“Follow your dreams”, I was told. The best kind of cheerleading squad is a ready-made one: my family. The protection and love offered to me by my family made any hurdles I encountered in life simply fall to the wayside. I was made aware that I wasn’t like “them”, but it didn’t matter to me. It didn’t matter if I was the only brown girl in my primary school. It didn’t matter if I was told that I couldn’t follow two religions (because my parents were of different faiths). I did it anyway, and I felt as though I could accomplish anything.

Early into my medical studies, my father passed away, suddenly. The existing construct around which my life was built had collapsed. All that I was had become undone. It was from this point that I had to rebuild a new identity, and with that, new future projections.

Without conscious awareness, embracing my Indian heritage within my Western base seemed even more relevant. Cultural values, spiritual inclination and a deep rooted purpose to serve became an entwined part of my daily structure.

Through dealing with an earth-shattering life experience and coming out the other side, I have a deeper understanding of the interwoven fabrics from which my life is made. I am so proud of being a British-born Asian, consciously imbibing the fusion, role-modelling this for my children.

From a point of despair, I have grown learning how to harness my wellbeing in a manner that is right for me. By focusing on important dimensions in my life, I embrace the person I was meant to be, the person I was taught to be, and supported to be. A human, a mother, a doctor, and all the other identities wrapped up, living my best life in embracing all facets of my blended multi-cultural self.