Relationships
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 06:01AM Relationships: balancing our interpersonal relationships in veterinary school can be a demanding but rewarding and essential undertaking. How do you meet new friends or significant others while in vet school, or how do you make quality time available to the special ones you already have?
Honorable Mention, Life as a Vet Student Category
Oneal Peters, Colorado State University
It’s 2:30 am. I sit in the equine medicine rounds room, listening to angry sparrows complain about being stuck in the barn in the middle of the night, most likely separated from their fellow sparrows (well, at least I assume that’s what all the racket is about) and I wonder if all my family is snuggled up in their beds, fast asleep or if any of them are awake at this hour (perhaps my brother, who tends to function best in the wee hours of the morning). Vet school certainly changes your routine, and not only is it a huge adjustment for the student but life begins to change quite a bit for those around them.
When I began vet school, I had been married for two years and my family was only four hours away. I entered vet school with a substantial support system and I didn’t have to worry about meeting Mr. Right (or any Mr. for that matter), but maintaining the relationships I already had was something that came with a learning curve. Luckily, I have a very understanding family and husband, and if they don’t see or hear from me for weeks, they understand and don’t take it personally. And while it’s lovely to have people who are so benevolent with their empathy, I soon realized that it benefited my own persona to find a way to balance vet school with real life, because while my family seemed to function pretty well without me, I wasn’t able to function very well without them. So I began to tier my priorities. Yes, school is undoubtedly important, but not so important that you become a hermit, emerging from your vet school cave after four long years to realize you lost all your friends and family because you had vet school tunnel vision. I often felt like there were not enough hours in the day to fit in all the things that were important: studying, sleeping, spending time with hubby and dogs, visiting family, exercising…the list goes on and on, but then I realized it was all a matter of schedule. The concept of putting your life on a schedule seems a bit neurotic, yes, I know, but when I became a vet student, this was the only way to keep my sanity. So it began. I used my giant white board from Target to schedule each week. I titled it “weekly goals” so that I didn’t feel terrible if not all my tasks were completed. I broke my days into blocks. Study blocks. Walk the dog blocks. Free time blocks. And then the hard part came along - trying to stick to the schedule. It took a bit of adjustment and a strong dose of discipline, but over time I became accustomed to my schedule and life became more manageable. If I followed my blocks, I would feel more satisfied about the amount of studying I did because I had quantifiable times spent studying, and so free time was guilt free.