Vetnuus | Januarie 2024 2 « BACK TO CONTENTS A happy and blessed 2024! But what is happiness? Happiness is an especially “fuzzy” word used to refer to a whole range of related emotions, such as joy, elation, satisfaction, peace of mind, etc. Two commonly used scientific terms for happiness are Psychological Well-being (PWB) and Subjective Well-being (SWB). Leading Positive Psychologists claim that happiness has three sources; our genetic makeup, our environment and our actions. Our genetic makeup is our “inbuilt” sense of happiness, or grumpiness, that runs in the family. We can’t do much about that. This might be the most important factor, perhaps 50% or more, but it is scientifically very difficult to prove. Our environment we living in also plays an important role. If you live in a war zone, for example, that may have a big impact on your mood. In veterinary services, we are often faced with numerous challenges ranging from clients’ expectations to financial challenges to lack of resources, especially human resources, impacting our daily lives. You may be able to change some of these environmental factors, or not. What we do know, however, is that they have a major impact on the health and wellbeing of our veterinary community, often with disastrous effects. Our actions, such as life skills or habits are aspects that are in our control that we can change. Some of these skills can be practiced immediately such as active-constructive listening, and may change your mood pretty immediately too. Some take a while (such as regular exercise) but have a profound, long-term impact on your well-being. There is evidence that, over the long term, exercise might be at least as effective as anti-depressants The exciting thing about “life skills” is that you can get off your chair and do something about it right now. But why are so many people, inclusive of veterinarians so unhappy and depressed? Some leading causes might be ignorance, the hype of happiness, and the culture of immediate gratification. The world we are living in is ignorant in that life skills education, training and development are put on the back burner. According to Aristotle, one of the pioneers of happiness, “Education of the mind without education of the heart is not an education at all.” Is enough emphasis given to the education of the hearts, or is too much emphasis placed on the facts? An appreciation of the mentorship program which includes aspects of education of the heart, excellent results were seen in the life-skills environment. All effort must be made to ensure that the mentorship program is continued and even extended to students. Due to such a focus on the epidemic of depression, an explosion of interest in happiness has been seen with many programs presented. Unfortunately, if something becomes a focus of much interest, commercialization is not far behind. Happiness Inc. is becoming a thriving business. It must be guarded against making happiness a hype, but concentrate on what is needed in the veterinary fraternity to function optimally ensuring the health and welfare of our members. Tailor-made programs should rather be strived for specifically addressing the needs of our members. Our sources of evidence should be researchbased, not on the “hype” of doing something. Today’s society functions on immediate gratification. We want things now, so we drink a beer, take a tranquillizer or tap an emoji on a smartphone screen to “overcome” unhappiness. What happened to personal interaction like calling a colleague in need? Happiness takes a little spade work. But the long-term benefits are enormous. In the words of Julia Roberts: “One of the first steps to happiness is deciding that you want to be happy and knowing what that means. I have had many full-on conversations about what that looks like for me. To be happy is a choice you make every day, every hour. And refining and renewing that state is a constant pursuit”. Our environment is sometimes out of control. The world is going through a perfect storm of chaotic changes that humans are not used to dealing with. Covid 19, climate change, overcrowding, economic chaos, Dr Google and so on. The environment cannot necessarily be changed, but you can be taught the necessary life skills to manage change and be more resilient. In the past attention was given to what made depressed people depressed. The focus should rather be on “What makes happy people happy?” From the President Dear members,
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