Medicine is NOT my entire personality

Read Time:7 Minute, 29 Second

Fazila Olaniyan ed. Anthony Foong

“I don’t want to just identify as a doctor, I want to identify as ME.” I’m sure many of us may have seen this consensus being reached by upcoming medical influencers and public speakers, where doctors are beginning to reclaim their identities beyond just medicine. After all, the idea of sacrificing our entire lives just to save our patients, while noble, is no longer seen as ideal, moving into a world cognizant of mental health and physician burnout. I believe Evan Diego, a Y3 med student, summarised this perfectly: “I don’t want to sacrifice my whole identity just to become a doctor, and I think that’s an important dogma to keep throughout our lives.”

I don’t think it is too controversial to say that a lot of us have already sacrificed so much just to get into medicine, and it starts to feel like that’s the only way to live. Especially through our teenage years, where we slowly push away more and more of our hobbies and personal enjoyments just to attend extra tuition classes, squeeze in another hour or two of studying, and chase the perfect ATAR, UCAT score, or straight As. And even after getting into med, the anxiety and pressure to not waste all this effort don’t simply disappear. But as Subha, a Y2 med student, said: “I realized it’s never going to get any easier. Y3 is going to be harder, and then we’ll start placements and residency, and I can’t just keep waiting to be done with things to live my life. I just have to start doing what I want to do now.” And honestly, I think I agree with her. So I went looking for some role models in med who haven’t let medicine stop them from pursuing their hobbies and living their best lives while also being the best Med students they can be.

We have Med’s very own 3rd Dan black belt karate sensei — Rasleen! Having started karate at just 6 years old, she’s never let academic pressure stop her from training, even continuing twice-a-week sessions throughout high school before moving to Sydney. That consistency is what allowed her to become so proficient at such a young age. When she arrived in Sydney, she struggled to find a dojo that matched her vibe, so instead, she decided to start her own — while still being a Year 1 Med student. Honestly, you could call her a star, because this eventually led to her winning the UNSW Y1 Star Award, especially since her classes became part of the Arc SHE CAN UNSW programme, meaning you can now literally find her classes on campus.

Her love for karate even led her to leave SH in Week 6 to head to Japan, where she was invited by the head of the Oceania Dentokan Karate Seminar to train with a senior grandmaster of karate.

To Rasleen, karate is as much an art form as it is physical. For example, while learning kata (形), you immerse yourself in a series of movements almost like a recital, but truly understanding the purpose behind every strike and kick is what takes it to another level. It requires immense patience, discipline, and focus, and Rasleen has challenged herself even further by planning lessons — with guidance from her sensei in New Zealand — for other women at UNSW. As intimidating as the commitment initially felt, she decided it would be worth it.

Rasleen articulates that it’s especially important to choose an interest you genuinely care about and commit to it fully. Having too many commitments can become overwhelming, which is why she believes hobbies are so important, not just to learn time management, but also to express yourself through something beyond medicine instead of simply doom-scrolling IG Reels all day. (Although, to be fair, she admits she still does that too… just a little less now.)

And Rasleen’s advice to anyone looking to pursue a hobby is simple: figure out what you truly want to do, rather than doing things just for the sake of it. And also — check out her T2 karate lessons on the Arc SHE CAN website. She’d genuinely love to have more Med students join!

Next up, we have Evan Diego, who I mentioned earlier. As a Y3 student swamped with placements, in-person lectures, and back-to-back tutorials, he’s somehow still found time to train for and complete the HOKA Half Marathon, which he decided to direct the cause to the Sydney Children’s Hospital and raised close to $700 for their charity. What began as a New Year’s resolution quickly became an integral part of his social life in med, especially since running seems to have become a bit of a global Med student fad recently. To stop himself from quitting halfway, he talks about the Atomic Habits idea of a “commitment device,” where a one-time choice made in the present controls your future behaviour. For him, that was paying the marathon fee. But beyond that, he’s also discovered some picturesque running routes that genuinely make him look forward to every run, and he decided to share some of them with us.

Evan Diego’s Top 3 Running Routes:

Sydney Olympic Cycleway
Randwick to Clovelly — although the uphill run back can get pretty brutal, it’s great for marathon training
Darling Harbour to Circular Quay — his personal favourite, especially at sunset, where you might just bump into him and a whole crowd of runners motivating each other to keep going

And Evan’s advice to anyone wanting to start something new is to remember that it’s taken people a long time to get to where they are. Even the people you admire are still struggling with their own goals, so just keep showing up and you’ll eventually get there too. It’s not a race, it’s a marathon :).

Last but definitely not least, we have Summer and Deanna, and their love for fishing. Their dedication to fishing has them waking up even earlier than our 9am lectures just to get to prime fishing spots by 8am, which honestly sounds insane to me. Deanna had already been regularly fishing with her family since she was around 7 years old. Later on, she had introduced Summer to fishing for the very first time in Port Macquarie, where he soon fell in love with the adrenaline rush of a fish biting the bait. (Although I was personally shocked Summer had never fished before this because… isn’t fishing basically Canada’s national pastime?) Because honestly, what better way is there to spend a relaxing day in nature than fishing?

Summer and Deanna have discovered some pretty great fishing spots too, including La Perouse, Harbour Bridge (their go-to for people chasing huge fish), and Drummoyne, which is apparently a prime fishing suburb in NSW.

Their 3-Step Guide to Fishing:

Gather your essentials: rod, line, hook, and bait
Find a chill spot where you hopefully won’t get arrested (apparently you also need a fishing license, which you can buy online)
Cast!!

They say fishing is easy to learn, but there’s definitely a lot of trial and error involved. For example, they learnt the hard way that during storms or after rain, fish tend to move further away from the pier, making it way harder to get a decent catch — which apparently should ideally be around 30cm long. But one of their favourite memories actually came from an almost failed attempt. During the break, they went camping specifically to fish, only to end up caught in the middle of a massive storm with freezing winds and complete darkness. They could barely see or even feel their fingers. Somehow though, they managed to catch a smaller fish to use as bait, which then helped them reel in a huge snapper. The adrenaline from that moment was unforgettable, and it basically fuelled their plans for more fishing trips this year, where they invite friends along for a social hangout before cooking the fish they catch together.

As Deanna said, hobbies are essential, and she feels like she actually looks forward to school more because of them. Don’t let your studies consume your identity. Hobbies are such an important way to socialise, recharge, and discover who you are beyond medicine.

Medicine trains us to delay living until some future point, but that future never really comes. Just as Evan chooses to run now instead of waiting for “after med”, Rasleen refusing to put karate on pause and Summer and Deanna continue making time for fishing despite the hectic schedules, there’s much to learn from their stories. Perhaps the goal was never to become only a doctor. Maybe it’s to become a doctor without losing yourself in the process.

Until next time,

Fazila Olaniyan