remember the first time you ever asked
the question what do you want to be when
you grow up if you started rambling on
about ten different career options I’m
pretty sure you were told don’t worry
about it you’ll figure it out
eventually the problem is we create an
intricate link between occupation and
identity and we call it confusion and
uncertainty when someone doesn’t have
that one aspiration that they’re
completely sold on I used to be that
person when asked the question of what I
wanted to be I would say a pharmacist or
a physiotherapist it’s not that I really
knew what these titles meant but being
in and out of hospital because of
childhood asthma meant that I heard
these words a lot and I associated them
with helping people and that’s something
I knew I definitely wanted to do
eventually when I couldn’t pronounce the
word pediatrician I decided that’s what
I wanted to be a specialist in childhood
diseases so eight years ago when my
father sat me down and asked me if I was
going to start working immediately after
high school or if I was going to study
further I knew that it was the latter I
was going to medical school getting
accepted into Medical School came with
great joy I worked hard after my first
year my efforts were rewarded with an
invitation to join the golden key
international Honor Society because I
was in the top 15% of my class
academically I was very excited three
years later I was burnt out and
disillusioned I wanted a way out I felt
that there was a gap with
between the theoretical aspects of
Medicine and the practical work that we
were expected to do in the hospital and
I will struggling to bridge this gap I
don’t quite know how to express how I
felt so I found comfort in writing in my
fourth year of medical school my first
poetry collection was published two
years later I had three books a
publishing consultancy firm and a career
as a spoken word artist and theater
all of this while still pursuing a
career in medicine but how did I do this
well I’m going to share with you the
three ways in which I fully embraced my
multiple passions the first thing that I
did I made time for the things that I
loved Lord sue said time is a created
thing and to say I don’t have time is
the equivalent of saying I don’t want to
so I became a juggler I ran marathons I
entered beauty pageants I attended
spoken word sessions I auditioned for
plays and with all of this juggling some
balls stayed in the air some fell to the
ground but all of those taught me very
very important lessons about myself the
second thing that I did I found out
where I was replaceable in my fifth year
of medical school I contracted pneumonia
from one of my patients I became very
ill but getting time off was almost
impossible so I made a conscious
decision to step away and focus on my
healing I knew that I couldn’t be
everywhere at once so I decided to find
out what demanded my immediate attention
and focused on that the third thing that
I did I became an apologetic Grace
Hopper said it is better to ask for
forgiveness than to get permission so I
asked myself should I ask for permission
to do the things that I want to do be
told that they’re impossible and then be
miserable for the rest of my life or
should I just dive headfirst into what I
really love and then find out later if
it works out or not I chose the latter
and I have never looked back so let me
ask you this
if you could go back in time and we
asked the question what do you want to
be when you grow up what would the
answer be this time and why not everything
the question what do you want to be when
you grow up if you started rambling on
about ten different career options I’m
pretty sure you were told don’t worry
about it you’ll figure it out
eventually the problem is we create an
intricate link between occupation and
identity and we call it confusion and
uncertainty when someone doesn’t have
that one aspiration that they’re
completely sold on I used to be that
person when asked the question of what I
wanted to be I would say a pharmacist or
a physiotherapist it’s not that I really
knew what these titles meant but being
in and out of hospital because of
childhood asthma meant that I heard
these words a lot and I associated them
with helping people and that’s something
I knew I definitely wanted to do
eventually when I couldn’t pronounce the
word pediatrician I decided that’s what
I wanted to be a specialist in childhood
diseases so eight years ago when my
father sat me down and asked me if I was
going to start working immediately after
high school or if I was going to study
further I knew that it was the latter I
was going to medical school getting
accepted into Medical School came with
great joy I worked hard after my first
year my efforts were rewarded with an
invitation to join the golden key
international Honor Society because I
was in the top 15% of my class
academically I was very excited three
years later I was burnt out and
disillusioned I wanted a way out I felt
that there was a gap with
between the theoretical aspects of
Medicine and the practical work that we
were expected to do in the hospital and
I will struggling to bridge this gap I
don’t quite know how to express how I
felt so I found comfort in writing in my
fourth year of medical school my first
poetry collection was published two
years later I had three books a
publishing consultancy firm and a career
as a spoken word artist and theater
all of this while still pursuing a
career in medicine but how did I do this
well I’m going to share with you the
three ways in which I fully embraced my
multiple passions the first thing that I
did I made time for the things that I
loved Lord sue said time is a created
thing and to say I don’t have time is
the equivalent of saying I don’t want to
so I became a juggler I ran marathons I
entered beauty pageants I attended
spoken word sessions I auditioned for
plays and with all of this juggling some
balls stayed in the air some fell to the
ground but all of those taught me very
very important lessons about myself the
second thing that I did I found out
where I was replaceable in my fifth year
of medical school I contracted pneumonia
from one of my patients I became very
ill but getting time off was almost
impossible so I made a conscious
decision to step away and focus on my
healing I knew that I couldn’t be
everywhere at once so I decided to find
out what demanded my immediate attention
and focused on that the third thing that
I did I became an apologetic Grace
Hopper said it is better to ask for
forgiveness than to get permission so I
asked myself should I ask for permission
to do the things that I want to do be
told that they’re impossible and then be
miserable for the rest of my life or
should I just dive headfirst into what I
really love and then find out later if
it works out or not I chose the latter
and I have never looked back so let me
ask you this
if you could go back in time and we
asked the question what do you want to
be when you grow up what would the
answer be this time and why not everything
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