Many of us may take breathing for granted. I certainly did until a few years ago when I started experiencing insomnia, anxiety, and overwhelming stress as a result of healthcare burnout. I was also at a crossroads in my professional life, conflicted with my career choice as a pharmacist. Watching my patients take increasing amounts of medications without significant improvements to their chronic health conditions made me feel like I was doing a disservice to them. I felt that my job no longer aligned with my values of helping people become healthier.

We were missing the forest for the trees by placing too much weight on medication use. If we could shift our focus to providing education and resources on sustainable lifestyle modifications, we could potentially unburden people from long-term medication use.

The logic seemed sound but I had zero clue on how to turn it into action. Feeling trapped, I spent a lot of time retreating to the mountains and the ocean, hoping to find answers and re-discover my sense of purpose. I also relied a little too heavily on Netflix bingeing, chip snacking, doom-scrolling, and over-indulging on wine to escape the discomfort.