As a veterinarian your entire day is spent interacting with people - coworkers, clients, and colleagues at other hospitals. As an introverted veterinarian, this is completely exhausting - especially when one or more of the people you deal with is, shall we say, high-maintenance.
It's REALLY important to recharge, otherwise you will completely burn out.
For the past month or so I've been teetering on that red line, so to speak. Between traveling, working extra days at the vaccine clinic, and taking care of household tasks, I'm pretty near fried. As a result my old friend anxiety is starting to show up again as that non-specific clenching in my gut.
I've been trying to force myself to do less - clean less frequently, not spend so much time reading veterinary-related material (the number of emails and journals I get is overwhelming sometimes), and do things like just watch mindless TV or just sit outside on the patio.
Let me tell you, this is HARD to do. My mind keeps coming up with endless things that I *should* be doing instead of relaxing. There is literally no end to the things you could learn in medicine, or the things you could clean or organize in a home. I'm the kid who earned ALL the merit badges possible in Girl Scouts because I wanted to finish, dammit, so intentionally saying no to doing extra feels like slacking.
Here are some things that I did/am doing to help:
- Quit the vaccine clinic (I have one more day and then I'm done). The extra money isn't worth the stress.
- Asking D to do more things around the house that I normally take care of (get groceries, vacuum, etc.)
- I am thinking about hiring a housekeeper. D is worried about someone having access to the house when we are away, so I could have them come clean while I am home.
- Also thinking about hiring pest control services to spray the perimeter of the home periodically so that I don't have to battle the near-monthly ant invasions
- Bought a season pass to my favorite ski resort
Hopefully I can get back on track. I'm terrified of getting as burned out as I did at the corporate practice.
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