Last week I went for a walk during my lunch break, I try to do this every day. It gets me out of the building, breathing in fresh air and resets my mind for an afternoon of consulting. It ensures that I am in the best state for my clients, patients and colleagues to give the best of myself. During this particular lunch break I came across a chalk drawing on the footpath, which I assume was drawn by a young child. It read, “Be your own rainbow.”
In our line of work it’s easy to become overwhelmed and busy, stressed or run down, we may find that our rainbow fails to shine on these days. Some days everyone in the clinic may be absorbed into one of these moods. We may have many incoming emergencies, which in turn become hospitalised patients or emergent surgeries, everyone (vets and nurses included) may start to feel stressed or flat. Mood is catching. Once one person is feeling a little overwhelmed or negative it can have a domino effect in the clinic. Sadly this doesn’t improve the efficiency of work in the building.
Sometimes we need to be our own, or even our teams rainbow. We need to try to find the happiness and positivity within to lift ourselves and our teams mood. My wife always talks of a particular example of this. During a covid lockdown in Melbourne our clinic was closed to the public, we did consults without clients in the building as so many of us remember. It was the busiest our clinic or myself ever felt. There never seemed enough time in the day. Sometimes the clinic really felt this particular mood. Fortunately we had one particular bright shining nurse. Within a clinic void of clients her booming laugh and infectious nature could be heard within the clinic walls. She was the clinic rainbow in a difficult time.
When your feeling flat or despondent at work, take a moment, check whether you rainbow is shining and consider whether you can lift your mood and maybe even the mood of the clinic. You’ll feel better for it and hopefully so will everyone around you.
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