{"id":9500,"date":"2020-12-01T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/?p=9500"},"modified":"2022-06-15T17:46:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T17:46:41","slug":"2020-year-grading-on-a-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/2020-year-grading-on-a-curve\/","title":{"rendered":"Grading on a Curve"},"content":{"rendered":"

If 2020 was a patient, I suspect most of us would have elected humane euthanasia sometime around May. That would have been after the wildfires in Australia, the U.S. drone strike on an Iranian general, the impeachment and acquittal of Donald Trump, the death of Kobe Bryant, the U.K.\u2019s departure from the European Union, a string of shelter-in-place COVID orders, and nationwide school-year cancellations. It would have been before the biggest new-patient surge in the history of veterinary medicine, the postponement of the Summer Olympics, the California wildfires, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (and subsequent battle for her Supreme Court seat), President Trump\u2019s COVID-19 hospitalization, the November election, and whatever else happens between now and the end of the year. How do we even begin to make sense of a year like that?<\/p>\n

No, really, I\u2019m asking: If we wanted to process this year and learn from it, where would we start? I\u2019ve been thinking about that question a lot lately, and I\u2019ve decided that any assessment of 2020 has to begin with jettisoning our normal expectations. However we might have evaluated previous years, there\u2019s no comparison to 2020. This year needs a grading scale of its own.<\/p>\n

Of Life and Limb<\/h3>\n

I saw a three-legged tabby named Gus for a wellness examination<\/a> not long ago. He was 2 years old and a ball of energy. He hunted sock feet, chased laser beams and loved to survey his kingdom from the top of the china hutch in his dining room.<\/p>\n

At the end of Gus\u2019 examination, I asked his owners if they had any concerns about him. They said, \u201cNope, none at all.\u201d At that point, I leaned in with a serious expression and said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m afraid I have bad news.\u201d Their eyes widened. I continued: \u201cGus \u2026 is missing a leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

After feigning shock for a few seconds, we had a good laugh. Of course, it wasn\u2019t that we were amused by a kitten losing a limb. What made the moment funny was the context \u2014 the fact that in my everyday work as a doctor, I\u2019m judging the health of every animal on the scale of normal functioning. That is, I compare each cat to every other cat I\u2019ve seen (which is a lot of cats). But that comparison doesn\u2019t hold up for Gus. Other cats have four legs. Gus has three. Without assessing him by the number of feet he has, we could all agree that Gus was doing great.<\/p>\n

Every day, we choose the metrics we use to measure our lives, and those metrics make all the difference. If someone were to decide that the measure of a great dog is how well he fits into a purse, then Bruno the German shepherd will always be a terribly subpar dog.<\/p>\n

See?<\/p>\n

Unearthing the Positives<\/h3>\n

That\u2019s the thinking I\u2019m trying to adopt as we wrap up this uniquely challenging year. Don\u2019t get me wrong; I\u2019m not saying that 2020 wasn\u2019t a mess. I\u2019m just saying we\u2019re not going to land anywhere good if we measure 2020 against expectations, because there\u2019s no way anyone could have expected a series of events like we\u2019ve seen. Did many people face hardship unlike we\u2019ve had in any other year? Yes. But isn\u2019t it also true that many of us achieved unusual successes and personal growth unlike any other year, too? I\u2019d like to put forward five ideas for consideration before anyone slaps a big, red \u201cF\u201d at the top of the 2020 calendar and tosses it away to be forgotten as quickly as possible. Here they are:<\/p>\n

What if 2020 reminded us of what is really important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2019, I was excited to get away for a nice vacation. I was delighted when I got the work schedule I wanted, and I was frustrated when I got stuck in traffic. I traveled a lot for work, which was fun, but I was away from my family and hometown a lot.<\/p>\n

In 2020, I am happy to be healthy and have a healthy family. I am glad to have a job when so many people have lost theirs, to be able to wrap my arms around a spouse who loves me and to have hobbies I enjoy. I am fascinated by how I have come to know my neighbors and feel more connected to my local community than I ever have before. Likewise, I now know my work team on a more personal level, as we have leaned on each other for support. I like the deeper connections I\u2019ve made this year and I want to keep them. In that way, 2020 has given me perspective on what I value most: people and relationships.<\/p>\n

What if 2020 showed us what is in our power and what is not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my favorite sayings is \u201cIf you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.\u201d If this is true, 2020 must be a real knee-slapper for the big guy. The rest of us, however, have faced a reckoning with our inability to control the world around us.<\/p>\n

While painful, being liberated from a false sense of power might have been the greatest gift that 2020 gave us. As someone who has often wrestled with frustration over not quite being able to get pet owners to do what I prescribe in the best interest of their pets, I\u2019ve always struggled a little with a lack of control. So, it was tough at first to be reminded again and again this year that I can\u2019t control anything that has to do with other people \u2014 from air travel to opinions on mask-wearing to the behavior of public officials. It made me ask myself, well, what can I control then?<\/p>\n

While chaos might swirl in the world around us, the job we do as veterinarians is our own. That\u2019s what we can control: showing up, giving our all and getting so swept up in our work that the time from the beginning of a shift to the end seems to fly. How many people are lucky enough to have a job they can fully engage with like that?<\/p>\n

In 2020, we learned that although there\u2019s much in the world we cannot control, we can always put our heads down and do the good work we were made to do.<\/p>\n

What if 2020 made us more grateful?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a handy self-defense mechanism: When it hurts to dwell on what we\u2019ve lost, we can seek comfort in what we have left. Have you been touched more deeply by a sincere word of thanks from a client? I have, and I\u2019ve also come to appreciate so many things I didn\u2019t pause to notice adequately before. The pictures my daughters stuck to the fridge with little magnets in 2020 are arguably not that much more artistic than the ones they scribbled in 2019, but their drawings have never looked as beautiful to me as they did this year. In 2020, I\u2019ve slowed down, lingered over the little things more and felt true gratitude for them.<\/p>\n

What if 2020 marched us into a new technological world for good?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Admit it: We, as a profession, are not often known as tech people. (Wherever you are reading this, I bet there\u2019s a veterinary clinic within 100 miles that still has medical records on 5-by-7 index cards.) The blood of James Herriot flows through our veins, and we are happiest when talking face to face about a pet we can see and touch. That hands-on approach to our work might be why our industry has dragged its heels for the last decade while so many other professions have sprinted ahead to engage with their clients digitally.<\/p>\n

Then came 2020 \u2014 the era of Zoom meetings and Google Hangouts<\/a> \u2014 to push us over that technology ledge. We\u2019re almost certainly better for it. Ask yourself:<\/p>\n