u/LadyOfGaming

For context, I am 3 years out of school making decent money as a corporate ER DVM. However, the realities of the corporate world have become soul-crushing. I feel like I don't have passion for my job anymore in the face of stagnant wages, constant pressure to increase ACTs and to meet impossible benchmarks, prices that rise every 6 months, being forced to market these third-party "payment plans" that just put people into debt/bankruptcy, and very shitty management overall.

My job is 60% marketing and sales, 20% managing a dysregulated team, 10% teaching, and 10% actual veterinary medicine. I hate that I feel like a used car salesman. I hate that we have corporate meetings on best strategies to talk people into doing more with less. I hate that I constantly have to present estimates that no one in their right mind could afford, especially considering cost of living issues and current gas/grocery prices. I have been working a brutal overnights-only shift schedule for the entirety of the 3yrs I've been with this job. I am taking longer to recover after my shifts and switching my sleep cycle back and forth has become very hard. I have brought countless concerns to management, taken FMLA previously for suicidal ideation, and nothing changes. There's so much pretty corporate talk of "taking ownership" and "flipping the switch", but nothing actually happens.

I am considering other options in the field as well as potentially leaving the field. I have considered stepping away from ER, but it feels like a personal failure on my part, especially because I do enjoy it (and surgery) when I actually get to do it. I am also mulling over relief work, but I am the primary earner in the household and all expenses/healthcare benefits are on me.

Has anyone else experienced this? Am I too soft for the industry? Do I just need a different job? Do all veterinary jobs come with the ACT bullshit and constant drive to do more for no additional pay? Is there a way out of this that doesn't involve taking a dive off a highway overpass??

I feel so overwhelmed by decision-fatigue that I can't even think straight. My therapist is worried and so is my husband. I feel like I need someone to hold my hand and talk me through it like I'm 5yrs old :(

For context, I am 3 years out of school making decent money as a corporate ER DVM. However, the realities of the corporate world have become soul-crushing. I feel like I don't have passion for my job anymore in the face of stagnant wages, constant pressure to increase ACTs and to meet impossible benchmarks, prices that rise every 6 months, being forced to market these third-party "payment plans" that just put people into debt/bankruptcy, and very shitty management overall.

My job is 60% marketing and sales, 20% managing a dysregulated team, 10% teaching, and 10% actual veterinary medicine. I hate that I feel like a used car salesman. I hate that we have corporate meetings on best strategies to talk people into doing more with less. I hate that I constantly have to present estimates that no one in their right mind could afford, especially considering cost of living issues and current gas/grocery prices. I have been working a brutal overnights-only shift schedule for the entirety of the 3yrs I've been with this job. I am taking longer to recover after my shifts and switching my sleep cycle back and forth has become very hard. I have brought countless concerns to management, taken FMLA previously for suicidal ideation, and nothing changes. There's so much pretty corporate talk of "taking ownership" and "flipping the switch", but nothing actually happens.

I am considering other options in the field as well as potentially leaving the field. I have considered stepping away from ER, but it feels like a personal failure on my part, especially because I do enjoy it (and surgery) when I actually get to do it. I am also mulling over relief work, but I am the primary earner in the household and all expenses/healthcare benefits are on me.

Has anyone else experienced this? Am I too soft for the industry? Do I just need a different job? Do all veterinary jobs come with the ACT bullshit and constant drive to do more for no additional pay? Is there a way out of this that doesn't involve taking a dive off a highway overpass??

I feel so overwhelmed by decision-fatigue that I can't even think straight. My therapist is worried and so is my husband. I feel like I need someone to hold my hand and talk me through it like I'm 5yrs old :(