Hello <3

I love surfing (though I’m not that good), hiking, skiing, cafe trips and coffee and warm toast with butter. I am a sucker for an almond croissant. I prefer waking up and going to sleep early rather than late. I am 22. I drink my coffee black unless I’m buying it out (I adore cappuccinos). I am an older sister to a younger brother and sister and daughter to two loving parents. A girlfriend. A granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, a friend, a woman and also a medical student.

Not too long ago I might have led with medical student. I used to draw a lot of self worth and identity from the fact that I was applying/got an offer/am studying medicine.

I have since worked hard to disentangle myself from my egoic association with medicine. My relationship with it now is mostly curious (dependent on if it’s exam season or not) and open.

That curiousity has meant that being a medical student wasn’t all that I thought it was going to be. It was and is exciting, demanding and fulfilling but I’m not learning everything that I really wanted to learn:

Medicine as a means of empowerment, understanding and self-enablement.

There is currently a catching fire that finds kindling with many people related to health and wellness. It is prevalent on social media and awareness is high. This excites me greatly and I aspire to engage with this as I go through my medical profession. This spark is how modern medicine seems to treat the symptom rather than the cause, it can be seen as being reductionist; as being reactive rather than preventative. Treating the individual and their ailment as an isolated event.

This is where I become frustrated. Often times the patient comes in with a problem or a symptom. The prescribed course of action I often learn is to offer a selection of modalities which we could use to help treat them. More often than not these are treatments of symptom relief. This has its place but it feels like swimming upstream to try and get to the root cause of the problem.

I want to be very clear that I am not wanting to seem dismissive or diminishing of the value my medical education is providing. It is thorough, vigorous, comprehensive and safe for teaching of modern medicine.

What’s my goal? To expand on this knowledge provided in my education, not ignore it but instead increase my capabilities of a doctor in training. To include holistic and wellness knowledge; to be more rounded as an individual and medical professional, and go where my curiosity takes me.

I have completed 3 years of medical school. I am currently taking a gap year and am excited to continue my academic studies come September 2025. But in the meantime this gap year is an opportunity to expand horizons, have adventures and see more of the world.

Medicine, health and lifestyle are all a dynamic puzzle. This blog is here for me to try and figure out a way to put words to concepts that until now have remained unexpressed or unexplored in my head. It will be a combination of creativity, exploration and health.