Navigating Negativity: Understanding Its Impact on Life and Veterinary Medicine
- Jesse Burgess
- May 27
- 3 min read
Navigating Negativity: Understanding Its Impact on Life and Veterinary Medicine
Why Does It Seem Like We Deal With So Many “Assholes”?
Today, we’re diving into the role and impact of negativity in life and veterinary medicine, why we experience and interpret things negatively, why people behave negatively, and how to protect ourselves and others from negativity.
Goals for Today:
Catch and correct negative thoughts before they affect your behavior.
Build stronger relationships with clients when they need you most.
Prevent burnout from feeling like you’re dealing with awful people all day.
Create passion and joy in your work.
Provide a great experience for clients—even when they’re difficult.
The Impact of Negativity
Negativity leads to:
Emotional exhaustion.
Narrow-mindedness and impaired creativity.
Increased emotional reactivity and poor emotional regulation.
Why Are We So Quick to Be Negative?
It comes down to how we interpret reality — not reality itself.
A Chinese Parable:
A farmer’s horse runs away → neighbours say “bad luck” → farmer says “maybe.”
Horse returns with 20 wild horses → neighbours say “great news” → farmer says “maybe.”
Son breaks leg trying to tame a horse → neighbours say “terrible” → farmer says “maybe.”
Son avoided war draft due to injury → neighbours say “good luck” → farmer says “maybe.”
The moral: The universe is neutral. Things aren’t inherently good or bad — we assign meaning to them.
How Our Brain Creates Emotions
We experience a stimulus (an event).
Our brain interprets that stimulus - adding a story.
This interpretation triggers an emotion (fear, love, anger, sadness, etc.).
We then behave based on that emotion.
Example: Getting rejected for a job application might feel like loss or failure at first, but maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.
Negativity Bias: Why We Lean Toward the Negative
Evolution has wired us to focus on negative possibilities for survival.
Two hunters hear a noise in the bushes:
Optimist investigates → eaten by lion.
Pessimist runs away → survives.
Negativity bias kept us alive but isn’t always the right call today.
How Negative Interpretations Develop
When we label someone as an “asshole,” it’s usually because we’ve told ourselves a story about their behavior. Instead, ask:
“Why might a reasonable person act like this?”
Maybe they’re stressed, grieving, broke, or overwhelmed.
Changing the story changes your feelings and reactions.
Factors Leading Us to See People Negatively (Even If They’re Not “Assholes”)
Self-preservation: Protecting our ego leads us to dismiss others to feel safe.
Personality differences: For example, a direct, task-focused person might seem rude; an analytical person might seem difficult.
Differences in values: What matters deeply to one person may seem wasteful or selfish to another.
Misunderstandings: Misaligned expectations or definitions can cause friction.
Past experiences: Prior negative interactions make us defensive or suspicious.
Why People Actually Behave Negatively
Pre-existing stress, fear, and overload.
We encounter people at their worst: grief, financial strain, emotional pain.
Personal problems amplify stress responses.
Lack of psychological safety makes people defensive and reactive.
David Rock’s SCARF Model of Psychological Safety
S - Status: Feeling respected and valued.
C - Certainty: Knowing what to expect.
A - Autonomy: Control over decisions.
R - Relatedness: Feeling connected.
F - Fairness: Being treated justly.
When these are threatened, people react negatively—often defensively or aggressively.
What This Means for Veterinarians
Recognize that difficult client behavior is often fear, stress, or pain masked as negativity.
Reinterpret behaviors with empathy to defuse tension.
Protect your emotional energy by catching your own negative thoughts.
Build relationships by seeing the person beyond their behavior.
Create a more positive workplace for yourself and your team.
To listen to the full version, check out The VetEQ Podcast
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