Bethany Weinheimer, DVM, discusses authentic values, the power of “no,” and building a veterinary career that lasts.
In this episode of the Vet Blast Podcast, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, talks with Bethany Weinheimer, DVM, founder of The Evolved Vets. Weinheimer explains the difference between destination living and directional living, and why it matters in a profession heavy on checking boxes. They also talk about finding your people, protecting your energy, and bringing more positivity to veterinary medicine.
Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: I think a value that we should talk about is time. I really honor and cherish the T-word more than ever, because no matter what we do for a living, you hear it all the time: “I’m so busy. I’m so busy.” But you’re never too busy for those that you love and care about. Everything else can wait.
Bethany Weinheimer, DVM: You can do anything, but you cannot do everything. What that looks like is maybe it takes 4 days to respond to an email, but you took that time in the evening to make dinner with your partner or go to your kid’s dance recital. It’s all about choice.
There are many books that are really interesting about this. There’s one called Essentialism that is good. It talks about this idea of being able to choose your priorities, so that you can show up and live a life that feels authentic to you.
When I think about this concept of time, we have the same number of hours in a day as Beyoncé. Of course, she has a ton of other resources. But how do we use that empowering thought to say, “OK, I have so much time. How do I use my time efficiently, and what do I say no to?”
“No” is going to be the most authentic word in helping you live out the values you care about. If we keep people-pleasing and self-abandoning because other people want us to act a certain way, which is very common in veterinary medicine, we’re going to live a life for somebody else, and we’re going to feel stuck, distant, isolated, and not aligned. The more we lean into who we are and what we want to do, that is the special sauce.
Want to hear the rest of the conversation? You can listen above or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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