After deciding to become a veterinarian and then getting lazy my second quarter, I had to make a decision as to whether being a veterinarian was truly what I wanted. I made a choice at that time that no matter what, I would get into veterinary school and become a veterinarian. I was not going to let one bad quarter prevent me from doing what I wanted. All of the sudden I developed a desire, and nothing was going to get in my way.

I started going to the library at 6:00 every night and stayed until closing at 12:00 am, which was a total of 6 hours of studying every night, except Fridays and Saturdays. However, I had many temptations along the way as other kids were partying and having fun while I was walking to the library. More than once I was told there must be something wrong with me if I would rather study than party. Luckily, I had the desire to be independent of the good opinion of others; and as other students would say this to me, I would ignore them and go on. As we all know, peer pressure can be an incredible pull but true desire will overcome anything. Many of these students that were telling me this were in pre-veterinary or pre-medical studies also. Since we were all in similar courses, they did not understand why I had to study the way that I did when they were not doing the same thing. I would just say maybe I wasn’t as smart as them and go on and do my studying. I was determined to get a 4.0 this quarter, and I ended up with a 3.9. My desire was so strong now that nothing would stop me from getting accepted into veterinary school.

This same desire is what I went back to many times in practice when times got tough and difficult decisions had to be made. Many times leaders have to make decisions that aren’t popular and the desire to do the right thing will win out over the fear of making people unhappy. My desire kept me going, and after three years I was accepted into veterinary school and was that much closer to my goal. Out of all the students that were making fun of me, not one of them got accepted into a professional field the year that I did. Once again, my desire to accomplish something overcame all else and out of probably 30-40 guys in my dorm, only I was fortunate enough to get into a professional school. Next time, I will talk about how desire carried me through veterinary school and into practice.