Many Potomac residents go to Dr. Charles Weiss when their pets need care. Weiss, head veterinarian at Bradley Hills Animal Hospital, sees the animals and most are soon back lounging by the television, running in the yard, and checking out the Chihuahua that just moved in next door.
People rarely have it so easy, but Weiss thinks he can help. After recently contributing to a book of inspirational messages, Weiss has his sights set on a second career as an author and motivational speaker.
“Most people are living their lives so stressed, just trying to survive,” said Weiss, who joined doctors, psychologists and the likes of Maya Angelou in contributing to “The Power of Positive People,” compiled and published by Pat Sampson of Gaithersburg. “Growing up, most of us at some point feel like we don’t feel as loved as we want to feel. Everybody deals with it different. Comedians learn to make people laugh. Some people learn to please people, to make them like them.”
Several years ago, Weiss found himself in the last category. He was financially and professionally successful, but unfulfilled. “The bottom line is that I felt painful enough inside, even though on the outside many people didn’t know it,” he said, “because I was really trying to please people, I was only looking at what other people needed and wanted and trying to please that. And as a result, a lot of people thought I was a great guy, and I was, for them, but I felt empty inside because I never looked at ‘What do I want?’”
So Weiss started researching psychology texts and motivational material, with an eye to unifying it. He is currently at work on two books, a Web site, and several sets of CDs surrounding a trademarked model that he says draws together much of the foregoing work.
“I wanted to try to combine it all. There’s not just one way to feel good,” he said. The bottom line: “We are definitely in control of how we feel. … Pain will always happen, but suffering is our option.”
“There’s much more to fulfillment than achieving goals. Achieving goals is important … but it’s also important to feel positive about where you are in life, wherever that is,” he said.
Weiss’ values inform not only his motivational work, but also his veterinary practice. He grew up surrounded by pets and decided at age six that he wanted to be a veterinarian. The practice, Weiss said, is tight-knit and team-oriented and geared towards making both owners and pets feel safe and comfortable, something he said that’s “is overlooked a lot.”
Weiss is nationally known for performing a difficult surgery to remove tumors from ferrets. There appears to be a connection between the depth of his understanding of pets and the lessons he hopes to share as a speaker and author.
“Pets give a level of unconditional love that people don’t,” he said.