• DVM360_Conference_Charlotte,NC_banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Conference Coverage
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Commentary: Life is your treasure map

September 13, 2016
Amanda Inman, CVPM

Don't worry about all the squiggly lines. Remember they lead to an "X," no matter who you are in the veterinary industry.

Life's map is sometimes more like one of those kids' treasure maps made with crayons with squiggly dotted lines that eventually lead to an "X." There is treasure there. You simply have to recognize it when you find it. (Photo Getty Images)I was one of those kids who had my life mapped out on a dream board at 8 years old. It was perfect. I would be valedictorian of my high school class, go to college on a full-ride scholarship, work in a zoo as a tiger trainer and conservationist, get married but have no children (because who has time for that) and be so happy taking vacations around the world with my six-figure income.

My magazine-cut-out collage of life perfection was just about as realistic as the unicorns on my bedspread coming to life and whisking me away to a castle to announce me as their long-lost princess! All those perfectly sequenced goals and I did one of those things: I got married.

'I've felt the heartbreak of failure'

I came close to my magazine cut-out life collage in a few places. I was an honor student, just not a valedictorian. I worked in a pet store during high school (OK, it wasn't tigers, but I did have to tame a few feral kittens once or twice). I was awarded a scholarship to a university out west to study biology, but I chose to stay local and marry my high school sweetheart months after graduating. I must have decided at some point that I did have plenty of time in life because we had a child in our early twenties. I went to college off and on for years one class at a time at night after work or online after our son went to sleep. I was offered a six-figure salary once, but only as a last ditch effort by management to keep me from turning in my resignation letter as an office manager of six years. I've owned my own business and felt the heartbreak of failure. As for vacations, yeah, I've had a few, but the farthest I've ever gotten is Cancun-so I wouldn't exactly call myself “worldly.”

Now, before I go on, I need you to know that my life today is great. That's what compels me to share all this with those of you right now who may feel your path hasn't been “perfect”-that it hasn't gone the way you thought it would go or dreamed it would from the start. Life's map is sometimes more like one of those kids' treasure maps made with crayons with squiggly dotted lines that eventually lead to an “X.” There is treasure there. You simply have to recognize it when you find it.

The answer the veterinary hospital administrator laughed at

My treasure was walking into a local veterinary clinic on a whim and asking to fill out an application. Later, in my interview, I remember the hospital administrator asking me, “If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?”

“A tiger trainer in the circus!” I answered. (Yes, I said "circus" instead of "zoo." The 8-year-old me wanted to grow up and have a real job, but the closer-to-30-year-old me wanted to just have some fun.)

Advertisement

That answer during my interview is still something our hospital administrator laughs with me about to this day. She thought it was great that I quickly and enthusiastically had an answer. Well, I'd been planning it to some degree since I was 8, so…

 

I was hired, and I restarted at the bottom of a career ladder. Fast forward 9 years later, and I've been a receptionist, a team leader, a supervisor, an office manager and now a practice manager who earned her title of Certified Veterinary Practice Manager. I had to take a U-turn on my life path and retrace all my steps to dig up the “X” hiding my success underneath. I've never been happier, and I appreciate my success more because of the delayed and crazy path that got me to it.

Sometimes you just have to be OK with taking a detour when it comes to your goals. You can't beat yourself up for not having events happen in a certain order and then assume that certain aspects of life have just passed you by.

I beg you to stop, take an assessment, and if you don't like where you are, check your directions. Maybe you took a wrong turn and just need to look around, read the signs and (as my smartphone's map app says), “recalculate” your route.

Comma the cat is a fan of Amanda Inman's career choice. (Photo courtesy author)

Amanda Inman, CVPM, is practice manager at Pet Care Clinic of Kokomo in Kokomo, Indiana.

Related Content:

Career DevelopmentLeadership & Personal GrowthTechniciansBreaking News
Proper praise for a flourishing team environment
Proper praise for a flourishing team environment
Veterinary tech students awarded national scholarship
Veterinary tech students awarded national scholarship
AAHA seeks applicants for its board, including for a newly created veterinary technician role
AAHA seeks applicants for its board, including for a newly created veterinary technician role

Advertisement

Latest News

Morris Animal Foundation appoints new chief program officer

CDC issues warning over cat-transmitted sporotrichosis

An AI solution is speeding up insurance claims processing

3 categories of inappetence in dogs

View More Latest News
Advertisement