We are trained at a very young age to do more, be more, achieve more, to put relaxation and rest aside and to go above and beyond, to beat the competition, to become great.
NEWS FLASH.
It’s 2020. The era of progressive thinking. The age of being woke. The time to really think – to seriously sit back, firmly grasp that cup of small batch coffee, kombucha, or delicately glassed aperol spritz and reflect. The time to ditch the physical realm of distractions and stress, sit in a pretzel on a yoga mat, and meditate using a unique mantra found online. This is the time to stop and to be deliberate in thought. This is the time for solitude.
Solitude? That’s scary!
Ryan Holiday, an American author and media strategist, writes, “life without relationships, focused solely on accomplishments, is empty and meaningless.” A hollow life such as this is frightening, and it is something all driven, focused, and career-oriented people like veterinary professionals need to understand. If that quote did not hit right the first time, re-read it. Keep re-reading it until it hits because this idea of an accomplished, yet worthless life is ridiculously important in our world today.
What those eleven words tell me is that despite our accolades, awards, and recognitions for all the amazing things we do, without someone to share those accomplishments with, without friends, we will be nothing. Our cup will be full, but it will be filling a perpetually empty stomach. Despite all of our meaningful achievements, our lives will in fact be meaningless.
This powerful thought expresses a great truth. If we place too much emphasis on our career, we will not be able to invite people in, share our thoughts and ideas, and make friends. We will be very lonely. But there is a solution to this problem that many career-oriented veterinary professionals face – solitude. As counterintuitive as it sounds, we need to be alone sometimes so that we don’t end up alone all the time.
Being in solitude for at least some part of the day is absolutely paramount to success. It is in time of quiet reflection that real thoughts, problems, and ideas come to life so that they can be addressed and explored head on. Some of the societies’ greats made their most important discoveries when alone. And one of these important discoveries? The necessity of friendship. It is important to have close friends. Even just one. It is what make us human.
Parents and grandparents always say, “You are who your friends are!” If you hang around smart, motivated, pleasant people you will become a smart, motivated, pleasant person. If you hang around lazy, misinformed, grumpy people you will become a lazy, misinformed, grumpy person. If you hang around no one, you will become no one. You will become empty. You will become a dry, brittle, cracked exoskeleton of a crab with no internal substance.
So please, as you go through life and carve out your career in the exciting field of veterinary medicine, please do not let this happen to you. Do not become an exoskeleton of a crab swiftly taken away by the ocean current into the dark depths of nothingness.
