We all go through good times, bad times, challenges, and triumphs. We laugh, cry, have anger, sorrow, depression, and all emotions in between. It’s not necessarily the situations that cause us those emotionally charged responses, it is how we deal with them, with positivity or negativity – it’s about our mindset that makes those difficult, challenging times more doable. During challenges, your mindset can significantly impact how you perceive and respond to the circumstances or situations. Depending on the circumstances that surround the challenges, most people can fluctuate between positive and negative mindsets, and it is common and natural to have moments of doubt and negativity when facing challenges. How we look at situations – can make them more difficult or easier overall. A positive mindset is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the good and constructive aspects of life situations/circumstances. It involves having an optimistic outlook and choosing to see opportunities, solutions, and growth even in the face of challenges. Maintaining a positive mindset is an ongoing process and crucial during challenges. It is so important to cultivate a habit of positive thinking, where challenging negative thoughts and focusing on the silver linings. Acknowledging your emotions, however, not letting them control your outlook is important, reframing negative situations into opportunities for growth. In 2020, our World as we know entered into very challenging times with the pandemic and continues into these days of conflict and destruction, and so on. We see all these images on our TVs, computers, and with our own eyes. These challenging times teach us all a lot of lessons, change us forever, and your mindset is how you deal with this time for the better. Maintaining positivity during the most challenging times can be difficult, but essential for our mental, emotional, and physical health and well-being.
What tools can we, as team members, utilize to help our practices or companies in a more positive way to have a collaborative team atmosphere. One great tool is the concept of Personal Rounds, this concept is similar to those medical patient rounds. These rounds are a wonderful check-in or debrief tool for all team members. The goal is to give all team members a safe space to discuss experiences, feelings, and concerns with the daily difficulties of our jobs, the emotional toll that makes individuals feel alone in their thoughts and feelings, which leads to negativity, toxicity, burnout, and compassion fatigue.
In this interactive discussion, we will explore how to reduce and remove toxicity and negativity within your team and your own life, bringing a more peaceful and positive life for us all. One great concept for removing negativity from the team atmosphere is the concept of S.M.I.L.E, developed by Sally Starbuck Stramp and Jeff Thoren of Gifted Leaders, LLC. In the concept of turning negative environment into positivity, the S.M.I.L.E is split into five components: • Start with Yourself. • Manage the Minutiae. • Ignite the Passion. • Lighten Up! • Enjoy!
Another important tool is being able to manage your stress during these challenging times. Stress is a fact of life today, and it is a problem within the field of veterinary medicine that can cause mental and physical problems and disrupt this rewarding career. Stress can be defined as the state produced when the body responds to any demand for adaptation or adjustment. Stress can be good and bad depending on the stressor associated with the stress. Stress can have both negative and positive effects on a person. There are three main stressors that we experience daily, they are: external, environmental, and internal and we can experience all of them or single one at any given time. Each stressor that we experience can act differently in each individual person. The stressor can energize a person to achieve challenges and achievements that normally the individual may shy away from, but on the other hand, the stressor can make the individual feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Stress, whether good or bad, affects a person’s mental and physical functioning. A complete understanding of how and where stress originates within the body, its pathway throughout the body, and the mental and physical toll it can take on the individual, will help the individual manage their own stress and maintain good health. Fight or flight is one concept in daily life and understanding this important will understand your reaction to the stressor plaguing you at the time. Humans are equipped with this concept to help them handle threatening situations, basically to either flee or fight when someone or something is threatening them, either externally or internally. The list of an individual’s internal stressors is unique to each individual, depending on the individual’s background, temperament, and aspirations and the stress response is nonspecific and is mobilized when one is faced with any of these threats, either being perceived or real. There are many good and bad ways of dealing with stress in your life. Some good ways of dealing with stress are exercise, good nutrition, and plenty of sleep. A negative way, which is too common in the veterinary professional, is the use of illegal or legal substances. Substance abuse and stress are bad influences of dealing with different types of stress. Since the nervous system, brain, and emotions are dependent of the normal action of the neurotransmitters, some individuals suffering from stress may turn to drugs and alcohol almost as a form of self-medication. Obviously, the risk factors of substance abuse are great for the individual and this type of behavior is also a great risk to the individual’s family, friends, and the patients that are being treated by that individual. A veterinary professional’s stressor load is unique to the veterinary world, which do include general, basic stressors in anyone world, but also those unique to the veterinary world. These include life event stressors, environmental stressors, personal stressors, client stressors, and career stressors. We will identify each stressor and have examples for each individual will be able to help identify their individual stressor and help the individual cope with those stressors in a positive way. There are many years, one important aspect is the use of support systems, such as friends, family, coworkers, etc.…. Maintaining positivity during challenging times may be difficult and so important to maintain good emotional, mental, and physical health, some additional strategies that will help you maintain positivity are: • Practice Gratitude – Taking time daily to reflect on the things that you are grateful for, this may help shift your focus away from the negative aspects and towards those more positive aspects in your life. • Mindfulness and Meditation – Practice mindfulness and meditation can help you stay in the present moment and reduce anxiety about the future and promote a positive outlook. • Maintain a Routine and Setting Realistic Goals – Try sticking to a daily routine that will help maintain stability and control during uncertain times. Setting goals and breaking down larger challenges into smaller, more manageable goals will help achieve those goals and give you a sense of accomplishment and motivation. • Self-care and Engage in Positive Self-talk – Maintaining self-care techniques and positive self-talk are pertinent to maintaining a positive mindset and taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health bring you joy and happiness on a daily basis. • Learn from Challenges – Each challenge and situation that we go through has lessons alongside for us to learn from. Instead of seeing these challenges as purely negative, view them as opportunities for growth and learning and every obstacle is a teachable, valuable moment for all of us. • Focus on What You Can Control and Seek Professional Help – Recognize that there are many things beyond your control, instead of dwelling on them, concentrate on the aspects of your life where you have influence. If you find it challenging to maintain positivity and your mental and emotional is suffering, do not hesitate to seek help from a mental health professional. As we look for ourselves and understand how to live happier, more positive lives. There are many aspects we must do daily. Some of these, such as being kind to ourselves in the same manner we would be to others, being grateful for even the small things in life and live in the moment, surrounding ourselves with positive people, and changing our own thinking from negative to positive. It is important and crucial that we maintain and build a support network within and outside of the Veterinary field. These support networks will be there to help each of us navigate our personal and professional challenges. Having these networks separated from each other will have like challenges being navigated with like individuals. These strategies, networks, and all the changes will help us navigate today’s challenges and help us live happier, healthier lives.
