In my field of work, more and more people seem to be going ‘less than full time’. Nobody ever seems to regret it. So, why am I here working ‘full time’? When you start to play with the idea of going less than full time with other people, there are both pros and cons discussed.…

I am a junior doctor who selfishly chose to work the strike days. I did this partly to not lose out on my salary on these days, partly to minimise my ‘time out of training’, but mostly to learn. I thought that with so many seniors around, it would be a great opportunity to learn…

I liked being surrounded by people who were like-minded and interested in the same thing: making the communities we live in healthier. They were motivating and inspiring, and it was especially useful to see people that even looked like me in senior public health roles in the UK. It is possible! Some talks really stuck…

Sometimes, I have patients come to me and tell me things that make me think ‘Why are you here?’. There are lots of times you hear doctors complaining about patients wasting their time or inappropriate referrals. You rarely hear of the patients that were a good use of their time or were appropriately referred to…

I have met many patients with self- or officially diagnosed health anxiety. And it got me thinking I, and many others, probably have an element of this too. Usually, there’s an underlying reason for it. A bad experience with healthcare, an ill family member, a late diagnosis or reading about horror stories online. All of…

“Independence is true wealth” – Morgan Housel. I heard this quote today and it spoke to me very clearly. I have thought many times since starting working how great it would be to simply wake up, not really feel like working, and then simply not go to work. I could sleep some more or spend…

I am lucky to be in a job where I am surrounded by seniors. By people who are in the role I could be working if I followed their career path. They help give you a tangible visualisation of your potential future. Sometimes this is helpful and inspiring, sometimes it is the opposite and makes…

I am, like many others, concerned for my health. I want to optimise it, to have it perfect so that I have ‘nothing to worry about’ and am ‘healthy’ and live injury- and disease-free. Wouldn’t that be great? I have consumed a lot of health and ‘wellness’ (which is just health) content over the last…

I really enjoyed the start of my GP rotation, but now at only 2 months in, I feel drained. The end of each day drains me more and more. This wasn’t what I expected, as I was going into this rotation thinking it could be a potential career. But now, I’m not thinking that. I…

My dad had a cataract surgery in one of his eyes today. It’s a short, routine procedure that’s under local anaesthetic so what’s the worry, right? The main fear of surgeries is never waking up again from general anaesthetic. Yet, there was palpable anxiety from all of us in the family, me included. What if…