Which wolf wins? Choosing your narrative about the veterinary industry

There's an old proverb about the two wolves. There's a wolf that represents positivity, lightness, and good emotions. And there's a wolf that represents darkness, frustrations, and negativity...

In my first week of vet school - first week - we sat in a lecture theatre of about 80 bright-eyed, slightly terrified students.

And we were shown the statistics.

• How many of us would develop a mental health disorder.

• How many would struggle with substance abuse.

• How many would leave the profession within ten years.

• How many would die by suicide.

I remember sitting there thinking, right… so this is what I’ve signed up for.

To be clear, I don’t think the lecturers were malicious. They were trying to prepare us. To warn us. To protect us.

But once you tell a room full of 18-year-olds that their profession is statistically likely to break them, you’ve planted something powerful. A narrative on the veterinary industry.

You’ve fed a wolf.

There’s an old proverb about two wolves - one fear, despair, cynicism; the other hope, resilience, meaning. These two wolves are always at war, always competing. So how do you know which one will win?

The one that wins is the one you feed.

Now imagine five years of training where that first wolf is consistently fed.

Every exhausted supervisor. Every complaint. Every headline.

The brain does what it does best. It looks for confirmation.

See? They told us this would happen.

Don’t misunderstand me. We must talk about burnout. About suicide. About the risks. Silence helps no one.

But neither does narrative imbalance.

If the dominant story of our profession is suffering, what exactly are we inviting people into?

Because here’s what was missing from that first lecture:

No one stood up and said that most of us would have meaningful careers.

That we would build competence, confidence, and community.

That we would find our people.

That most of us would not be statistics.

We talk endlessly about compassion fatigue.

But almost never about compassion satisfaction.

Over time, that imbalance shapes how the profession sees itself.

Students arrive expecting collapse.

New grads interpret discomfort as danger.

Leaders begin to see burnout as inevitable.

And when something hard happens, because this work is hard, it confirms the story.

This isn’t about ignoring the risks. It’s about telling the whole story.

This work is demanding.

And it is meaningful.

Some people will struggle.

And many will thrive.

Both wolves exist.

The question is which one we’re feeding. In our teaching, our leadership, and the way we talk about this profession.

Because the truth is that both wolves need attention, but if we only feed one of them then the other never has a chance.

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This short videoblog is about the power of our own choices in finding fulfilment and improving resilience in the veterinary and animal care industries. It's about mindset, and choosing what stories we allow ourselves to be a part of.

If you're struggling with resilience, frustration, professional fulfilment or pessimism about the work that we do, then watch this short video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbigR9xDjCU