Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS talks about making space for life outside the clinic
Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, host of the podcast Healthspan Digest, talks about ways veterinary professionals can manage work-related stress. Shaw explains that although work is an important part of life, it should not consume all of it, and encourages professionals to pursue hobbies and interests outside of work.
Below is the video transcript, lightly edited for clarity:
Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS: So a couple things that somebody on the vet team could do to help manage stress: I think first and foremost, it is really being in charge of your own body—really taking ownership of yourself in a way. And that is really going to be focusing on how you eat, how you sleep, how often you move your body, what kind of social support you have...in the clinic certainly, but definitely outside of the clinic.
I think that people who are the most successful in navigating stressful work environments are the ones who can recognize that work is a piece of their life, but it's not all of their life. And you know, people can step out of the work environment and realize there are more things to do, there are hobbies and activities that they're interested in—it becomes easier to kind of put work in a bucket. And I think that for those of us that are professionals, it’s pretty easy to feel like work, if you're passionate about what you do, is always on our brain to some degree.
But...if work is on our brain to some degree and it's also almost like a weight on us, then we need to have something we can pivot away from, and that is where I want to say real life comes in. I mean, certainly work is real life, but I think a big part of real life is having a hobby and an interest and something you really look forward to once you're done with that stressful day, and really taking the time and energy to engage in that when you do leave the office.
And that can be hard because most of us, when we leave work, we can be pretty tired or feeling kind of beat down. But by saying, you know, ‘It's been a tough day. I'm kind of tired. I'm kind of worn out, but I know that...one of my hobbies is going for a bike ride’ and saying, ‘Yeah, I'm tired, but I have to rally. I'm going to go do this thing.’
And I think when we have hobbies that we're interested in, then once we start doing that, we kind of forget about some of the stresses that may have been preoccupying us and really weighing us down throughout the day and so having a little bit of a mental break from the stress of our job day to day gives our brain a break, gives our body a break. Again, you get all the physiological benefits of exercise, and the mental break, the mental time out from the stress of work.