Week 8: Find Your “Why” and Conquer First-Time Fears in Vet School

Imagine this: It’s midnight in the library. You’re poring over notes with a coffee-fueled intensity. In the back of your mind, your student loan balance looms, and you quietly wonder, “Is all this stress and effort really worth it?” It’s a fair question. Veterinary school is demanding; academically, emotionally, and financially. Today, let’s step back from the grind for a moment and remind ourselves why you’re on this journey. Then, we’ll tackle a common challenge every new veterinarian faces: the fear of doing something for the first time. By reconnecting with your motivation and learning how to push through new challenges, you’ll be better prepared for a fulfilling career and a healthy financial future.

Remember Why You’re Here

Every vet student has a story, a reason that drove you into veterinary medicine. Maybe it was a love of animals, a fascination with science, or a desire to help communities. Whatever your personal motivation, that “Why” is powerful. It’s the compass that guides you through late-night study sessions and early-morning rotations. Now, we’re asking you to apply that same concept of “Why” to your financial wellness.

My Why (as a mentor): I’ll go first. My “Why” for focusing on financial wellness is you. I want to see you achieve financial well-being alongside your veterinary goals. Why? Because I’ve seen firsthand how much more happy and successful veterinarians can be when they aren’t constantly stressed about money. Your ability to care for patients improves when you’re not losing sleep over credit card bills. Your career options open up when you’re not chained to the next paycheck. In short, I want you to thrive in vet med and in life, and gaining financial wisdom is a key part of that journey.

Your Why: Take a moment to think about what financial wellness means for you personally. This isn’t about dollars in the bank for their own sake, it’s about what that financial stability enables in your life and career. Maybe it’s the freedom to choose a job you love without worrying about the salary. Maybe it’s ensuring your family, present or future, is secure. It could even be as simple as the peace of mind you’ll feel when money is one less thing keeping you up at night. Whatever it is, keep that “Why” in focus. It will motivate you to push through challenges, whether it’s learning to budget or negotiating your first job contract.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivators

Let’s talk about what drives you day to day. Psychologists often discuss two classes of motivators: extrinsic and intrinsic. Understanding the difference can help you shape a healthier attitude toward your finances and career.

Extrinsic motivators are the external “shiny things.” They’re often status symbols, possessions that signal success to the outside world. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with nice things. We all enjoy rewards and comforts. And let’s be honest, society constantly encourages us to want more stuff. Ever noticed how every ad seems to tell you that you need this product to be happier, cooler, or more successful? The problem is, basing your happiness on extrinsic motivators is like chasing a moving target. You get the 2025 model SUV, and suddenly you’re eyeing the rumored redesign coming in 2026. This is a race you can’t win. If your satisfaction comes from outdoing others with material goods, you’ll never feel content for long because there’s always something newer or someone richer. In fact, research in graduating students found that those who prioritized money and material gains over time and meaningful pursuits were less happy one year after graduation than those who focused on more intrinsic, fulfilling activities. Extrinsic goals might give short-term excitement, but they rarely lead to lasting fulfillment.

Intrinsic motivators, on the other hand, come from within and are tied to personal fulfillment and well-being. These are exactly what our personal financial success journey is all about. Intrinsic motivators in a financial sense aren’t flashy; they’re things like peace of mind, security, and freedom. It’s the comfort of knowing you have an emergency fund for life’s surprises. It’s the control you feel when you have a plan to tackle your student loans. It’s the satisfaction of living within your means and not being at the mercy of the next credit card bill. Intrinsic motivation is when you aim for financial wellness not to impress others, but to improve your own quality of life. Think of it as shifting your mindset from “How can I look successful?” to “How can I feel secure and happy?”.

In short, extrinsic motivators are about “stuff” and status, while intrinsic motivators are about “self”. And here’s the key: Intrinsic motivators tend to lead to greater happiness and career satisfaction. They are aligned with what truly matters to you, not what advertisements or social media say should matter. When you focus on intrinsic goals, you’re less likely to compare yourself to others and more likely to feel content with what you have. That doesn’t mean you’ll never buy nice things or take a luxury vacation someday, it just means those things won’t define your success or happiness.

Identify Your Intrinsic Motivation

Take a minute to jot down or mentally note your top 2–3 intrinsic motivators for pursuing financial wellness. For example, is it: the freedom to choose any veterinary field without worrying about the paycheck? Providing a secure home for your family? Retiring at a reasonable age to enjoy the fruits of your labor? Owning a clinic one day and being your own boss? Everyone’s answers will be a bit different. What matters is that your motivators resonate with your values. Keep this list where you can see it, it’s going to be your compass when financial decisions get tough.

Picture Your Financially Well Future

This part is fun. Let’s envision the future you, living a life of financial wellness after vet school. Doing this will help cement those intrinsic motivators in your mind.

Close your eyes and imagine it’s a few years after graduation. You’ve worked hard, made smart money choices, and now you’re reaping the benefits. What do you see?

• Living Debt-Free: Perhaps you see yourself making the last payment on your student loans. You’re debt-free and feeling light as a feather. Every dollar you earn now goes towards building your future, not paying for your past. How liberating will that feel?

• Family and Security: Maybe you picture a cozy home where your family is safe and provided for. You have a college savings account started for your little ones, or a rainy-day fund for emergencies. There’s a sense of calm knowing that if the car breaks down or your dog needs an unexpected surgery, it’s okay, you’ve got it covered.

• Freedom to Choose: Or imagine you’re in a position to work how and where you want. Financial wellness might mean you can afford to work four days a week instead of five, giving you a better work-life balance. Perhaps you’re doing relief work across different clinics, or maybe you’ve started your own mobile vet practice. You have the freedom to explore career paths that genuinely interest you, without the constant fear of “Will this pay the bills?”.

• Home Sweet Home: Picture sitting by a warm fireplace in a home that you own (and guess what, there’s no mortgage because it’s paid off!. You feel contentment knowing you’ve built a stable base for yourself.

• Confidence and Peace: Above all, envision the peace of mind you’ll have. You check your bank account and feel calm instead of anxious. Bills are paid on time. You’re even investing a bit each month toward retirement or other goals. Money is not a source of chaos in your life anymore, but a tool you’re managing well. That peace seeps into other areas. You sleep better at night and walk into the clinic each morning with a little extra confidence, because you know you’ve got your life in order.

  
  

What does your picture look like? Paint it vividly. This vision isn’t a daydream to escape reality; it’s a target to aim for. Financial wellness is much more than crunching numbers on a budget or making payments on loans, it’s about that feeling of security and satisfaction you get when your money matters are under control. Keep this mental picture of your future life in focus. It’s going to serve as a lighthouse, guiding you through the storms and hard work needed to get there.

Now that you have your “Why” and a clear vision of what you want,  let’s talk about the next big challenge on the journey: stepping outside your comfort zone to make that vision a reality. In both vet medicine and personal finance, growth happens when you conquer new, unfamiliar tasks. And yes, that can be scary. So how do we overcome that fear? 

Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable

If you’ve ever felt a jolt of nervous energy before a new experience, you know what we’re talking about. In vet school and your early career, this might hit when you’re about to perform your first solo surgery, or when you have your first difficult client conversation, or the first time you make a financial decision like investing in a retirement account. Your heart races, your stomach flips, and a voice in your head whispers, “What if I mess up?”. You’re not alone in feeling this. In fact, every veterinarian has faced it many times. 

It’s normal to feel anxiety in these moments. Our comfort zone is being challenged, and our brain is essentially saying, “Whoa, we haven’t done this before, this could be dangerous!” This is the classic fight-or-flight response kicking in. A little adrenaline can sharpen your senses, but too much anxiety can freeze you up. When that fight-or-flight takes over, your ability to think clearly drops, and that’s when mistakes happen or you might shy away from the task altogether.

Why New Things Feel Scare and Why That's Okay

Let’s unpack why first-time experiences trigger fear:

• Fear of failure: You worry that you’ll mess up the surgery or that your financial plan will backfire. The stakes feel high, and you don’t want to let yourself or others down.

• Fear of judgement: Especially in vet school, you might fear classmates or colleagues seeing you struggle or make a mistake. No one wants to look incompetent. Similarly, you might fear a client thinking you’re inexperienced, or a friend judging your financial decisions.

• Fear of harming others: In medicine, this is huge. The fear that if you screw up, a patient could suffer. This adds a moral weight that can be paralyzing if not managed. Even with finances, you might fear harming your future self or family by making a poor decision.

  
  

These fears are natural. They show that you care about doing well, which is a good thing.

The goal isn’t to eliminate fear because spoiler: you can’t, but to manage it and not let it stop you from growing. Remember, every expert was once a beginner. Growth comes from pushing through those first-time struggles. We’ve previously talked about the stages of mastering a skill:

1. Unconscious Incompetence: You don’t even know what you don’t know yet.

2. Conscious Incompetence: You become painfully aware of what you don’t know or can’t do.

3. Conscious Competence: You learn and practice. You can do the task, but you have to concentrate hard.

4. Unconscious Competence: You’ve mastered it to the point it becomes second nature.

Feeling anxiety is a sign that you’re in those middle stages, you know this is a challenge and you desperately want to do it right. This is a pivotal point. How you handle it will determine whether you push through to competence or retreat back to the safety of what’s familiar.

Unfortunately, some veterinarians get stuck because the fear wins early on. A student or new grad might have one bad experience and vow, “I never want to do that again.” That negative memory solidifies, and they start avoiding that procedure or situation. We’ve seen vets limit their scope of practice because they couldn’t overcome a rough “first time.” Similarly, someone might have a discouraging first attempt at budgeting and then conclude, “I’m just not good with money, I give up.” That’s the trap we want to avoid at all costs.

So, what do successful veterinarians do differently when facing new challenges? It’s not that they don’t feel fear, they do, but they have strategies to handle it and even turn that anxiety into something productive. Let’s look at how you can do the same.

Strategies to Overcome First-Time Fears

When you’re staring down a new, intimidating task, try these approaches to conquer fears and expand your comfort zone:

1. Prepare Thoroughly: One of the best antidotes to fear is preparation. If you know you’re going to attempt something for the first time, do your homework. This might mean reviewing your class notes, consulting resources or textbooks, or asking a professor or mentor for pointers. In the realm of finances, it could mean reading a few articles or trusted blogs on the topic. The more you understand what you’re about to do, the more confidence you’ll have. Preparation won’t eliminate all your butterflies, but it will certainly give them less fuel.

2. Reframe Anxiety as Excitement: This one might sound odd, but it works. Physiologically, anxiety and excitement are very similar. Your heart races and your adrenaline spikes. The difference is mindset. Try to catch yourself in the moment of fear and think, “I’m not scared, I’m excited.” This is what successful vets often do intuitively. They’ve learned to see that nervous energy as a sign that something important is happening, a signal to pay attention, not to run away. By slightly shifting your perspective, you can turn paralyzing nerves into a state of alert focus. 

3. Identify the Fear and Talk Back to It: When anxiety creeps in, pause and ask yourself, “What exactly am I afraid of right now?” Pinpoint the monster under the bed. Is it the fear of failure? Is it the fear of looking incompetent in front of others? Is it a fear of causing harm or a bad outcome? Once you name it, evaluate it rationally and talk back to that fear with your logical brain. For example:

Fear: “I might screw up this surgery and the pet will suffer

Rational reply: “I’ve been trained for this. I know the steps, and I have experts I can call if I get stuck. If an unexpected complication happens, I’ll follow the emergency protocols I’ve learned. Plus, complications happen even to experienced surgeons; I will do my absolute best, which is all anyone can do.”

Fear: “If I try to invest, I’ll probably lose all my money because I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Rational reply: “I’ll start small and choose a safe, simple investment to learn the ropes (like a broad index fund or a retirement account). I can also ask for a bit of advice from someone knowledgeable. Losing everything is highly unlikely if I’m careful and diversify. People learn this all the time; I can too.

By interrogating your fears, you often find that the worst-case scenarios your panic-driven mind is throwing at you are either very unlikely or manageable. Bringing in that rational voice helps put the fear into perspective.

4. Breathe and Stay In Your Head: In the heat of the moment, panic can suddenly well up. You need quick tools to stay calm. Focus on breathing: a few slow, deep breaths can do wonders to steady your heart rate and clear your mind. Remind yourself to take it step by step. This keeps my mind tethered and not wandering into worrying. Essentially, you want to keep your brain in problem-solving mode (the rational, conscious thinking) and out of fight-or-flight mode (the panicky, emotional reacting). 

5. Plan for the “What-Ifs”: Sometimes, a great way to calm your nerves is to know you have a safety net. Before doing something new, ask “What’s the worst that could realistically happen, and what would I do if it did?” Often, you’ll realize the worst case isn’t as devastating as your fear made it out to be, and you might be able to put precautions in place. 

6. Embrace and Learn from the First Time: After you’ve done the scary thing, it’s crucial to process the experience in a healthy way. Our brains, unfortunately, are hardwired to latch onto negative memories more strongly than positive ones, an evolutionary quirk to help avoid danger. This means if something went even a little wrong, you might magnify that in your head and forget the parts that went right. To combat this, focus on the positives and lessons immediately after. Did the outcome turn out okay? Even if not perfect, did you manage some parts well? What did you learn that will make it easier or better next time? Consciously acknowledge those points. If there were mistakes, frame them constructively: “That didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped, but now I know exactly what to practice/improve for next time.” Celebrate the fact that you did it at all. The first time is often the hardest simply because it’s the first. Once it’s behind you, you’ve broken a personal barrier.

By using these strategies, over time, you’ll notice your comfort zone expanding. Things that once scared you become routine. And guess what, there will always be a new “first time” waiting, but you’ll get faster and more confident at tackling them.

Lifelong Learning

The real secret behind all of this is embracing the mindset of a lifelong learner. Veterinary medicine is not a field where you ever truly “know it all.” The same goes for personal finance. If you expect that learning never stops, then facing first-time challenges becomes just part of the game rather than an anomaly.

It can be tempting to think, “If I just get through vet school, or if I just hire a financial planner, I’ll have it figured out and won’t have to deal with uncertainty or new stuff.” But that’s an illusion. The good news is that with each first-time challenge you tackle, you become a bit more fearless and a lot more savvy. Embrace that identity of being a vet who’s always learning. It means you’re alive, growing, and adaptable. Whether it’s a medical procedure or a financial decision, you’ll start to say, “Alright, I’ve never done this before, but I’ve conquered other new things. I can figure this one out too.” That self-assurance is golden. It will carry you through the toughest days in practice and the most confusing personal finance predicaments.

Your Why is Your Fuel

To wrap up, remember these two big takeaways:

• Find your “Why” and lean into it: Let your intrinsic motivators drive you. They will sustain you far better than external status symbols ever could. Keep that vision of your financially secure future in mind, especially when you face tough decisions. It’s your guiding light.

• Get comfortable being a newbie: Each time you conquer a first-time fear, you’re leveling up. Use preparation, perspective, and a positive mindset to tackle new challenges head-on. Turn those butterflies in your stomach into fuel for focus rather than reasons to flee.

• 
  

One last prompt: Think of an upcoming challenge you’re nervous about. Write down one action to prepare for it, and one intrinsic motivator you’ll remind yourself of to push through. Keep this note where you can see it as the day approaches.

Vet school and the years beyond will throw many “firsts” at you. By knowing your purpose and harnessing the courage to step outside your comfort zone, you are empowering yourself to build the career and the life you’ve dreamed of. It’s not easy, nothing truly worthwhile ever is, but every step forward brings you clos

er to that vision of success and wellness.