Since I started veterinary school, I always had the dream of studying and working in a clinic at the same time. It is something that I saw a lot in series and movies, it was something that allowed you to gain experience very quickly and gave you more confidence in what you wanted to do. I have always wanted to be excellent at what I do, to become one of the best veterinarians or at least someone to be admired. In my city there is a lot of competition, many doctors have already established their clients and it is very difficult to compete against them, however, every day I learn new things and put into practice what I have learned to keep improving.
It has been 4 years practicing in this clinic, seeing surgeries, performing treatments and many times I don't realize all the knowledge I have acquired in all this time; I only realize it when I see that another person of my age and in my same semester does not have the same information and knowledge that I have. This kind of thing makes you feel that you are one step ahead and that you have been doing things right, without getting off track. Many people say that the 20's are a stage that you have to take advantage of and burn, and in part I have true, but it is also a stage in which we can build experiences, we just have to be disciplined and know how to manage our time, life must be taken advantage of, but you also have to know how to distribute it and enjoy it at times.
Once we find those things that interest us it is important to practice them, every day, look for things that give us value and improve our quality of life, we must always look for that. No matter how bad we may be at something, if we are constant and keep practicing them, all that effort will have been worth it, because our body is used to learning new things and the more often, we subject it to these activities, the easier it will be to perform them in the future. It is true that there are people who are born with skills, we could say that they have a gift, but none of that is useful if they do not have discipline. Discipline is the key to going far in any place and any goal you set for yourself. Discipline is what has taken me this far with veterinary medicine, it has allowed me to fulfill my dream and every day I continue to strive harder, because every day that passes new drugs, new treatments and diagnostic methods come out that we have to keep updating to be at the best level of medicine.
The best feeling you can get from this is to realize how much you have grown thanks to your perseverance and discipline. To realize how much you have improved compared to how you were before, to know that you have advanced and all the effort you have made is paying off. It is a feeling of success.
But many times, we only focus on studies and being able to make money, and we end up ignoring the other things that are important like family, mental health and socializing. I have met people who are amazing professionals, but their socializing and fun skills are not very good, and in that aspect, they just live off work and don't do anything else. We also need to get out when we can, make as many friends as possible, build relationships and live life.
With the vet I feel very satisfied and I keep learning something new every day, lately I have added to my list to improve my English pronunciation and try to speak in a more fluent way. I already have the basics, and I can establish conversations, but I am aware that I still need to practice it more and I know that by the time I reach 10K hours of practice I will become an expert, just as happened to me with veterinary medicine.
Veterinary school huh? I didn’t know that about you. Good job man!
It really is important to have a life outside your job or profession. I know a few professionals that poured so much time and energy into their jobs that their job is literally their life at this point. I can’t imagine how frustrating that might be. Especially if unfortunately, even the job that you gave your all doesn’t work out for you.
We have to be disciplined but enjoy life as well!