Dr Ashley Ng

Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of chatter in my world around “knowing your why”. From our co-design workshops around involving consumers in health research to writing my own research grant to chats with my husband about the trying to make some sense to the craziness of our lives at the moment and chats to friends about diabetes advocacy. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something – so I’m going to attempt to unpack it.

We often hear that it’s important to find your why as it becomes your purpose in life; it is what drives you forward and gives you a reason to wake up every morning. Not many people talk about how difficult it can be to chase your why and how sometimes it will wear you down to the bone to breaking point.

I’m sure we’ve all been there. We get so caught up in our own little rat race and the daily grind that we lose sight of the why. I think that’s why it’s so important to revisit your why regularly and to reflect on how you’re achieving that. Because sometimes, remembering your why will give you the strength to rise above the noise and to find a strategy forward. Even if that means doing a 180 and taking a different approach. For me, that meant dedicating my efforts into research.

In the health space, our why is often focused on not wanting others to go through the challenges we have or to make the healthcare system a better place. And for many of us in the diabetes space, we are very passionate about doing this. This means we tend to say yes to things even when they stretch us beyond our capacity. Or as a friend so rightly put it, “we keep chasing the shiny things”, which is both good and bad. Good in the sense of the work we’re doing fills our cup but without alignment or strategy, it can feel quite scattered, leaving you in a frazzled haze (me, currently).

And so now I’m starting to be really mindful of things I say yes to. The things I consider are: does this align with my why, do I currently have capacity to work on it and how will being part of this work impact me (now and the future) and my family now. Our time is finite and I want to prioritise spending time with my girls, seeing them grow, laugh and play. So I’m thankful to my girls for giving me that perspective and forcing me to put boundaries in place.

After all that has been said, the most important thing about knowing your why is to find other people who share a similar why to you. Because these are the people who will remind of it when times are rough and make it more bearable. These are the people who will be your champions and cheeleaders. These are your people to create change with. Because we are stronger together.