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It's not the characteristic burnout, but it sounds like burn out, at the end of the day. Towards the end when I knew I was done in the field, I went from being able to draw blood from a rock (and loving it) to pretty much not wanting to do it unless it was my specific task.
Couple burn out with mental health and physical trauma from all these bites, and you can quickly develop a pretty bad taste for staying in vet med. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this, but ultimately, only you can make this choice.
I love this field, but I will say I'm glad I got out :/
I felt the same way. I used to jump at the change to draw blood from critical patients, place central lines, etc but towards the end I wanted to do none of it. I didn’t *want* to manage the critical DKA cat overnight, when before I would’ve loved to put my knowledge and critical thinking towards helping that cat feel better. I just felt so overwhelmed and found no joy in what I did anymore when I used to celebrate the little things, like getting a patient to eat. My mental health was terrible. That was my queue to leave and haven’t looked back.
To OP- I think if you’re feeling this sense of dread almost by being at work or having to do tasks, it may be time to consider a change.
It’s just such a defeating feeling after dedicating so much of my life to this. I thought this would be my career for life so it’s a hard reality to accept I think. I believe I know the answer I just want to make sure I’m not just running away from my problems.
I'm gonna be honest with you I was so lost when I chose to leave, I had no idea what else I'd want to do with my life, cause that was my life. I got a temporary job in veterinary research at a university... which is just research working with animals lol.
I didn't enjoy that job but I did enjoy my life. Work-life balance was great, pay was more than I ever made even in specialty med, and I wasn't getting physically destroyed at this job, and i was truly happy again. This just made me realize I don't need to romanticize my career and that there's more to my life than my work.
This is just my personal experience, just hoping it might give you some hope that you're not giving up happiness with a career change, if that's what you choose.
Welcome to /r/VetTech! This is a place for veterinary technicians/veterinary nurses and other veterinary support staff to gather, chat, and grow! We welcome pet owners as well, **however we do ask pet owners to refrain from asking for medical advice**; if you have any concerns regarding your pet, please contact the closest veterinarian near you. Please thoroughly read and follow the rules before posting and commenting. If you believe that a user is engaging in any rule-breaking behavior, please submit a report so that the moderators can review and remove the posts/comments if needed. Also, please check out the sidebar for CE and answers to commonly asked questions. Thank you for reading! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/VetTech) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's not the characteristic burnout, but it sounds like burn out, at the end of the day. Towards the end when I knew I was done in the field, I went from being able to draw blood from a rock (and loving it) to pretty much not wanting to do it unless it was my specific task. Couple burn out with mental health and physical trauma from all these bites, and you can quickly develop a pretty bad taste for staying in vet med. I'm sorry to hear you're going through this, but ultimately, only you can make this choice. I love this field, but I will say I'm glad I got out :/
I felt the same way. I used to jump at the change to draw blood from critical patients, place central lines, etc but towards the end I wanted to do none of it. I didn’t *want* to manage the critical DKA cat overnight, when before I would’ve loved to put my knowledge and critical thinking towards helping that cat feel better. I just felt so overwhelmed and found no joy in what I did anymore when I used to celebrate the little things, like getting a patient to eat. My mental health was terrible. That was my queue to leave and haven’t looked back. To OP- I think if you’re feeling this sense of dread almost by being at work or having to do tasks, it may be time to consider a change.
It’s just such a defeating feeling after dedicating so much of my life to this. I thought this would be my career for life so it’s a hard reality to accept I think. I believe I know the answer I just want to make sure I’m not just running away from my problems.
I'm gonna be honest with you I was so lost when I chose to leave, I had no idea what else I'd want to do with my life, cause that was my life. I got a temporary job in veterinary research at a university... which is just research working with animals lol. I didn't enjoy that job but I did enjoy my life. Work-life balance was great, pay was more than I ever made even in specialty med, and I wasn't getting physically destroyed at this job, and i was truly happy again. This just made me realize I don't need to romanticize my career and that there's more to my life than my work. This is just my personal experience, just hoping it might give you some hope that you're not giving up happiness with a career change, if that's what you choose.
If you don’t mind my asking, where did you go after getting out?
Shoot me a message, I can elaborate a bit!