{"id":23995,"date":"2023-06-01T08:04:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T08:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/?p=23995"},"modified":"2023-06-01T14:28:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T14:28:00","slug":"mindfulness-tips-veterinary-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/mindfulness-tips-veterinary-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of a Pause"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you think when you read the following quote from Angeles Arrien, the late Basque-American anthropologist, author and speaker? \u201cNature\u2019s rhythm is medium to slow. Many of us live in the fast lane, out of nature\u2019s rhythm. There are two things we can never do in the fast lane: We can neither deepen our experience nor integrate it. Silence and nature foster an environment in which we can do this work and nurture our spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did it resonate with you in any way? Arrien suggested that we pay the price for being out of balance with the natural rhythm of nature. He told us how we might integrate the important but frequently neglected work of \u201cbeing\u201d with our culture\u2019s emphasis on \u201cdoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

References to a culture of \u201ctoxic productivity\u201d are not uncommon in business publications. One author defines it this way<\/a>: \u201cToxic productivity is a pattern of behavior characterized by an obsession with productivity at the expense of your physical and mental health. It\u2019s caused by several factors, including a perfectionist mindset, a fear of failure or a need to control your environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sounds like the sacrifice syndrome we wrote about<\/a> earlier this year. As veterinary professionals, with our tendency to want to do things the right way and maintain control, we seem naturally prone to such a potential hazard.<\/p>\n

The two of us achieved growing awareness over the past several years of the need to actively seek and prioritize balance in our lives. And as coaches and advisers to a variety of veterinary professionals, we wonder how the profession\u2019s focus on performance, pay for production and efficiency contributes to its current challenges with burnout and career dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n

In her Fast Company blog post<\/a>, Katina Bajaj says this about \u201cour culture\u2019s obsession with productivity\u201d: \u201cAs we race to our jobs, churn through never-ending to-do lists, and run from meeting to meeting, eyes glazed over from the frenzied nature of our daily lives, many of us believe that we need to work this way in order to deserve rest. Our culture is obsessed with this chaos, which writer Tim Kreider describes as \u2018an endless, frantic hamster wheel for survival.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the problem: By trying to optimize every moment of our day and squeeze out every bit of productivity we can, we have ended up with the largest mental health epidemic ever recorded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound familiar? If you replace \u201cmeeting to meeting\u201d with \u201cappointment to appointment,\u201d \u201cclient to client\u201d or \u201cprocedure to procedure,\u201d does it not sound like a typical day in veterinary practice?<\/p>\n

Our recent experience brings up these potentially critical questions:<\/p>\n