Thank you, next

I love new beginnings.

Whether it is the momentum of a new semester that is starting, or standing at the starting line before a big race. There is this mix of nervousness, butterflies and also a lot of excitement for the road ahead. I guess it is because even though the previous chapter in your life grew you and moulded you to the person standing at that starting line, you still have NO idea what the race is going to be like. It is scary, but also in a way the very essence of being alive and being able to pursue your true purpose.

While I used to be the type of person that wanted every planned to a “T”, the past few years of being a dietitian student has taught me the importance of being able to adapt on the fly, and take the unexpected and make it work. Life tends to have more unknown variables than known variables, and I think that that is what makes this journey such a beautiful one.

Mel Robbins recently sent out an email that said: “The price of your new life is your old one”. That really hit home for me. How many times do we tend to hold onto old ways of thinking, old habits and even old perceptions of ourselves and the world just because we think it is more comfortable?

I am truly grateful for the previous chapters in my life. It was because of the obstacles, struggles, lessons, disappointments, rejections, victories and growth that I could become the woman I am today. Some of these lessons took a while to learn – I can be quite stubborn. Here are some of the most impactful ones I learnt the past few years:

1. Appreciate the paradoxes of life.
   You need scary situations to be brave. You need to face insecurities, rejection and criticism head-on to become confident. You need to fail to succeed. And success is rarely a straight line for ANYONE – even the highest achievers out there.
2. You need to define what success looks like for YOU
   If you are going to be chasing other people’s version of success, you might look good from the outside, but there will always be something missing. Success, for me, means pursuing my God-given purpose, living in my integrity and being the BEST version of myself – every. Single. Day.
3. Just start.
   Start scared. Start imperfectly. You will never have the perfect time or one magical moment where you will feel perfectly competent or confident to do something. But by starting you get to create momentum which can catalyse growth you never even imagined was possible.
4. Attitude and perspective is everything.
   Having a positive mental attitude and approach to life is what makes the difference between surviving and thriving. There is always a way to reframe even the most challenging situation and use it to your advantage. And your attitude and perspective is one of the few things that you get to have control over – so choose wisely.
5. Failure is not what you think it is.
   We tend to want to either run from failure, ignore it or find excuses for it. What a waste of opportunity! Failure has the most powerful potential for growth, if we take the time to look at the failure from an objective standpoint, learn from it and apply the lessons to the next situation.

Attitude is ALTITUDE – you need a good attitude to really ELEVATE!

Academics-wise, past few months had a few challenges and situations that really led to a mind-shift as a student dietitian. While marks are important, I realised that learning how to become the best practitioner and dietitian I can possibly be is the best way I can serve my future patients and clients, even before I get to meet them. I really am passionate about the power good nutrition has to ELEVATE the quality of people’s lives, whether it is athletes, the elderly or patients in the hospital. And that perspective shift – putting my future clients first even as I am still studying – made an amazing impact in the way I learned and processed information.

It is a new semester for me as an RD-to-be. And even though I know that it is going to be a gruelling journey sometimes, I’m excited to take the lessons of my previous chapters, while also leaving behind what is past, and work on being the best, elevated version I can be in this new chapter of my life.

Are you with me?

Thank you – NEXT.