Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset

From Vet to Visionary: Dr. Jacquelyn Dietrich's Journey

• Justin Mills • Season 1 • Episode 5

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🎙️ Episode Summary:

In this episode of Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset, Justin Mills interviews Dr. Jacquelyn Dietrich, the visionary owner of Legacy Equine Sports Medicine.

From spontaneous life decisions to starting her own practice, Dr. Dietrich discusses how mentorship, resilience, and mindset helped her build a thriving equine sports medicine practice while navigating challenges in her career and personal life.

🔑 What You’ll Learn:

  • The story behind Legacy Equine Sports Medicine and its deep ties to mentorship.
  • How bold decisions and reframing challenges can lead to success.
  • Insights into equine sports medicine and balancing work with personal life.
  • Practical advice for overcoming burnout and finding joy in the journey.

đź“š Tools & Weapons:

  • Dare to Lead by BrenĂ© Brown
  • Huberman Lab Podcast

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to another episode of Dragon's Gold:

The Magic of Mindset. Today we have the pleasure of being here with the owner of Legacy Equine Sports Medicine, Dr. Jacquelyn Dietrich. Jackie, thank you for joining us today. Well, thanks for having me. First podcast experience. Awesome. Well, I feel honored that you're willing to join this and to grace us with your presence. Really just to also share your story, your journey about the life you've experienced and teach myself and some of our listeners as well about what you do and the impact that it has and to share some stories that you've experienced in your life and some of the lessons and the mindset shifts that have affected you along your journey. So let's just open it up. We'll take it back to the beginning. Let's go to the origin story. Where did the story begin for Dr. Jacquelyn Dietrich? I used to do a lot of like talks or interviews or something like that for kids in college and like one of the most common questions that people ask me is like, why did you become a veterinarian? And I don't have a great answer to be totally honest with you, but this is the truth. think, you know, like when you're a kid, you want to be like a police officer, firefighter, doctor, veterinarian, teacher, you know, like the classic jobs. I think I just chose veterinarian and then I'm just too stubborn to not be a veterinarian, I guess. I was like, well, this is the path. This is what I'm doing now. But I've had a little bit of a journey ups and downs, a little bit of a spontaneous decisions that have led me to kind of owning my own practice now. It's not even a year old. So it's a new practice, but I have been practicing as a veterinarian for well, since 2016. kind of the origin story, it depends on how far back you wanna go. I went to vet school in New Zealand, which was also a spontaneous decision. showed up with two suitcases and had to figure out where to live at six o'clock at night. The guy picked me up from the airport and you know, was dinner time. I hadn't eaten and he drove me to a gas station and told me to get a meat pie. I had no idea. That sounds disgusting from a gas station. Fast forward six years and that's like the last place I want to eat because Little did I know the gas station did have the best meat pies in New Zealand. Made my way back to California. I was born and raised in California. made my way back after six years of New Zealand. Wanted to be close to my family. My sister was starting a family, so had to be close. kind of had this unique mentor and opportunity to do an internship here. It was only supposed to be for one year, but by the end of it, I was like, can you please hire me? And they're like, we don't have a job for you. Not like an opening for what you want. But everybody hates emergency and critical care work, so you can do that and be mentored by us. you know, the hours are really tough, but they'll pay off in the long run. And my mentor was a smooth talker at the time and so was the business manager. So of course I fell for it and ended up staying, being mentored for many years by a one of a kind veterinarian and just practice grew from there. ended up leaving. Thought I might take a step back and try something different, general practice, thinking that maybe it would make for a little bit more of like an easy life. Found somebody, you know, worth taking a step back for. My partner, Brian. Turns out I don't like general practice and I like trying to be the best at something, so. Here I am, started my own practice. That is awesome. I love so much about what you said there. So many lessons, I think, in just that short period of time, one of which I have to cite, I think that that meat pie comment was hilarious, just because the locals take you there and you're like something that you may have thought was strange and wouldn't it make sense turned out to be the right thing. So following advice of people who know. But in that practice and going in and experiencing wanting to be hungry to, sorry, jokes about the people. I know, yeah, but to be hungry for wanting something, right, in that field, them telling you that we don't have an opportunity and you're like, well, I'll find a way, right? You found that way in, you purposefully or through opportunity and then taking a bold chance and putting yourself into an uncomfortable situation or something that no one else wanted to do, right? you were able to get your foot in the door and then grow that in with the relationships that you were able to make because of those steps you took, right? Like. well, you put it more eloquently than I. You make me sound good. So yeah. I think I just in our conversation so far and what we've chatted about like I certainly divide you give me so I think that you when we talk about the the the leap of faith the stepping into action Finding what that big first step in goal was sounds like you had a lot of opportunities but but ones that you took. So tell me about this internship you started in New Zealand. Like, how did that come about? What made you want to be so bold as to move someplace literally across the world without even a place to stay? I, well, back in the day was a little bit more spontaneous than I am now. I got into New Zealand, know, vet school, I should probably set the stage because I don't think a lot of people know this. So this is a little tangent for you, but vet school is quite competitive to get into. One of the main reasons is I think there's like 33 schools in the United States. And when you go through vet school, you have to learn all the different species, makes sense, but you also have to, all the vet schools have to have all the facilities basically to support that learning. So it's a very expensive school to make. It's very expensive to have a hospital for a cow, a horse, a bird, a dog, everything. So there's not too many of them, which makes it competitive. And unfortunately, our industry is kind of in a little bit of an influx and it's bending to the point where it's gonna have to break at some point and change into a different shape. I think for horses, that's what I do, a horse veterinarian, only horses. There's only 3,800 of us left. And so I really wanted to go to vet school. and I enjoyed myself in college a lot. I was a good student, but I also had fun. And New Zealand back then seemed like a pretty fun school to go to. And the official answer is it's ranked, I think when I went, it was like 15th in the world, which is awesome. And the official answer is it's a great school ranked 15th in the world. The unofficial answer is why not live in New Zealand for six years? And so after I did have that meat pie though, huh? Yeah, it was, it was like phenomenal. It shaped a lot of who I am now and how I approach different problems and stress. New Zealanders have a little bit more of a laid-back way of life than we do here in the US So it was good for somebody like me who was a little bit more high-strung at the time but after eating that meat pie like Don't get me wrong. I think I cried for three days after moving to New Zealand and called my mom and was like I No idea what I decided to do like It was just a random situation and I think every large step that I've made along my path, I've had a day or two where I like fall apart and say this is the wrong decision. I don't know what I did. And I've been lucky enough to have the people in my life that say, well, suck it up because this is where you are now and you have to figure it out. But also we're here for you. So. That's how New Zealand came about. It was a spontaneous decision. With every big decision, I think you're always gonna have your doubts and those moments that come up that are like, maybe I should have thought this one through too much. So that's how New Zealand came about, to answer that part of your question. But one of the things I love that you shared was about stepping away, right? And then coming back again and or finding a new path to go in a way that made sense that resonated with you. And I just, my point is saying that as I hear you or rather I read you write that and I just thought that was something that was going to be really powerful to share that someone else may be at some point on their journey, whether they're just tugging along and they're starting to burn out or they're losing their passion for whatever it is. And sometimes you have to step back, right? So. yes, I unfortunately have a lot of experience in that field. in a good way though, I think in the end. Yeah. So isn't it funny how so many things in life that we do, we don't realize that it was the right path to take. It doesn't feel that way at first, but then suddenly you look back and you see where you came from and now where you are and you realize you did exactly what you needed to. I, Brian laughs at this because I'm not a very spontaneous person now, but I used to live my life in a very, very spontaneous way. And just like, I heard somebody talking about when I was like in college or something like that about this internship in Oklahoma. Like I'm a California girl. I mean, my lunches, I, you know, was at the beach. So I was like, heard about this cool internship in Oklahoma working with Quarter Horse Race Horses. I had just had shoulder surgery. They said, you know, probably can't lift anything for like ever, which is like half your job, you know, in the horse world. But anyways, I called my mom. was like, Mom, I think I'm going to move to Oklahoma for a year. And she's like, what? And I was like, yeah. And she was like, what are you going to do there? was like, well, I heard about this internship. I'm going to apply. She's like, OK, you haven't even. yet and yeah, it's probably not gonna happen. And anyways, I think a week later I was on a flight to Oklahoma to interview and then like a month later I moved there and it was just gonna be for a couple months for like their summer internship. I ended up staying like the year for their winter internship and stuff like that. like it's all those things. That's where I met one of the people who my company's named after kind of thing. that's how I got into what I'm doing. Like, you know, like it's very spontaneous. The decisions that you make are extremely impactful and the decisions that you don't make are very impactful. Thank you for sharing that. You made comment about people helping to support you. And we like to call that the fellowship, right? The allies, the mentors, the people that have helped you along in your journey. And so I know you talked about mom and I'm curious, including her, and in addition, who do you feel has helped you along in your journey along the way? gosh, that would take up your whole podcast. My mom and dad and brother and sister, obviously, have been phenomenal. My whole family. I think I'm very fortunate and grateful to come from a different kind of family. I am one of many, many, cousins and we all are quite close, my mom's the youngest of seven. So I have like a huge family support system and we're not just kind of distant cousins or aunts and uncles. Like I, my aunt embroidered my work shirts kind of thing. We're all pretty darn close. So that probably is the biggest one, but I've been, I have a very supportive and patient partner, Brian, who I, you know, but. The people that have influenced me the most within my career, I guess, have been my mentors. Dr. Bryant Craig, one of the three veterinarians that the company is named after, of made me realize how cool being a vet is. it is a little bit of a long story, but I'll make it short and sweet. Legacy is kind of a dedication to three mentors that I had that kind of shaped my career. The first one, Dr. Bryant Craig. He was the head veterinarian at the place in Oklahoma that I worked at. watching him work and stuff, was like, okay, that's pretty cool. I'll look into doing that. then the second one is Dr. Philippe Benoit. He's from France. He's internationally very well known in our field. And he has inspired me. Well, he was one of many very cool people that encouraged me to start the company. But I see him as always like the person who's keeping me going, like keeping me reading, keeping me striving to be better, more, that kind of thing. And then Russ Peterson has really been like the biggest mentor in my career for many, many, many years. I started my internship with him. He's like a work dad to me. He taught me almost everything I know about sports medicine. And then later when I met Philippe, he also has taught me so much in the last few years, but he kind of was the one who pushed me to, pushed me into sports medicine to begin with, but also kind of pushed me to think differently about my career and think differently about how we practice medicine. And he's pretty much, him and Philippe, Dr. Craig as well, like all three of them are like the gold standard for going above and beyond for your patients and clients. And at the end of the day, that's what you do it for. So they all kind of contributed to the word legacy. But Russ, we had a little too much bourbon one night when he was selling his practice. And I mean, he's... kind of like one of the big wigs internationally for sports medicine. And so he's retiring, selling his practice. And I was leaving the practice and we had a little too much bourbon and he was like, gosh, know, I built this practice and you know, X, Y, Z and you know, it's like my whole legacy. It's all of sudden you walk away from it. And I remembered saying to him, surprisingly, I remembered and said, you know, it's not your legacy. Like the physical location isn't your legacy. It's me and I listed a bunch of other people who have worked for him, who now are out in the world practicing medicine the way that he taught us to practice. And it's his style and his sentiment and his passion kind of that he projected and preached and everything like that for many years. So that's his legacy. So I left in an effort to kind of preserve that legacy in my own way. Wow, it makes me think of that question, what's in a name, right? Like, wow, like so, so much rich history in that and so many lessons even just in the name alone in that mindset shift that I love how you said about the legacy is not just, you know, patience and it's the people that he taught, right? It's all the ripples. It's the impact that he made. Yeah. in his years of doing it. So I think so many things that we do in our life is that we don't realize how much of it is. It's not just what we do, it's the lives that we touch. It's the people that we affect in our journey, right? definitely. I think even my logo is similar to that. It's a double infinity and Russ, I mean, you're doing a procedure with him and he will make you redo it to perfection, like to the millimeter, you know, if you're placing a needle in the correct way, kind of thing. He's never, never ending, kind of striving for like perfection, which is what the infinity symbol kind of means. So. The two of them is kind of supposed to be me in a way or this new company or idea. And then the other one is supposed to be those mentors that laid the way. that's what it's probably a little over the top sentimental, but. If it's important to you, that's what matters. And you know the depth of that meaning. So every time you look at that logo, you know what it really stands for. It kind of keeps you going a little bit when it's like really tired. You're like, what would Russ do? yep, keep going. Yeah. That's awesome. Amazing. Thank you for that. I've had other veterinarians from around like one in Canada and New Zealand and the UK and different parts of the United States all be like a support system who you can just call and ask the questions that you don't really want to ask and you're not sure you want to know the answers to either. So those are the people that I think make or break a career and add to the success of it. That's so powerful to hear you talk about not just the people that have helped you from different across the world and from different positions and roles personally and professionally, but I love what you said about having a coach. Even when you're even when you are the professional bringing in people and expertise and people that know things that you don't and being able to ask. tough questions that few people have those answers to or people that have been in that position before can give you the benefit of their experience. One of the most invaluable things I've ever done was hire a professional coach. she's, mean, she's a friend now. But if I could give advice on like one investment for somebody trying to figure it out is a professional coach. it's kind of like dating. You have to find the right one. I was lucky enough to like, right off the bat, I was like, yes, I need your help. And I need the help from you specifically. She forced me to answer a lot of hard questions, professional and personal, because in our career field, and in a lot of career fields, it's one and the same. And kind of look at your morals and ethics. And if it's not aligning with what you're doing, there's dissonance. And that is the most invaluable lesson that I learned from her is, recognizing dissonance, like when you're talking to a friend or a client or somebody at work, if there's conflict or tension or something like that, there's dissonance. So you have to figure out what that dissonance is and if it's fixable. Yes, and then also recognizing whether it's worth investing that time to nurture that relationship or if you have to remove yourself from that situation so that you can put your energies where they're going to be best well received and most useful to you and your clients or the students or whoever it is that you're trying to help on your journey, right? That's, yep, exactly right. So I'm curious to know in regards to just obstacles and things that you've overcome in your journey because going on all those different paths and along the way. I'm curious some of the things that you experienced and some of the obstacles that you overcame. And I'm also curious how you came to settle on equine sports medicine specifically, as opposed to many other animals that you could have helped in the veterinary field. I'll answer the last one first, because it's more of a... I mean, you're taking a 1,000 plus pound animal and putting it on like four twig legs, and how they're still alive in the wild is beyond me. It's... I mean, they're super difficult to work on. They're very unique. They're incredible. incredibly powerful animals and I'm not talking about like the image of them, although the image of horses in lots of different movies, books, all that kind of stuff, obviously it's there and it's there for a reason, but they are, they're challenging. They get hurt a lot. They hurt themselves a lot. They hurt each other a lot. It's like we definitely don't have enough vets around to take care of them. And for sports medicine specifically, a lot of research is being done in horses. There's like a conference, it's an orthobiologic conference that happens yearly and you take human medicine, dog and cat medicine, but mainly dog and horses and you talk about the different advancements for treatments in arthritis or tendinopathy and stuff like that. Honestly, horses have incredible research behind it and whatnot. I'm a big football fan, so I hear of an injury in a football player or something like that, and I'm like, well, if it was a horse, this is what we would do. And a lot of the times they'll release it, and it's like, PRP, that's been around forever, and it's not anything new. I used it today, literally, in a carpal joint. like in the leg of a horse and it's being used on athletes and stuff like that. So it's a super interesting field. I can get carried away talking about it, but it's fascinating. And there's a lot of horse athletes around this area. So you're never in, you know, short supply. That's why I chose horses specifically. But yeah. And so do you find, and to that point of challenging, you had mentioned that there's a shortage of equine doctors. And so... Do you find that you are, how do I say, do you find that in order to try and help that you're being stretched thin in trying to help? Tell me more about that. It's part of the reason why I started my own practice, but in the industry, you're stretched thin. And I feel very comfortable saying that, speaking on behalf of a lot of people and probably not everybody, the not everybody part is the people who have taken a little bit more control of their lives and have been better about boundaries. When I went to vet school, One of the first questions that they ask in your introduction is who of you have decided to go to vet school because you don't want to work with people and only animals. And like 90 % raise their hand and I was like, you guys are in the wrong field because a dog is not going to take himself to you and say, hey, I hurt in this finger and it's been happening for about two weeks and this is what I've done to try and fix it. And now I need your help. It's a mystery, they can't speak. Horses can't drive themselves to a clinic, they're a large animal. a lot of the burnout that happens in our career, in my opinion, is from emergency medicine, because you have to drive. And I was in the car six hours today because of the holiday traffic. And most veterinarians, horse veterinarians, are in the car a lot. Your phone goes off day and night, 24 hours a day. If you're lucky enough to come from one of the two practices that I used to practice at, do as best of job as they can to try and prevent burnout. Shout out to them, they do an amazing job. It's hard, there's only a little shy of, sorry, 3,800 of us in the entire United States. And so... Only I think 200 are going into becoming an equine vet per year and 50 of those, 50 % of that number won't be in practice in five years. So it's a problem that needs fixing. it's, what I was trying to get at with the raising your hand thing is you attract people who want to help animals and you attract people. who wanna help people too. And so it's my day off. If somebody that I care about that I feel responsible for calls, yeah, I probably am gonna go out. And that's where the burnout happens. And there's no real good solution for it, to be honest with you. If I stay home, I'll feel real guilty and bad and I'll ruin my day. If I go, it might ruin my family's day, cause I'm missing out on something. Like two Easter's ago, my niece, two and a half at the time, three almost. And I'll never forget it. She was like really upset that I left to go on an emergency call. And it's like a very small moment in time. She won't remember it. It'll be fine, but I remember it. And I think that that happens all the time for equine practitioners. Thank you for sharing that perspective and that moment. And maybe she will, and I don't mean this in a negative way, but maybe she will remember. Maybe she will. But also what will, I believe, come with time, even if she remembers it, is when she understands why you did it. You didn't do it because you're going to a different party. You're going to see that niece, right? You're going to help save someone's life or help, I mean, potentially, right? Yeah. And so when you find meaning behind what you do, even the hard decisions, you can validate them. And I'm not saying that's an easy thing, but I think about when you talk about burnout. I believe when you put yourself out there so much, absolutely, you can promote that potential for burnout. But when you're passionate about what you do, and you see the results, hopefully positive ones that come from the effort that you make, it helps to refuel that fire, right? To keep that burn going in a positive way. And my hope is that someone watching this podcast that maybe has a desire to try and do something realizes that. and hopefully they become an equine sports medicine doctor. or at least follow jokes aside, and that's not really a joke, that's very serious. Hopefully they follow something that's in their passion, and hopefully it's something that can help people, especially when there is a situation where there's a need for it, right? So. I'm curious about, we talked about trials, obstacles, but I'm going ask, is there a moment, is there one time in particular, or if you're comfortable sharing it, call it the darkest hour. Is there something that you look back where you thought you were going to quit, throw in the towel, you were just done with your experience? I've had many, many dark, dark moments, quote unquote. gosh. I think most recently in starting this practice, it's gonna sound very silly, it is, you know, the dark moments sneak up on you very fast, I think. And I was, you know, I had this amazing group of awesome people supporting me and starting this business and, you know, the S-Corp just went through and I'm... getting everything's like situated. just bought my equipment. It's all fun and stuff like that. And then everybody's like, well, you probably should get a website so that you look legit. And so I was like, great. Found this wonderful website designer who helped me in more than just my website design. I'm not a techie person at all. Not even a little bit. So he sends me this list of questions to kind of get a feel for. who I am, my practice is, what I want my professional appearance to look like, what are my morals, ethics, all of these things that I've like, I haven't had time to think about these things. And I just had a complete and utter mental breakdown, not really, but like I was like, I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do that. I have no idea what I'm trying to, like I. I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do. I know how to do a lameness exam on a horse and inject a joint or, you know. ultrasound something, take radiogram. I know how to do that, I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to start a business. They don't teach you business school things in vet school and you could say the same thing about like many other careers. They don't teach you any of this stuff, you have to figure it out. And I was like, can't do it, can't do it. Nope, and I was lucky to be saying it to. my partner who starts laughing, which I didn't appreciate at the time. And he was like, you look ridiculous, you're fine. You have a doctorate, you'll figure it out. And you can answer some questions about a website. I was like, I can't, sorry, can't. He was like, all right, then go to bed. Like go to bed and do it tomorrow. And that's what I did. And then you just kind of wake up and you're like, okay, I gotta do it and do it. But a lot of... tough questions like from other people, like my parents asking, you know, you can't, this isn't sustainable. You know, this is at a previous job before I started my own business. This isn't sustainable. This is how you want to live your life. Or canceling on a friend, my best friend from college canceled on her for dinner for like the gazillionth time because I had to work and I was exhausted. And she's like, this is last time I'm asking you to dinner. Like, this isn't cool. The people that I have surrounded myself with have been honest with me, which I think is a hard pill to swallow, but also a mirror that you have to take a hard look into. So those were my darkest moments, is letting down other people because of my career. Wow. So when you share those moments, again, so many lessons in the sentences you just shared with us, one of which I'll make note that I think so many people need to remember is that when you're in that moment, sometimes you just need to go take a nap or step away from the situation, right? It can feel so overwhelming in the moment. and that emotion can kick in so hard, sometimes you have to separate yourself from that. Allow yourself to reset and come back with that fresh mind and you'll see it in a new light. You'll see it in a perspective that you hadn't seen before. I think also what you share in regards to hurting the people that we love. That's heart wrenching. It hurt me to hear you say that about that moment with your friend and have to hear something like that. But I think in life, when you're following your passion and you're doing what you need to do, there are gonna be moments like that. I think that trying to find that balance is important. But I have to say, I give kudos to you and respect for the fact that you did push yourself and that you were working so hard because no one was going to do this for you but you. Right? Yes, is, I can sit up here and tell you day in and day out how lucky I am to have the people that have supported me and stuff. But at the end of the day, it's kinda, you have to do it yourself. have to, people can help you and support you. But at the end of the day, nobody's gonna advocate for you except for you. And nobody's going to make the changes that need to happen in your life for you, but you. Like when I don't, I think it came from a poem, I don't know, but it's on a lot of memes and stuff like that. It's like kind of choose your heart. Like I get up to go to the gym at like an uncomfortable time. Like it sucks, but also. not having a week back in my very physical job that I have working on these 1000 pound animals. That's hard too, if you're not fit. You kind of have to choose your heart. And that's the quote, like choose your heart. You can say it about lots of different things. So you have to choose your heart and then suffer through it or figure out a different way to reframe it in your mind to make it more palatable. I right there so powerful that the reframing in your mind, right? You can look at the same thing different ways. And it's about how you consider the perspective that you look at it is the view and then the perception you look at it, the lens you look at it through. Right. And so when you choose your heart, you're getting up early in the morning to go to the gym. Yeah, it's uncomfortable. But as you say, if you get hurt, like how much more uncomfortable is it going to be? Right. And I'm curious. The mornings that you don't want to get up to go to the gym when you you try yourself and push yourself to do it when you leave Do you ever regret doing it? No, because I put on some rap music and jam out until I get there, until I'm jazzed up to do it. Great. I love it. Right? And you find a way to push yourself through. That's perfect. I love it. I think that a lot of people will appreciate hearing that. I like to think of Dragon's Gold, the rewards, the successes, the mindset shifts, the things that you've, that you've valued, the achievements you've experienced in your life and on your journey. If you were to share some of the Dragon's Gold, what would you say are those moments in your life that you're thankful for? That also be up here day and night saying all of that too. The power of my own schedule, making my own schedule. I know that sounds silly, but that is one of the biggest goals in starting my own practice. Being able to practice medicine in the way. that is more innovative and looking at the patient as a whole kind of thing and having the freedom to do that. Some practices want you to fit within a box and I learned I don't fit into a box very well or at least quietly. And so, sorry to former employers. who like by the way are all amazing. have nothing negative to say. That's the other thing. You have to find your people and find where you belong. finding where you belong has been a goal for me. Finding the clients that appreciate you. Small, it's the small things. Like I saw a horse two weeks ago. didn't look very good, definitely wasn't ready for competition. We worked on it and I got a video today and I was like, there, that's what I wanna see. Like that I did something good. That horse was not doing very well and probably had a lot of back pain and stuff like that. And now it's moving very nicely. So those are like, those are some easy goals that I feel like I've achieved as far as. specific to me as a veterinarian, goals as in a person is, you I had invited that friend over for the 49er game this last weekend. I got a puppy, and that's probably the squeaky noise that you hear in the background. And I'm able to enjoy life a little bit more while also being very successful at work. And that's the biggest goal to me is figuring out, I hate the word work-life balance. I don't think that there is a balance. I think it's a sliding scale from day to day. So some days are very heavy on the work and some days are, you know, I get to go on a hike with my puppy on a Tuesday. It's not what happened yesterday, but maybe next Tuesday. Those are the goals, I think that. in general, not just veterinarians, but people in general have to remember. My job is all encompassing. It's part of my personality. It's part of who I am. I've come to terms with that. But at the end of the day, at one point, I'm going to retire begrudgingly. And what else is there going to be? And it's figuring out what you want to leave behind outside of your career and the person that you want to be remembered as. So I like to be remembered as somebody who really loved their puppy and found the time to figure out a way to make a horse feel better and go on a hike on the same week. So I love that you made comment about being able about that, bringing your friend to the 49er game, right? No, I think it's powerful. come though. She didn't come. She already had another 49er party to go to for the record, but she'll come next week. Fair enough, right? But you extended the invite, right? You still have that friendship, right? And so while there are some times where you may not be able to make the commitment because of an unbalanced work life combination, the idea is ultimately that you still find a way to be able to fill it in. And you don't push your friends away. You find that opportunity to invite them back in and... And each of you, just like you, she has her own path, right? And she's on her journey. And I wish her well in whatever her journey is, right? She's doing great. Everybody has their own journey. It could easily be her on this podcast and a set of me, and it would probably be more interesting. everybody does have their journey. you always hear the saying, everybody's got their own thing going on from day to day. But it's super true. Well, I'm incredibly grateful that you were kind enough to come on this podcast tonight, truly. So you had mentioned about like the idea about legacy and about passing the torch. so the thought is if... If you, I call it the hall of heroes, if you were to go through and there was a statue of Jackie, of Dr. Jacquelyn Butrick, and there was something that was emblazoned there that people could read and learn about, what would you want it to say? What would you want people to know and remember about you? It's something that I hope, I'll kind of twist it, I'll answer it, but put a little twist on it, I think. I hope more people take advantage of mentorship and being a mentor. If you have the time to teach somebody something, take the time. If you want to learn something or you want to be something, take the time. Time is the most, especially nowadays, the hottest commodity. There's not enough hours in the day at all. you know, Brian right now is up in the garage fixing his car. He learned to fix a car because of a friend's father when he was younger said, hey, do want me to show you how to do this? And that's how he learned to work on cars and everything like like that. It was that friend's dad who took the time to teach somebody something. And. It was Russ saying, hey, I know it's your day off. You know, in an internship you work six days a week, 24 hours a day. Your bedroom is literally at the hospital. Like your residence is at the hospital. And he goes, I know you have 24 hours off, but I'm looking at this cool case tomorrow and if you come I'll let you do this ultrasound that you haven't done before. Showing up at 7 a.m. on my day off to do it because... Now in owning my own business, I can confidently perform that because I took the time to learn and he took the time to come and ask me to do it. Super undervalued in every aspect of life. People are so rushed and they're so busy and they're so entitled. No offense to anybody out there, sorry, but they are. They think that things should come easily and they don't. You know, people don't tell stories of things that went perfectly, and it's messy and it's hard, and you have to take the time and you have to go through it. Like, there's no other way. And also, what's it all worth if you don't fight for something? I know that sounds super cliche, and I didn't actually mean to have it come out that way. You gotta take pride in what you do. you know, that video of a horse could be a video of a horse to somebody else. But to me, it's super meaningful because I worked really hard to get that horse to look that way. So The hard things in life are usually the meaningful ones. So true and so much gold. That's absolute. Talking about being a mentor, giving back and also taking the time you need to go and to learn something. You could have taken the easy road. You could have chose, now I'm gonna sleep in today. But you made that investment in yourself and someone who's willing to invest their time with you. To give you that opportunity and... And if you have the ability to help somebody, those ripples, I think about ripples and how impactful it is. You talk about that video of the horse that you saw. Well, that horse, you took away, based on what I'm hearing, you took away pain. You gave him a better life. right? But but not just the horse benefits from that. The trainer gets the benefit. mean, how emotionally how emotionally do you impact that person? How the trainer felt looking at their at their horse in that right? It must have been hurtful in the heart, right? And and and impactful if it's an in sports. I mean, if this if this horse is performing athlete. Mm-hmm. else is impacted, right? And all the ripples that come down the way. So the effort that you made, it brought you joy to help somebody or to help this creature. But how many other people were able to benefit from that because of what you did? Yeah, for me, you know, what, as a girl, she's must be 17. I think maybe rides that horse. It's her last year to make it to young riders. You have to be, you know, 18 or younger to make it, you know, she, now she has a more competitive horse. the trainer, her business is better. the assistant trainer, he now has another horse to ride and practice on all that kind of stuff. Like, but that's I mean, we're using a very niche example, but that's like you said, you can translate that into every aspect of life. You know, yeah. I love it. I love it. Thank you for that. Well, Jackie, I'm going to ask two more, three more questions. So what's next? What's the next quest? I asked myself that as well. The business is going great. I've always had an assistant. I probably should have an assistant. Yeah, growing the business, I guess. You're also kind of at a little interesting point. I like being able to take that dog on a hike. You have employees underneath you. You don't get that luxury all the time. It's another year of growth, another year of putting the business first and stuff. to be honest with you, until I feel really passionate about growing the business or really passionate about staying kind of where I am, I'm kind of seeing what happens. I'm at capacity. I think my next available appointment is the end of January. I'm happy. I think the next step for me is kind of being comfortable, being content until I feel really strongly about the next quest. That in and of itself is gold. That's beautiful. Well then, I'll more reason to try and do it, right? It's a challenge. And I'm sure just like so many things that you've already overcome, you're gonna overcome that challenge too. So we talk about tools and weapons. I'm curious, like whether it be books or resources that you... that you have used in your journey? Is there anything that you would share for the listeners that may be impactful or helpful to them? Or that you found that had been helpful to you? I listen to lot of podcasts. Like Dragon's Gold, the magic of mine sounds fantastic. Like, subscribe, ring the bell. You can gain a lot of information by listening to other people. People have been my biggest resource. One podcast I listen to a lot. I, you know, I'm in science, so it makes sense, but I think it has a lot of interesting things on how to better yourself in very specific technical ways is the Huberman Lab podcast. I listened to that. a lot, like probably a little too much. But I like constantly trying to make yourself as a human, like as an individual, but also physically healthier because I just feel like mentally, physically everything that benefits you helps everything else, helps everyone else around you. People have been my biggest resource. Books that I have read, Dare to Lead by Brene Brown, one of my favorites. I use that a lot. What does finished look like is what I used to use a lot with like assistance and whatnot. Brene Brown, all of her books, I read and listen to them a lot. So those have been the biggest ones, but I mean, there's so many out there now. It's awesome. It's great. It's great that it's becoming something that so many people are aware of, bettering themselves. Business-wise, I'll let you know. I hire a business consultant, people that are smarter than me and better than me. And I think making sure that you're humble and can recognize when somebody else can do something better for you. Do it. Learn from them. You know, I wouldn't... ask a lawyer to do a hand surgery or something like that or a teacher to, you know, be a lawyer kind of thing. Although maybe probably some of them could. But, yeah, find the right people to help you and the people are the biggest resources. it. Thank you. All right, so I've got one last question and I'm gonna tell you this is my favorite, this is my favorite question, it really is. If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why? I'm not gonna lie. I'm little science nerd. I don't know too many mythical creatures. In fact, I was on the on my way home and I I asked a friend out who's the character on Harry Potter? They like snap their fingers and they they're somewhere else or whatever She told me the name of it and now I I can't for the life of me remember But if I could just snap my fingers and be somewhere else That would be the coolest like superhero power, mythical creature, whatever. Anything that flies, I'd settle for that. You could be a I would settle for that. Yeah, I mean, I drive a lot in the East Bay, so anything to the East Bay traffic, but also traveling and just like being aware that you're one person in like a huge world with so many different people and cultures, like to be able to experience more of that in a shorter amount of time without layovers would be great. of it. You remember you recently were in Bali, is that right? So tell me about that experience and what, if I recall correctly, you made comment that it just gave you a perspective. Tell us about that. I would like to move to Bali first of all. I It was a little bit of a spontaneous decision I went I knew one person on the trip. There's a group of women who went One of them the one who invited me her Best friend is a travel agent just started her own business as well. And so this mutual friend that we had had you know, been super supportive and encouraging throughout the whole process for the both of us. And so her friend, Nicole, who's the travel agent was like, you know, I want to plan a trip for like girls to Bali. So I was like, okay, I'm in. But it is different. It's a different culture. You know, we'd hike through the rice fields and you see people's houses that they were very proud of and that wouldn't be what a house here would resemble. Their drinking water and just, and everything and they were the most gracious and kind people that I've ever met and they were so proud and proud of who they are not. not based on money or anything like that, but about what they do for a living. They have different villages, like wood carving, one furniture making, one stone working, everything like that. And everybody was so proud of what they did and what they could sell and who they are and what their heritage was. it's a different religion. Hinduism is a large religion over there, going to the different temples. Each house has a temple and then the community has a temple. Families, know, a large family gathering has a temple. We'd hike to like a waterfall and you do a blessing before going into the jungle. Like it's a very different way of thinking, but a very grateful way of thinking. And it's awesome to repost all the memes and, you know, Facebook or Twitter, whatever posts about being grateful and everything. But it's another thing to genuinely embody it. And that culture does. And it honestly made me very grateful. And something that I try, you know, when you get caught in the busyness here, the stressfulness or like you said, like being overwhelmed, it's overwhelming sometimes. Work, making dinner, going to the gym, helping kids with homework. It's overwhelming doing it all. And so to remember to like I get to help my kid with. I don't have kids, but my niece or nephew with their homework or I get to make this amazing salmon that I got from the grocery store without spending an entire day fishing for it, you know, or maybe you're grateful to be able to take a day off to go fishing for the salmon, you know, like no matter what it is, it's again, reframing and that culture did an amazing job of opening my eyes that way. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that experience. And the Balinese culture, the Balinese mythology there is the Barong. so, yeah, symbol of protection, symbol of good, symbol of prosperity. But one of the things I love also is that it has the power for healing. Mm-hmm. between that I thought that I'm not saying that's what you have to choose at all, but it is something that I thought was it resonated. You're going to have to tell it to me one more time. I'm going write it down. The Barong, B-A-R-O-N-G. I like it. Yeah, absolutely, I love it, I love it. So, and really what I love most, is the fact that you shared so much wisdom with the listeners today. I really believe there's gonna be a lot of people that are gonna be grateful that they watched this episode. So, I know all of you. any anytime I I hope that even if you know you help one person in a in a tough mindset You just kind of got to get get out of it. You got to figure out how to get out of it Nobody else is gonna do it for you So powerful. So powerful. I love that you shared that and I agree. I think you can find help, but ultimately you have to be the one to put yourself out, right? Well, thank you again. No, thank you. Thanks for having me. My friends, thank you for joining us once again on this journey to inspire, educate, and empower you to turn your dreams into reality, one mindset shift at a time. We'll see you next time.

People on this episode

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Justin Mills

Host
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Aaron Iler

Producer
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Dr. Jacquelyn Dietrich

Guest