Choosing Gratitude Even on the Hard Days

In this episode of Behind the Stethoscope, Dr. Elizabeth Brann dives into what gratitude looks like-- especially on the hard days.

Because gratitude isn’t always easy. It’s not something you automatically feel after a long overnight shift, a tough case, or a moment of self-doubt. It’s something you choose.

From emergency room realities to personal growth and faith, this episode explores:

--How to practice gratitude in high-stress environments

--Why gratitude isn’t the same as toxic positivity

--Small, realistic ways to shift your mindset after hard shifts

--What vet med teaches you about perspective, life, and purpose

Whether you’re in veterinary medicine, healthcare, or just navigating a demanding season of life, this episode is a reminder that gratitude doesn’t erase the hard—it helps you carry it.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, friends, and welcome back to Behind the Stethoscope. My name is Dr. Elizabeth Brand. I am an ER veterinarian, just trying to figure everything out like the rest of us. I am so sorry there was no episode last week. I am still getting over sickness, as you may hear in my voice. I was pretty down last week. So we took an off week last week. But we are back. This episode is an episode that I want to record last week just because of St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays. And around this time of year, it brings up kind of the idea of gratitude and being lucky. And so I really wanted to make an episode about gratitude and how blessed we all are in every situation that we're in. I don't want to talk about the fluffy type of gratitude, the Pinterest board, the just hashtag be thankful. I want to talk about the one, the gratitude that we choose. We go through tough things in our lives. Everybody does. For me in particular at work, like it's the hard cases, it's the long nights. So you work 16 hours, it's the medical records that you're doing on the side, it's the grind of it all. But choosing to be thankful, choosing to look at the bright side and saying, How lucky am I that I get to do this job? Like, how lucky am I to go through all those things? When I say gratitude, what we're gonna talk about is why gratitude matters, why is it so hard sometimes, and how we can be honestly more intentional about it in the chaos of life. So let's get into it. Okay, so I would really want to start with saying gratitude is not denial. I'm not saying that we don't go through hard things in our life. We have heartbreaks, we have long nights, we have things that happen in our lives that make us question what's supposed to happen or what our direction is. That's still real. Life is still real, life can be hard. Gratitude is not denying any of that. I also want to start by saying gratitude is not toxicity. I like I'm not talking about those like really bubbly, oh my gosh, yay, go team and posting all that. It's the gentle, it's the small reminders to be like, I'm thankful for the day, period. Or I'm thankful for my friends, like the little things that kind of go on in our lives that like we can be thankful for. And it's funny, like again, that I'm talking about this episode right now because I had like a couple nights ago, I had a really tough night. I had lost patience, I had a lot of surgery, I stayed almost 18 hours at work. It was a crazy day, not all good, but I still caught myself driving home from work and going, I love my job. Like I am so happy I have my job. I am so grateful to have my job. And I don't, and you may not feel that same way about your job, but there are probably things in your life that we either take for granted, that we don't think about enough, that are saying, I am so grateful to have this person in my life. I am so grateful for my husband or my wife, so grateful for my kids. I'm so grateful for my friends that have always had my back. So I think that everybody can relate to the small little things in life. VetMed in particular, like this job of emergency after two years, honestly has taught me to be grateful. Gratitude is not easy in emergency. We can think about all the bad things that have happened in that shift. We can think about we lost that patient. We can think about the mean owner that yelled us down in the lobby. We can talk about how we didn't feel like we were good enough, we didn't help, we didn't do whatever. But I think it actually has shown me the kind of the opposite of like when I do get a win, I'm so much more thankful. Like when an owner is nice, I'm like so thankful about it. When honestly, sometimes it's even like normal blood work. When a client says thank you, when I get to talk to my technicians about how their day's going, I think it's like the little things and the little connections that we make make this life worth it. And it's again gratitude and being blessed is so small sometimes, but it's the perspective that you take. I think as a new grad, saying giving myself the space to make errors and doing all of that stuff, not taking it too hard, but saying, I'm actually here. Like, I'm actually a vet. I have wanted to be a vet all of my life and to say that, oh my gosh, I'm actually here. And just being grateful for that moment right there. I think we could all use a little bit more of. It was so funny. I was driving home today, knowing I was gonna record this episode, and I think about all the blessings that I have in my life. I have such a great family, I have such great friends, my coworkers are amazing, even the co-workers that I've worked with previously. Like I'm so lucky to have met the people in my life that I have. People that I met in vet school that have changed the trajectory of my life. The people outside of vetmed, or even my friends, my acquaintances. Like the acquaintances I've met in my life has changed the trajectory of my life in a positive way. Just being grateful for the little things. I'm with an amazing man right now, and he has taught me so much about myself, the odds of us meeting, like it has all I can think of is like how grateful and how lucky I am that he's in my life. And so the little things throughout, like I've said before, life can bring us down, saying, Oh, this is the bad thing that happened to me, this is the bad thing that happened to me. And I challenge you guys to change your perspective after listening to this. Think about three things that you can think of that you're grateful for. You might be going through a hard time in your life, and that happens. And I can honestly say that's been the last year and a half of my life. A lot of change, a lot of consistencies in my life have changed. But I think changing that perspective of I am grateful for what is in front of me right now. Friends leave your life and you miss them, but also being grateful for what they added to your life during that time. I'm thankful for the friends that are in my life. Same with coworkers, same with my job. If my job left tomorrow, that would really stink and that would really hurt. But I am so grateful for what I've learned so far in this job. Okay, I like was thinking about this on my drive home. And when I think about recording episodes and what I want to talk about and how I'm gonna fill this time up with an episode, I definitely think about reflecting on me in my life. I think about like the hard times when I have hard times in my life. Like, why is it so hard to get out of it? What's going on in my life that I can't sit there and go, I am so thankful for blank, whatever that may be, and whatever that is for your life. I think it's gratitude can be hard sometimes when things are happening in our lives and we're like, why me? Like, why is this happening to me? But I also think comparing yourself to others is like a really massive part of why sometimes we're not grateful. Again, there's a like a lot of things, but in my life, I want to reflect on. I think that for me is like a really high point in my life. That person has this. Well, how can I be grateful about this? Because that person has this. And I think on the outside, everybody feels like those other people have everything together. And in reality, they also struggle with the same things that we all struggle with. It's so funny. One of my, I was talking to one of my technicians last night, and she's so pretty. She's drop dead gorgeous. And I'm like, dang, like, why can't I look like that or whatever the case is? And it was funny because yesterday she was talking about how insecure she was. And I was like, You? Like, you're so pretty. And she was like, I am so insecure. And I was like, wow. And she's like, I am so lucky to have a family. I'm so lucky to have a husband that loves me. I'm so lucky to all this stuff. But at the end of the day, like, I'm so insecure. And it's funny because I look at her and I'm like, How can you be insecure? Like, you were so pretty, you were such a great person, you're so intelligent, you're so smart, all of these things. And again, it's so easy to look saying, you have everything together. Again, I'm just using her as an example, but you have everything together. You have X, you have Y, you have Z. She has she's got it all figured out. And I've actually heard that quite a bit in my life of, oh, you have everything figured out. You have a great job, you have this, you have that. And on the outside, yeah, it might look like I have everything together, but on the inside in daily life, I feel like I live in chaos a hundred percent of the time. And so giving that perspective of even if people feel like they have everything together and you're jealous of what they have, or you're like, why don't I have that life, or why don't I have that job, or why don't I have the house or a family or whatever the case is? And I think being grateful in the shoes that you're in and make it intentional. It's not easy making it intentionally saying, I am so grateful in the shoes that I have. Those chapters will come. Again, it's hard to say when you're in a really tough time in your life, trust me, I know. But saying, I am so grateful in the shoes that I'm at, me personally, I am so grateful how much I get to travel. That is something in my life that I couldn't do if I had three kids. And so I am so grateful I get to go to a trip with my vet school friends. We're going to a beach house. And the fact that I have such great friends that are willing to travel for each other and plan a trip and do it every year and all of those things like that. Like, I am so grateful. And so it's the little things, and in each chapter of everybody's life, it changes. Some people may not travel as much as I do and say, dang, I'm really jealous about how much she can travel. Whether you do or you don't, uh again, just an example, but you may have something in your life going on that's dang, that's really cool. Or being grateful, like I have three healthy kids. That in itself is such a gift. I have such an amazing husband and we have such a great life together. That is such a gift. I have a really awesome friend that wants to travel the world with me. That is honestly 10 to none. You can't beat that. So the little things that happen in our lives that we say, I am so grateful for blank small things, daily things, but it also can be very big things that sometimes we forget about. I am so grateful for my best friend, even though sometimes we don't talk for a couple days. We've been playing phone tag recently, but knowing that she's trying to call me, I am so grateful that I have a friend that's trying to call me. So it's a little things, but I just like wanted to talk about this with St. Paddy's being last week and kind of the luckiness and hashtag be lucky and all of that stuff. And I'm so lucky to have what I have in my life, and sharing that and spreading that is something that I wanted to do. So, with all that being said, I want to talk about case of the week. Case of the week is a really fun case of mine that I've had for some time now. But again, it's just the small little things. So we get a call saying, My hamster is stuck in a strawberry. Yes, you heard that right. My hamster's stuck in a strawberry. We were like, What are you talking about? And she's like, She's in a ceramic strawberry and she's not able to get out. And I was, we were like, Okay, bring her in, let's see what we can do for her and try to get her out. And it was like a heidi kind of ceramic for hamsters or guinea pigs. And I guess hers was just maybe a little bit too big. So she gets there, she is in an absolute panic. So we take the guinea pig and basically we break the ceramic with kind of a jigsaw makeshift jigsaw hammer. And guinea pig was great. Honestly, she did like really well, like with all the noises of the chiseling away the ceramic. But we got the guinea pig out. It was again took a couple minutes. That's why the story's show short. But that owner was like, You guys are superheroes. Thank you so much. She was just so grateful. We were like, we literally did nothing besides break your ceramic strawberry. So I'm sorry that we broke your ceramic strawberry. Do you want it back? And she was like, throw it away, please. And she was just like so grateful to have her guinea pig back. Her name was Brownie, she was a very cute guinea pig. But I think, again, just the little things. I think we think of these really big cases in emergency. Oh, let me tell you a story about my massive win that I had. Here's this long, complicated case in the whole nine yards. And with this episode of saying, Hey, the little things are just as good as sometimes the big things. And I think that case kind of reflects that of small thing that took us very minimal time to do, but the owner was so grateful. We saved a life, we saved the guinea pig, we got the win. And so that is case of the week. One question that I actually got asked maybe a week ago, she reached out to me and said how basically she was starting with, where do I start? I really want to become a vet. I've wanted to become a vet all my life. Like, I've seen your page and all that stuff. And where do I start? How do I basically get to where you've gotten? One that shows me perspective of like how long it's taken me to get here. I was like, oh yeah, it's so easy. You just do X, Y, and Z. Like all this stuff. And I'm like, whoa, like I have put a lot of work in, I've put a lot of time in, I've studied really hard, I've had long nights, but I think it that put me perspective of, oh my gosh, wow, it's it has been some time. But to answer that question, and I wanted to put it on here for anyone that's listening that's either has someone that wants to go to vet school, you're trying to get into vet school yourself. I think starting with the position of what do you want to do? How do you want to get there, etc.? There's so many different paths for everybody to get to vet school or become a veterinarian. And in undergrad, I again, wherever you're at in your journey, like whether that's you going into undergrad, like you're a high school student and you're trying to go to undergrad to go to vet school, what are you interested in? How are you gonna get the best grades? How are you gonna get leadership skills? How are you gonna are you gonna get involved in clubs? Are you gonna be play a sport? Are you gonna be a musician? What are you interested in? Are you interested in science? Are you interested in biology? Are you interested in animal science? What are you interested in? I think that guides where you go to undergrad. Applying for vet school, whether you're in that stage of like, I want to apply to vet school, I don't have the prereqs or the grades or this and that. Then I think where you start with that is saying, well, what are my three strongest points for an application? And starting, starting there and going from there, whether that's okay, I have three really strong, I have like really good leadership, I have great experience, but my grades aren't great. Okay, maybe take re take some classes. Or hey, I really should be stronger in leadership. Maybe I will become a president of the pre-vet club, volunteer, become a tour guide, things that to get leadership experience. Because my job currently, right now, is to lead people. Yes, it is practicing medicine. Yes, it is doing all these things, but it's having a team, my overnight team, coming together and saying, I am the leader and I am helping distribute, whether that's me jumping in here, whether that's me helping guide people here, whatever the case is. So I think leadership is like a really big role in veterinary medicine. So, with all of that being said, is like finding your three strongest points in your application, basically driving that point home between those three points and get in the freaking clinic. My advice for anybody who is a vet student all the way through trying to get into vet school, get in the clinic, see what it's about. Hey, I really like the fast pace of emergency. Love, go to emergency. I really actually really like creating connections with clients. And I want to be a GP vet or general practice vet. Awesome. Or I didn't think I would. I really love working with cows. Go be a large animal vet. That's awesome. And I love that. And everything is needed right now in the veterinary field. So that one point is I'm never gonna get a job in it. You're gonna get a job with any field that you go into. And so doing what you like, figuring out what you like, but get in the freaking clinic. They want to see that you're in the clinic, you get the experience, maybe you'll get some money on top of it as a job, but you'll get a letter of rec from the vet that you work with, like all of those things, get in the clinic. Best advice that I can give literally anybody is get in the clinic. Kind of with all of that being said, that's a long, long drawn-out answer for a very short answer is finding what you like, leaning into what you like. Yes, grades are important, leadership's important, experience is important. Those three things are very important in veterinary medicine and getting into vet school. But I think circling back to the whole point of this episode is being grateful in the small things. Wherever you're at in your life, wherever you're at in your position of application or applying for vet school or getting into vet school or whatever the case is, be so grateful in the shoes that you're in. If I could go back to 16, if I could go back to 21, if I could go back to any of those times, if I could start vet school all over again, I absolutely would. That is a hot take. And whoever's been through vet school, they're saying that's also a hot take. But I was so grateful in the shoes that I was in during those times. And honestly, I miss it a little bit, a lot of it, actually. And so being grateful in the shoes that you're in to continue to move forward, even if the road is hard, because the road definitely can be hard. I just want to end this episode with again, circling back to the whole point. If you're in a season that feels maybe just a little bit heavier, that's okay. You will get through that season. But while we get through the season, I want, I challenge you to pick maybe not 10 things, maybe not two things. Pick one thing every day that you are grateful for. Whether that is your team, your sister, your brother, your friend, your dog, even. It might be somebody in your life that you're grateful for. It might be something in your life that you're grateful for. I went on a run today. Most people can't go on a run today. I am so grateful that I'm able to move my body. I am so grateful that I am trying this hard, that I care about something this much to try so hard for. So it's like super little things, but I challenge you guys once a day, figure out something that you are grateful for to be thankful for. I think it helps in the long run of getting out of a season of heavy, but I also think it helps you stay grounded, have perspective of the shoes that you're in currently. So that is the episode. I want to thank you guys for showing up. Next week, I have an interview with one of my really good vet school friends. So I want to thank you guys again for showing up on Behind the Stepscope. We will see you guys next week. Thanks, guys.