The Work-Life "Balance" ~ David Kleisch, DVM, MBA

Shiloh Animal Hospital started this blog several months ago to share experiences and information to our clients and to anyone else interested in reading. The staff at Shiloh are rotating topics and posts, and I am excited to have my first post be one that is personal. While we have been growing here at the practice over the past year, my family has also been growing.

As many of you know, Margaret Ann and I recently welcomed into the world our first child, a beautiful girl named Anderson. This month will mark nine months of parenthood, and like any family bringing home a new child, changes were all around us.

When we brought Anderson home, there were changes in our daily routine, changes in our relationships, and changes in our lifestyle. Initially, like any family, we thought one of those changes would be the work-life balance. As both Margaret Ann and I learned how to go back to work doing what we love, we did not struggle with finding time at home and also with the ones we love. While this wasn’t concerning, it was weird. “Why did all my friends struggle with work-life balance, but I'm not?” Then, somewhere between three and five weeks back at the office, I was able to see that my work wasn’t work…it was a lifestyle.

Every profession has to identify the work-life balance. Many companies promote their work-life balance as they interview new candidates for available positions. This theme is commonly heard on the news, seen in our culture, and it was no surprise to me this was on my mind as I started a family.  However, it was surprising that this wasn’t a problem for me. What I realized is that I not only chose a career doing what I love to do, but I chose a career that is a lifestyle. What many of you might not know is that, like Anderson, I too am a child of a veterinarian. Growing up a son of a veterinarian, I was privy to all the aspects of this lifestyle. I saw the long hours, the personal stress, and the emotions of the profession. What I didn’t know is that the life that I grew up living prepared me for my life now and the life my family is starting to live.

Being a veterinarian is a unique profession in that you don’t leave your work at work. Yes, as in life, there is “a time” for everything; in my life there is a time for family and work.  I came back to work I anticipated having to absolutely separate the two, like how it is seen in the movies and on the news. But, fortunately, I never had to separate the two. I didn’t have to find a work-life balance because it was already in place. It was actually in place before we had Anderson, it was in place before I became a veterinarian, and it was in place long before I was thinking about work-life balance. I just needed three to five weeks to identify that being a veterinarian wasn’t work--it is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that involves my patients, my clients, my coworkers, my colleagues, my friends, and my family. It is a lifestyle that involves conversations with strangers. It is a lifestyle that not only I live, but my family lives. And it will be a lifestyle that I am excited to share with my daughter, Anderson.

See, I am fortunate…really fortunate. Going to the physical office isn’t going “to the office”. It is the brick and mortar where we as veterinarians successfully carry out the actions of our job. So yes, I am a veterinarian at the office, but I am also a veterinarian at home, on the phone, or on email. I am a veterinarian standing in line to purchase groceries, on the weekends, and on vacation. I was a veterinarian before Margaret Ann and I were married and a veterinarian before Anderson was born. And now I will be a veterinarian at Anderson’s school events, dance recitals, first day of school, and graduations. I will be a veterinarian at her wedding and as a grandfather. See, I am fortunate. I have not chosen a job--I have chosen a lifestyle. I have chosen a lifestyle that provides for my family but also for my community. I have chosen a profession that is my life.  


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