Sometimes acceptance of life’s circumstances comes from the most surprising sources. In my case, it was the blockbuster movie “Barbie.” If you haven’t seen it, allow me to fill you in. Barbie’s life is picture-perfect; her dream house is flawless. Her friends are her personal cheerleaders.
In the early scenes of the film, I reflected on my own dream house, also known as my veterinary practice, and for a split second I had a tiny pang of envy.
Our situation is far from perfect: we still are not back on track with fulfilling our 2023 goals and objectives. We have had setbacks which I have blogged about before – unexpected turnover, an insurmountable construction project, family issues, and illnesses among team members that have taken an emotional toll on them. Yet, we have learned to adapt, adjust, and proceed with items that are important to our practice to the best of our ability.
In the film that bears her name, Barbie also learned to manage unexpected circumstances. When her delicate ankles hit the ground, rendering her incapable of wearing her infamous high heels, she donned Birkenstocks and forged ahead.
For us, moving forward has meant carving out time to focus on projects that are important to our practice. Diving into the VHMA Organizational Diagnosis & Design (OrgDD) Toolkit is one great example. So far, we have made it through the diagnosis step and had to contain ourselves when we all instinctually started jumping in with solutions. We have more work to do with this tool, but at least we have started. And in this unpredictable year, that is an accomplishment.
Moving forward has also meant celebrating that our new hires are doing great and that the dark days of frantically interviewing candidates to fill unexpected vacancies is no longer consuming my workdays.
Most importantly, moving forward has meant giving myself the grace to take a vacation, something I just did with my family on a lake in Wyoming. Boy, did that break feel good!
And that is the best I can do right now. And I am OK with that. The year 2023 is not yet over; I still have time to tackle things in the practice that are important, but not in a manner that is frantic.
As Barbie flees the pressures of perfection in Barbie Land in her Barbie Dream Car, she turns on her radio to hear the sage lyrics of the Indigo Girls, lyrics we can all benefit from when life does not necessarily go as planned… “And the less I seek my source for some definitive, the closer I am to fine, yeah.”
Here’s to us all feeling fine for the rest of this summer and beyond!
Sincerely,
Jessica Speas, CVPM, SPHR, PHR-ca, SHRM, CCFP
VHMA President
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