🚐Happiness Is Simple: What Van Life Taught Me About Veterinary Medicine
Somewhere between the mountains of Wyoming and the quiet stretches of Utah desert, I realized something I’d forgotten: happiness is simple.
Not easy. Not effortless. But simple.
Living in a camper van, you are stripped down to the basics. What do you really need? What fills your soul? Who do you want to give your time and energy to?
There was something about waking up in my camper van, coffee in hand, no Wi-Fi, no schedule, just holding my partner’s hand and playing fetch with my dog that reminded me how peaceful life feels when it isn’t so loud and there’s no reason to rush.
As veterinarians, our lives are built around complexity.
Complex medicine. Complex emotions. Complex systems.
We’re trained to find the hard thing and heal the hard thing.
But joy doesn’t live in the hard.
Joy lives in the pause.
And science backs it up.
A 2021 study in The Journal of Positive Psychology found that simple, sensory moments, like noticing nature, savoring your morning coffee, or taking a mindful breath, have a stronger and longer-lasting impact on happiness than major life events. These “micro-moments” of presence activate the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering cortisol and helping the brain rewire for calm and contentment.
It turns out, the same nervous system that keeps us alive in a trauma case is also the one that lets us feel joy, but we can’t access both at the same time.
In vet med, we live in constant “on-call” mode, worrying about our cases after we go home, writing records after our shifts, obsessing over patient outcomes and customer communications.
It’s noble. It’s necessary. But it’s not sustainable.
That morning in the van, I wasn’t “doing” anything. I wasn’t optimizing, achieving, or saving. I was being. And that’s where the peace was.
The truth is, happiness doesn’t come from adding more. It comes from subtracting what doesn’t matter. Removing the excess. The clutter. The stuff that ultimately can fall away, just like the fall leaves.
In veterinary medicine, that might look like:
✨ Taking a moment after a tough euthanasia to sit on the floor with your tech and breathe, instead of jumping straight into the next room.
✨ Laughing when the Golden Retriever covers you in slobber during rounds, instead of apologizing for your “unprofessional” look.
✨ Letting a student place the catheter, even if it takes longer, because growth matters more than efficiency.
✨ Choosing to drive home with the windows down and music up, scream singing your favorite song instead of replaying every decision from your shift.
✨ Standing outside with a post-op patient under the stars at 3 a.m. and realizing, this is what you dreamed of doing as a kid.
When we strip away the noise, what’s left is what’s real. What's true. What's authentic.
Happiness isn’t a distant goal we chase after the next promotion, surgery or patient win, it’s available right now, in this moment, if we slow down long enough to notice it.
So if you’re feeling tired, friend, start small.
Find one thing that makes you feel alive and present today.
Let the sun hit your skin. Sing on your way to the hospital. Watch your patient wake up from anesthesia. Laugh with your techs. Listen to a song that makes you dance.
You don’t have to overhaul your life to be happy.
You just have to remember that happiness was never missing, it was just waiting for you under the clutter.
This is my reminder that at any time I can choose to go from chaos to clarity… And you can too. Happiness isn’t a reward. It’s a return to what I’ve always had.
At The Evolved Vets, we know that peace isn’t found in perfection, but in presence. Our coaching and community exist to remind veterinarians like you that your energy, purpose, and joy matter just as much as your medicine. Because when you feel aligned, everything else flows.
If you’re ready to find your flow again, come join us. Happiness might be simpler than you think, and it’s on its there for you to tap into at any time. 💛
With So Much Love,
Your Coach - Dr. Beth the Vet
