What makes the animal service field so frustrating?
There is great divide in the motivation behind animal owners. While one side of animal owners truly love the animals with all of their hearts, the other group of people love what animals can do for them. These two groups will never agree on the welfare and treatment of animals.
Each group believes that they are the ones that view animal ownership in the correct way. If the animal care provider is a true animal lover without any expectation from the animal, they will be at odds emotionally with the opposite viewpoint that animals are commodities, and vice versa.
As a true animal lover, I struggled with this for many years. I would get so emotionally involved with each patient and client that I saw. My heart was truly injured when an owner didn’t “love” the animal the same way that I did. I had to find a better way to cope to stay in the field and survive emotionally. I found the answer in focusing on my response to the situations that arose day to day.
This takes practice and work. Here’s some of the things that I found to be very helpful.
- Learn to breath correctly. Controlling and learning how to use your breathing as a way to promote emotional and physical health is paramount.
- Learn to meditate. The Buddhists have this mastered. Don’t get hung up on wondering if it is a “religious” practice. Every religion condones a form of learning to go inward. That’s that lesson here.
- Learn to take the emotion out of the equation. It’s okay to feel emotions, and you should feel them. You should also know how to control them, and put them aside curing the business day. You cannot control what comes at you during the day, but you can control your response. Remember that you cannot education after you’ve alienated someone. If you want to be a powerful instrument for change to share your position, education comes first.
- Practice patience with yourself and others. Accepting new ideas can be difficult for some, if not most of us. Plant the seed, and then water it regularly. Keep your eye on the prize. If you want others to accept your way, be ready to show them why it is the best way, patiently. Be patient with yourself too. Sometimes it takes time. It doesn’t mean that you are not effective. You may have to open your mind to examining new ways to inspire others. If change is good for them, it is also good for you;-)
- Take time to recharge. The animal service field is incredibly challenging, and equally rewarding. Committed individuals often suffer from massive burnout trying to save the world. You can’t give what you don’t have. You must take time to recharge your batteries and just say no. If you end up quitting or just being a jaded practitioner because you are burnt out, you are not getting to reach your goals of making a difference in the animal kingdom. You owe it to yourself and to the critters of the world to take a break. Recharge. Come back with a super hero cape on and a renewed perspective on things!
