The Cycle That Eventually Breaks Veterinary Leaders - And How to Step Out of It
The cycle goes like this:
– You want to rest
– You feel guilty for resting
– So you keep pushing
– Until you hit breaking point
– Then you crash
…And before long, you’re doing it all again.
Sound familiar?
This isn’t laziness. It’s not poor time management.
It’s the invisible load of leadership.
And it’s not just what you do each day — it’s what you carry, feel, and suppress beneath the surface.
The Invisible Load
Veterinary leaders often carry an unseen weight:
- The emotional burden of keeping the team going through rota chaos, client complaints, or unexpected staff departures
- The quiet grief of sacrificing family time for another late shift, again
- The mental clutter of juggling ten different roles in one: mentor, manager, clinician, fixer, listener, leader…
And on top of that - guilt. So much guilt.
You feel guilty for leaving on time.
Guilty for saying no.
Guilty for thinking about yourself.
So instead of resting, you override your needs.
You push through. You function. You smile. You give more.
Until your nervous system says: enough.
And now for an uncomfortable truth:
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
The guilt, the overfunctioning, the quiet burnout — it will keep running the show unless you choose to interrupt the cycle.
Why This Is So Hard to Break
Because many veterinary leaders I coach didn’t become leaders through desire to be a leader — they stepped up because no one else would. Because they care, deeply.
They’re used to being the one others rely on. The one who doesn’t crack.
The one who keeps going, no matter what.
But the cost is:
- Decision fatigue becomes emotional numbness
- Compassion becomes chronic self-abandonment
- And somewhere along the line, leadership starts to feel like losing yourself
It’s subtle - until it’s not.
Until you don’t recognise the version of yourself staring back in the mirror — exhausted, short-tempered, and always “just getting through.”
“Make Change Before Change Changes You.”
It means: don’t wait for the consequences of your current situation to force your hand.
Don’t wait for your health to suffer, your team to burn out, your relationships to strain…
Because change will come either way.
But you can choose it intentionally — or you can be knocked sideways by it.
Proactive growth is a gift to yourself.
Reactive survival is the bill you pay when you wait too long.
So What Can You Do?
If any of this speaks to you — here’s a place to start:
- Acknowledge the load you carry.
You don’t have to keep pretending it’s fine. Name it. - Notice your guilt stories.
“I should be available.” “If I say no, I’m letting them down.”
Write them down. Then ask — who taught you that? Is it still serving you? - Pre-script your boundaries.
Start small:
“I’m not available for that right now.”
“I’ll reply tomorrow during work hours.”
“I need to step away and come back to this fresh.” - Choose one thing to reclaim this week.
Your lunch break. Your weekend. Your peace.
It doesn’t have to be dramatic, but it does have to start.
