Alas, no followers so far.
To be honest, I'm fine with that. Fame and fortune is not the motivation behind this blog. Besides, I'm aware that, at least for now, my blog is hardly unique. It's early days. If I find a regular audience, great. If not I'll continue to share my thoughts with the void.
I was deliberately concise in my "Hello World" post but now I feel some back-story is in order. Here is my origin story.
Birth and Early Years, 1983 - 1994
I was born in Wales in March 1983. Specifically, the small city of Bangor. I lived and grew up on the Isle of Anglesey in a small village called Carreglefn. Carreglefn has its own small primary school which I attended from the age of 4. When I say small, I mean tiny. I was one of only 6 to enrol in my year! Growing up in a tiny Welsh community and attending a tiny Welsh school while coming from an English family was... tough. I coped by focusing on getting through the years working towards the promise of a better life in secondary school. It was during these years that I decided I wanted to become a doctor.
Secondary School, 1994 - 2001
I attended the local secondary school in the town of Amlwch, Anglesey. Life here was marginally better than in my tiny primary school. After all, here I was one out of a hundred and fifty pupils in my year. I had a core group of about 5 or 6 close friends and again coped by studying hard on the promise of a better life at University. Eventually I gained my GCSE's and A-Levels with sufficient grades to be accepted into the University of Manchester Medical School.
University, 2001 - 2006
After an initial period of adjustment (it was a shock moving from the sticks to a city like Manchester!) I was much happier here. I met some wonderful people who remain very close and loyal friends. I can't say I continued to excel at my studies. Now as one of three hundred and fifty students, I was firmly middle-of-the-pack rather than front-runner academically. This didn't bother me particularly as I was mostly very happy. After all, I did well enough to graduate and secure my first job.
Lancaster, 2006 - 2008
At first I felt like I had arrived. Finally I was a doctor. I had the dream career I'd always hoped for. Work was hard but I made some good friends there. Unfortunately there was one person who I didn't get along with at all who in my mind did everything possible to undermine me. To my discredit, I let him bother me far more than I should have. Also, I suddenly realised that I didn't know exactly what sort of doctor I wanted to be. By the time I worked out that I wanted to specialise in Paediatrics (the care of children), it was too late to optimise my CV and I was unable to secure a training job in Paediatrics. This left me with only two options, take a job in General Practice (family medicine) or do ad-hoc part-time work. For security, I took the General Practice job.
Preston & Chorley, 2008 - 2009
My first 6 months were great. I was assigned a rotation in Paediatrics. More than ever I knew that this was what I wanted but now I had become trapped in the General Practice training job. With the help of one of the Paediatricians I worked for, I took a gamble and re-applied for a Paediatric training job. My intention was to remain in the North West of England where I had lived and worked since university. Unfortunately, I wasn't offered an interview in the North West. I was however, interviewed for a job in the East Midlands. While I awaited their decision, I transferred to a rotation in Elderly & Stroke Medicine. I was miserable. This was in direct opposition to what I wanted to do. Fortunately, I was offered a Paediatric job by the East Midlands. I promptly resigned my General Practice Job and made preparations to move.
Oakham, Northampton, Kettering and Leicester, 2009 - Present.
Not knowing the East Midlands at all, I got out a map and pinned all the hospitals I could be sent to during my 8 years of Paediatric training. I visited all these places and decided to move to Oakham, a pleasant, small market town between Leicester & Peterborough. It was roughly equidistant from most of the hospitals I would be sent to work so made sense to me.
My first year was in Northampton. That was a crazily busy job. I ended up pulling extra shifts to cover rota gaps produced by pregnant colleagues. At the time I was just happy doing the job I wanted. I hadn't noticed that I had no friends in Oakham and barely spent any time there between sleep & work. Work was so busy, I often skipped lunch and sometimes was so tired I didn't make myself proper evening meals either.
My second year was in Kettering. I liked working there much better. I was just as busy but work felt calmer, less rushed. I didn't have to plug any rota gaps so had much more time to myself. I slowly started to realise how lonely and isolated I had become from my year in Northampton. My good friend Adam, who I lived with in university and who'd settled near Leicester confronted me about my weight-loss. I didn't believe him at first but got on the scale and was shocked to find I was 6kg lighter than I thought I was!
It was coming up to the end of 2010 when I looked back and saw I had pretty much nothing in my life beyond my work. As lucky as I am to have such a wonderful and worthwhile career, I can't let that be all that I am.
Over the course of this year, I've taken steps to enrich my life. Now, I want even more. That is the reason I started this blog.
Why 'When The World Is Mine'
