“I will look back at it and smile because it was life and I decided to live it.”
I don’t know about you, but I can sometimes put a lot of stress on myself!
It’s like I get into this mindset where I think life is SOOOO serious, when in actuality it isn’t.
There are many things in life and in vet med that give us the impression that we’re in a very serious situation – a situation in which we have to survive and in which many things can ‘go wrong’.
We’re told things like, “Life’s a bit$h!”
We’re told that, “There’s a good time coming at the end of the road!”
Sayings like these tend to give a false perception of life, and they keep us looking for and waiting for a “goodie” to present itself to us, be it ever so far away.
Unfortunately, this thinking keeps us from having the amazingly joyful life that we truly desire!
The “goodie/good time coming” is NOW! And in this article I’m going to share with you how to make your life what you want it to be!
It’s not particularly easy, but it’s WAY better than what you’re currently doing if you don’t absolutely LOVE everything (or even most things) about your life and your life situation!
While I still get into these serious ruts where I unnecessarily stress and think that I’m doing something wrong, I try to remember to laugh at my seriousness instead of painfully forcing myself into a snowball of negative thoughts and, consequently, negative life experiences.
The only thing worse than being too serious…
Fortunately for me, I’ve figured out that the only thing worse than being too serious in life is NOT KNOWING that you’re being too serious!
If you take life too seriously at an unconscious level, then your life will be moment after moment of ‘missing out’ on all of the small and silly things that keep life lighthearted and joyful!
3 Easy ways to make life an exciting adventure
“Adventure isn’t hanging off a rope on the side of a mountain or living among lions. Adventure is an attitude to experience everyday things.”
First things first, an adventure doesn’t have to involve hiking through the woods, climbing mountains, or jumping out of airplanes.
I don’t do any of those things, nor do I have a desire to! In fact, they scare me!
Note: I may jump out of an airplane one day because I really want to fly. BUT I’M TERRIFIED! If you’ve ever jumped out of a plane, drop me a message and let me know why I should try it!
However, there are 3 core principles to living and having a super fun life that I like to try to remember. They are TOTALLY FREE and anyone can do them! These aren’t the only 3, but they are 3 of the most important.
#1 Get quiet and still and figure out what it is that you truly want out of life
By ‘get quiet and still’, I simply mean to give yourself some quiet time away from the kids and the hustle and bustle of life. Give yourself some time! At least an hour per session will do. You’ve got to shut up so that your true self can get through to you and remind you of why you’re here!
A nice meditation may be a great way to get yourself in a state for doing this, but it’s not necessary. Peaceful and calming music may also be helpful.
Most people don’t really know what they want out of life. If you ask someone, they may say something vague like “money” or “true love” or “to be happy”, but beyond that, they won’t have done much introspection and self-work to figure out the details.
You see, it isn’t even conceivable that you could be living a life of your dreams and complete happiness and still be miserable because you wouldn’t include ‘being miserable’ in that life. Does that make sense? It’s a primary point to be understood.
Even if they did this exercise at some point in the past, they haven’t repeated and refined what they came up with.
In my opinion, this is why we have the amount of depression and anxiety and burnout that we see these days. I think this is also why we see professionals with advanced degrees struggling.
To become a doctor or lawyer, you have to decide at a relatively early age. In other words, you’re depending on your childhood self to determine the rest of your life. Let’s face it, if you become a veterinarian, status quo and society say you have to be that until you’re 59 and ½!
I can’t bank on living the next 30 years based off of what I came up with as a teenager!
Therefore, even after you’ve achieved your professional career, you must STILL go back and get quiet and be still… again!
There are a few things you should do when you’re trying to figure out what you want your life to be. Let go of other people’s rules. Most of what you believe comes from the influence of others. If someone said you can’t do ____ unless you ____ or because of ____, you must let go of this limited thinking.
Whenever you find yourself up against a crazy rule that doesn’t fit with what you want, ask yourself this two-word question: “Who says?” Who says you can’t live an amazing life as a veterinary professional? Who says vet med can’t be fun and stress free? Who says you have to live where you live? Who says you can’t be financially free without being so frugal that you never give yourself a few luxuries here and there? The answer is always something or someone who is only regurgitating back what someone told them! After asking “Who says?” you can now proceed towards your dreams!
Use your imagination! Pretend no one else’s opinion matters but yours! You can use your imagination for a little while, and then you can go back to following all of the rules, but during your imagination time, it is vitally important that you not let limiting beliefs hinder you. Allow your imagination to run wild!
What would your ideal life look like for you?
Heads Up! There are about 14 REALLY IMPORTANT RULES to follow during this process. They are big do’s and dont’s. You can find these rules in my book, which is yours for free! Just click here to be taken to a page where you can access it!
#2 Keep an advancing perspective
This is crucial! An advancing perspective allows you to enjoy the journey! If you are going to have wellbeing, you must have an amazing perspective on life because…
there will be trials…
there will be mountains to climb…
sh*t WILL go ‘wrong’!
Be warned!
There is no way around this! As veterinary professionals (and as humans) we must not fall victim to expecting things to be a certain way, and we must not fall victim to expecting challenges to never arise.
However, an advancing perspective will crush the trials, mountains, and stuff that goes wrong.
An advancing perspective allows you to see that everything is perfect NOW, but it’s not yet complete! This allows you to refine your life situation and the world around you to a greater completeness. It prevents you from seeing your life, the veterinary profession, people, and the world as a decaying and ruined thing that’s getting worse. Instead we can see it as a world and profession that is becoming better!
This allows you to have a lot of fun as you create and build the life that you want!
An advancing perspective will also prevent you from falling victim to ‘destination addiction’, which is a preoccupation with the idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job, and with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are.
There’s an online course over at Get MotiVETed University: School of Wellbeing for Veterinary Professionals that takes a deep dive into perspective and all types of things to help you ‘funify’ your life and vet career! The course is RACE-approved for 4-hours if you’re a licensed vet professional! You can check it out here!
#3: Go for it!
You have absolutely nothing to lose by taking a step in the direction of what it is that you want out of life.
It’s the progression towards your dreams that will keep your life interesting and fun!
Odds are, if you aren’t living a life that you love, you don’t have a fun and exciting ‘thing’ that you’re working towards.
Also, you may see things that appear to be bad or negative as actually being bad or negative.
Simply put, take massive action towards that which you desire!
You’ve got this!
At any rate, the moral of the story is that life is supposed to be an exciting adventure, not a bore.
Look around, and try to see the beauty in everything, even the things that appear to be ugly and negative.
Spend some time figuring out what you want out of life, remember that all things and people are basically good, and know that if you take massive action towards that which you want and if you live long enough, you’ll probably get what you deserve!
You can follow me on Instagram @dr.quincyhawley.
