“Happiness is a Warm Puppy” – Schulz

While in the throes of mourning my beloved Professor, I was sitting on my front porch and found myself googling goldendoodle puppies. I have spent a life rescuing animals but every once in a while I decide to purchase an animal from a reputable breeder. And what breeder could be better than Professor’s? So my little pup has been picked and is set to be delivered to me in a few weeks. 

My husband and I often joke that raising a puppy is harder than raising a child. They are truly into everything and on the go if not sleeping. I am puppy-proofing the house again and enjoying my full nights of sleep. Soon they will be a thing of the past. I have not done this in many years so I am hopeful that I am up for the task. I wait with massive excitement sprinkled with a little healthy anxiety. 

A few days ago, I got the opportunity to go to the Schulz Museum in Northern California. My husband grew up loving Peanuts and all the characters, particularly Charlie Brown. I liked the comic strip and knew some about the creator but truthfully I had no idea of the incredible human that he was. Nicknamed “Sparky” from a comic strip by his uncle at just two days old, this man would grow to be one of the greatest legends of the comic strip world. In his imagination of little folks (with no adult appearances), Schulz tackled the questions of what it means to be human. 

Remember Lucy with her 5¢ psychiatry station? Or Snoopy with his hilarious rendition of famous movies? What about Linus’ abnormal attachment to his blanket? Poor Charlie Brown only got rocks when he went Trick-or-Treating and not once did he ever kick that darn ball from Lucy. We can all remember how life seemed so simple when we were kids, however, while we were that age, our problems and concerns were every bit as real and devastating as if we were adults. 

As I was sipping my drink in the Warm Puppy Cafe and watching the ice skaters in a rink that Schulz lovingly built for the community, I wondered “How did this guy do it?” How did he get up every single morning and write a brand new comic strip? He worked seven days a week and for fifty straight years the world got to see Charlie Brown, Snoopy and his Peanuts characters tackling a new adventure every single day. Although I could never speak for Mr. Schulz, I think maybe he lived his life in wonder and amazement. Even he didn’t know what his characters would get themselves into until his strip was unveiling itself to him each and every morning. What a joy to live in this manner. It is the wonder and amazement that makes us leap out of bed in the morning. What will this day be like? What miraculous things can happen? This child-like, innocent wonder can keep us young at heart. 

Bringing this theme into this discussion of burnout and fatigue is appropriate. If we are reinventing ourselves often, we can hope to maintain that same wonder and amazement. But what does that look like in reality? Is it easier said than done? Perhaps. But what if we think of reinventing ourselves in a less dramatic way? Maybe we take up kickball or gardening. Maybe we find a hobby that brings us true happiness and devote just a little less time to work. Or within work, we find a new skill focusing on the joy of that new skill and how it can affect our lives and our pet patients. 

I look back at my time in clinical veterinary medicine and thought I must have had ADHD because I was shifting to different and exciting new topics within the field so easily. But now I realize that I was just reinventing myself to keep the passion alive. I studied all new things and read books to engage in a new part of the profession. I would come to work excited to speak about a new topic and teach my staff something fascinating I had just learned. I studied the business aspects, the medical, the behavioral, the human resource aspect, new supplements and procedures, and added many new services for my patients. Nothing was too dull to study. 

But I also look back and realize that almost the entire time I was a veterinarian and practice owner, I had no outside hobbies. I had turned my entire life over to the profession. This imbalance is a direct path to burnout regardless of how much you think you love and will always love being in the vet field. It just isn’t feasible to lose yourself in helping others. Life becomes about other people and your identity, your passions, and your hobbies fade. 

I realize that writing a comic strip daily does not compare to the grind of the veterinary profession, but if we look around and see those genius people who were able to accomplish fantastical feats, then we can take something from them as a lesson to live our own lives. 

We must exist in a world of balance. Balance of happiness, joy, work, play, and hobbies. If right now you are living a life unbalanced, then it is up to you to bring it back into balance. Learn to walk away from unfinished business, as long as it is not life threatening of course, and save it for another day. We will never complete our to-do list. We will never be finished with our priority list. It grows, shrinks and changes daily. 

Better yet, place yourself on your priority list or spend some time getting to know who you are and what you want. In this, you may just discover the wonder and amazement that keeps you going long into this profession. Is happiness a warm puppy? You bet it is to me. I cannot wait to bury my face in that fluff and inhale. It is anything you want it to be so bury your face in something new and find your happiness and balance. 

Find me on The Veterinary Compassion Fatigue Project Spotify Podcast, my website, Facebook and YouTube @TVCFP. Let’s keep talking about what we face in the veterinary and animal care world and ways that we can help each other. Reach out if you have a particular topic you would love to hear about. Subscribe to hear updates on our annual restoration retreat to be launched in Spring of 2025. As always, I hope you find what you are looking for and share it with anyone who needs it.

With love and hope,

Dr. Erin Holder