I worked in a veterinary clinic for years and loved the pace and the fact that there was always something new going on. I loved learning. But being a veterinary receptionist was a high stress, low pay job. In fact, the best want ad I ever saw for a clinic was, “Lousy pay, lousy work, lousy hours. If you’re still interested, apply at…” So much truth.
I moved over to library work, where I could get full-time hours, less stress, and higher pay (which will tell all librarians exactly the low pay scale of the average veterinary receptionist). But it was dull. And I ran into an acupuncturist.
At the same time, I had a boss tell me I was insensitive. I’d been in therapy for being over sensitive so that didn’t make sense. It just made sense that sort of middle management wasn’t for me. And I loved medicine. So I applied and got accepted to acupuncture school, which felt like nothing more than jumping off a cliff into the unknown.
But I worked as a practitioner for fifteen years before we left Washington. I was writing by then and didn’t bother to transfer my license to the states we moved to. I doubt I’ll go back, but it was a good fifteen years. I remain licensed in Washington largely because I worked hard for that so I keep it up, though I haven’t practiced in long enough that I wouldn’t trust myself with needles.