Recently I heard Dani Mcvety, DVM the CEO and founder of Lap of Love speak, and she put into words how I feel every time I perform a euthanasia.  She tells clients that ask how she can do euthanasias day in and day out, that it is an honor to perform this task.

How much better would you feel if you could come to the place that it is an honor to perform a euthanasia?  Not that you won’t be sad, and not that you would perform one that you did not agree with, but overall, how much stress would that mindset relieve?

To get to that point, one thing to consider is that no experience has meaning until you assign it one.

For example: we all know that some people meet the personal diagnosis of cancer with acceptance and the belief that their life still has meaning and go on to achieve great things.  Others can never move past the anger, hurt and fear of it.  The diagnosis of cancer was the same, but the meaning assigned to it was different.

The end result of the euthanasia is the same, but how you frame it allows you to move forward with serenity and calmness vs grief and anger.

I use this tenant “no experience has meaning until you assign it one” often in my day. When I diagnose a terminal disease in a patient, I am sad and upset for awhile. Realizing that I cannot change the diagnosis, but only try and make the best of it, I try and find a way in which this experience might be of value for me or the client.  Such as: I get to learn about recent advancements in the treatment of this disease, I might meet new doctors that will become part of my “go-to referral team” in the future, I might have dealt with this personally with one of my own pets and so have a chance to heal that experience a bit, I get to allow the clients to find their way through the process with dignity, grace and as much serenity as they can. The client gets to heal previous experiences with terminally ill pets, or maybe even family.

It is all in how you can frame the experience.

Euthanasias do not have to be a sad, overwhelming stress on us. We can chose how we think about them and how we allow the clients to experience them. It is all in the meaning we assign to the experience.

Try this idea on for size as you go through your day.  Email me your questions or experiences with it, I’d love to hear from you.