COVID taught us anything, it’s the importance of our health. And as I hit the “latter half” of my lifespan, I realize the importance of health even more. I know all your 20-year olds likely take your amazingly, non-arthritic, high metabolizing body for granted, but as you hit your 40’s and 50’s, you realize the wheels literally fall off the bus. You realize that overnight, you’re acutely sore and achy and that your visits to your doctor increase significantly (No seriously. Quarterly). It’s subtle things to needing “readers” to having aching feet to ordering arched/support house slippers and menopausal neck fans. (BTW, the perimenopausal stage sucks…. and that we need to talk about menopause and aging more as our profession is 70-90% female!)

Just recently, a fellow criticalist (Thank you, Sarah!) recommended the book by Dr. Peter Attia, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. In this book, he talks about how it’s not so much how long you live, but how well you live. In other words, extending the period of life where we’re free from disease and disability. He also talks about how cutting total caloric intake makes us healthier, as we veterinary professionals have seen with Purina’s 14-year old study in dogs (e.g., skinner dogs live longer and have less osteoarthritis). Dr. Peter Attia talks about the diabetes mellitus epidemic in North America, thanks to our “ultramodern diet,” and how simple adjustments in our diet may help keep us healthier (Mediterranean diet to ward off Alzheimer’s, anyone?). This book talks about the importance of exercise, and why it’s important to increase stability muscles in your feet by not wearing thickly padded shoes constantly. This book talks about exercising properly (with good form). He talks about a lot of things that we already know about – like how exercise is the “most powerful longevity drug” and how sleep hygiene/sleep training and mental health are equally important. I liked parts of this book more than others… I have definitely implemented some aspects of his wisdom into my (aging) life, but fair warning, some parts are a bit more hokie (I’m not doing toe yoga.). That said, this book was worth reading so you learn to age more gracefully while trying to maintain your overall health.

So, despite getting old, I’m grateful for my health, especially as more and more colleagues are diagnosed with cancer or debilitating diseases.

2. The VETgirl team
I’m really grateful for my amazing VETgirl team – we truly are a work family. In the past 2 years, we’ve grown our VETgirl team from Garret and myself (and a few consultants) to an amazing team of 10+. We honestly couldn’t do what we do without them.

What I realized in life is that it’s always better to hire slowly. In other words, while the need for filling a position may feel urgent, it’s always better to wait to find the RIGHT (e.g., perfect) person versus filling the hole RIGHT NOW. Our VETgirl team is lean and mean (well, not actually “mean”, but you get what I’m saying!). Each person was hand-selected for their amazing attributes, from a growth mentality to an amazing ability to herd cats (I’m talking to you, speakers!) to working well remotely. I’m truly grateful for our amazing team of full-time to part-time to 1099 consultants, as they truly are an A+ team.

VETgirl team

Just a few of the amazing VETgirl team members who make it happen!

3. My network/Community
If you’re ever read about the “Blue Zones” in the world, you’ll see a common denominator – those areas with incredible longevity have connection/community. And as I age, I value relationships and community more and more. I’m grateful for my – albeit small – community… just a handful of people who “have Justine’s back” or are in my corner. [Now, in full disclosure, I’ve never been the type to have my BFFs from my workplace, as I have very strong work boundaries (e.g., I don’t want to talk about veterinary medicine in my off time and find that if I have veterinary friends, we just talk shop all day).] That said, now that I’m 100% remote, I need to connect more frequently than ever on girlfriend getaways!

Veterinary girlfriends

For me, it’s a few HIIT gym rat buddies. For me, it’s a few neighbors, my church group, or fellow Twin Cities-based girlfriends who I can walk or run with. For me, it’s my husband and my sisters and a few long-distance BFFs. I’m grateful for those who are in my corner. Find your “kindred spirit” (Anne of Green Gables reference!) and take the time to nurture that community, as it’s so important. Not only does it combat the growing epidemic of loneliness, but it helps fill your emotional gas tank.

For VETgirl? My stress-relief and community are my fellow gym rats!

4. Efficiency
OK, I know this sounds like a weird thing to be grateful for. In fact, I’m so passionate about the topic of efficiency that I wrote a blog on how to be a more efficient veterinarian back in 2015 (pre-COVID!). But I’m grateful to my parents, my siblings, my internmates and residentmates, and my hardest-ever-100-hour-a-week-internship at Angell  for teaching me efficiency. My internship specifically taught me how to move (too) quickly, triage aggressively, and sharpen my communication skills. It taught me how to master my physical examination skills, document my medical records as I go, have strong communication skills with pet owners with a clearly outlined style, and round to doctors/teammates quickly and to the point.

On a personal matter, it helped me be able to focus on what’s important, triage away the unnecessary or little things, and multi-task on “brainless” stuff.  For example, I stopped by a fellow mother’s house the other day – she just had her 3rd child. I dropped off a homemade lasagna and prepared her that I was going to do a “tornado-Justine-speed” cleaning/tidying in the kitchen for her. After emptying her dish washer, filling it back up, scrubbing the sink, poop scooping her backyard, taking out the trash and recycling, and putting away the kitchen, she texted me this:

 

 

Why am I harping on efficiency? Because the more efficient you are in life, the better your work-life balance (or whatever you want to call it nowadays!).

Utilize whatever tools you need to increase your efficiency. Maybe it’s paying for that Amazon Prime subscription because it makes you more efficient. Maybe it’s turning on your dictation button on your computer or utilizing a medical dictation software so you’re more effective and faster at medical records. Maybe it’s using a technology tool that helps sync your calendar with your spouses or partners, so you can figure out life a little bit better. It’s learning how to tackle one task at a time to get it done. Whatever makes you more efficient, consider embracing it. For me, I’m grateful for this life skill because it lets me fulfill my coffee cup… which then lets me focus on family time once the work day is done. (Oh, and keep this in mind: “The work is not done but it’s time to stop.” Seriously. Print it out and put it at your desk.)

Justine VETgirl coffeee cup

Justine VETgirl coffee cup

5. Boundaries
Lastly, I’m grateful for my boundaries that I’ve made. I admit, I didn’t learn strong boundaries until my 4th decade of life. But, I’m glad I learned them and stuck by then. Having personal boundaries helps protect you from the demands in life. With so many demands, from relationships to companionship to professional demands, etc., it’s hard to find enough hours in the day. One of the best ways of maintaining boundaries is to learn to say NO. Say it with me now. NO! I learned this from a fellow Cornell specialist (Thank you, Dr. Laura E!). Her general advice was when somebody asks you to do something, ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. Is this going to directly benefit me?
2. Is this going to spark joy?
3. Is this going to increase my stress to yes ratio?

First, is this going to directly benefit me? When people asked me to write another book chapter, I reflect back and think of the 40+ scientific peer reviewed publications that I’ve authored. I think about the 2 pet owner books that I’ve written, along with several veterinary emergency-critical-care or toxicology textbooks. So bluntly, do I need it for my résumé? No. I don’t. If you really want to take on that project because you’re still building your veterinary career and trying to build up your résumé, absolutely take it on. But for my stage in life, I don’t need more on my CV.

Second, I ask myself if it’s going to spark joy. This term became very popular with Marie Kondo book years ago. While parts of that book are a bit hokie, I think the concept of “sparking joy” is important. If someone asked me to a baby shower in the midst of battling infertility, ask yourself if it would spark joy to go (NO). If someone asked me to a team event when I don’t feel bonded to the team and it’s not going to spark joy, it’s OK to say no. If it doesn’t spark joy, reconsider if it’s truly worth saying yes to.

Third, I ask myself this – if I say yes to this project, is it going to increase my stress-to-yes ratio? In other words, is it going to make my life more stressful? If I say yes to writing a veterinary book chapter just to get a free $250 textbook in exchange… but have to work 50 hours for it (BOO!)…  then it’s not worth it. Let’s just say for easy math that my hourly rate is $50 an hour. If I have to work 50 hours to write this book chapter, it’ll cost me $2500 in labor. I could’ve bought 10 books for that amount of stress!

These 3 questions have really helped me learn to say no, which has helped me maintain my boundaries.

While my list may seem like a random assortment of things to be grateful for, they work for me. I’m grateful for the small things in life that have helped me improve my work-life balance.

What are YOU most grateful for?

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