Permission?

Much of my life has been filled with SHOULDs:

• I SHOULD study harder

• I SHOULD get into a good college/medical school/residency

• I SHOULD find a good, stable job

• I SHOULD get married/have kids now

And while I am so grateful for all the blessings and opportunities I have had in my life (really, I’m not complaining at all), it took me well into my mid-late 30s to finally decide to do things for myself - venturing outside of traditional medicine, finding a career/family balance I was truly happy with, branching into social media (for business marketing, education, and advocacy), and publicly embracing my style…

What took me so long? Honestly, I was worried about what others would think - my friends, my family, my colleagues. What if they laughed? What if I lost their respect? What if I put myself out there and made a literal dancing fool of myself or failed…?

But what I realized was that it didn’t matter what they thought (and trust me, many did tell me exactly what they thought…). They weren’t the ones living my life, experiencing my struggles, or providing me fulfillment or my family joy… that was MY responsibility… and so I needed no one else’s permission or acceptance but my own.