The Art of Setting Boundaries and Keeping Them

Equine veterinarians operate under a unique business model that includes time poverty, burnout and clients “catching you later”—or not—with payments. It might seem hard to say “no” and set financial and personal boundaries when you feel pressure to make everyone happy, but once you do, you may find it easier to say “yes” without resentment or stress.

When the demands of overextending yourself add up, it can take a toll on your mental health and affect the level of care you provide. Incorporating more balance and time for self-care and mental rejuvenation helps foster more resilience, so you can better serve your patients, clients and practice for the long haul.

Here are four tips from longtime equine career mentor Dr. Amy Grice to help you master the art of boundaries and drive resilience in your life as a veterinarian.

1. Align boundaries with your values and communicate them carefully

Define your expectations of others by considering your values and deciding what supports or undermines them. For example, if you value health and family time, this may mean blocking off a few hours each week for self-care or leaving work at work to be more present at home. Whatever you hold most dear, tending to it outside of the practice can profoundly impact the energy you bring back.

Next, communicate your boundaries in a way that gives others the choice to respect them. How you communicate boundaries can significantly affect how people receive them, so strive to stay neutral rather than judgmental. That means telling others how they can treat you instead of demanding or telling them what they can’t do.

2. Know that not everyone will respect your boundaries

Being authentic to yourself means living by your values so you attract people who respect and accept you as you are. Because the fact is, not everyone will. When people feel entitled to transgress your boundaries, choose how you will respond rather than demanding they change their behavior.

There may be clients who disagree with your recommendation, push your buttons about payment, or attempt to intrude on your personal time. But you have the power to push back with payment policies or limits around when they can reach you, and the expertise to make the best recommendation for their horse’s care.

3. Be flexible when life happens (and it always will!)

Along these same lines, embrace the reality that you can’t plan for everything and make room for flexibility. While it’s important to be consistent with boundaries, things happen, and loved ones, clients or coworkers may ask you to make exceptions that are reasonable and logical. In return, you can ask the same of them when needed. This builds a culture of mutual respect about boundaries versus rigid rulesetting.

4. Put your boundaries into practice

Your practice and your clients are a good place to start setting boundaries. If you struggle to receive payment for farm calls, for example, the simple step of implementing a payment policy and proactively communicating it to clients can transform the situation.

You can also lean on financial partners like CareCredit for solutions and strategies to help reduce payment stress for horse owners, your team and you. For example, the Equine Care Guidebook provides actionable steps to communicate and integrate flexible financing into your client experience.

Another common boundary clients often want to push against is your availability. Aligning this with your values is essential to protecting your work-life balance. Give yourself permission to take care of obligations and pursue passions outside of work. Set expectations for when texts, phone calls and emails will be returned to help reduce the mental load.

Putting these tactics into practice can empower you to set boundaries that sustain your financial, personal and mental health. Your passion and purpose can once again be rewarded with satisfaction and success.

Want more insights? Read “Resilience and Boundaries for Equine Veterinarians” by Amy L. Grice, VMD, MBA, and be sure to check out the entire Special Issue of EquiManagement on preparing horse owners for care. Synchrony shares this information solely for your convenience. You are urged to consult with your individual advisors with respect to any information presented.

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