Dr Ashley Ng

Every year, I am impressed by how much happens in 12 months. I loved reading last year’s blog on recapping and goal setting for 2024. I talked about starting a new job, navigating my way through motherhood while balancing a career and getting on top of my diabetes. While it has been an absolute struggle at times (most times), there’s been wins, highlights and many lessons learned.

Career

It’s hard to believe that it’s amost been two years since leaving my secure academic job to inadvertently chase a research career. This year, many research grant funding applications have gone in with not a lot of return sadly. And the phrase “a funding application is never wasted” is starting to grow old. However, countless relationships have been built, lots of lessons learned in grant writing and hopefully with that, better preparation for the future. I need to constantly remind myself that these things don’t happen overnight and it’s only been 12 months or so of actively crafting my research narrative. There is much to learn.

Diabetes

Pancreas wise, I finally bit the bullet and tried CamAPS Fx. Two months on and I’m still mind blown at how amazing my time in range has been since and still wishing I had given it a chance earlier on. Now that I’ve settled into the system, I’m keen to fine tune a few things. I feel that there is still so much to learn, yet I don’t quite know where to start. For now, I’ve just been reading through posts on the Facebook group, familiarising myself with different possibilities and what others have been doing before I head back to my educator to discuss some options. Because you really don’t know what you don’t know.

Reflection

Across many areas in my life, the words that jump out a lot to me year are networking and taking time to build relationships. Immersing myself in the consumer engagement research space has led to some very cup-filling moments with groups I never thought I would get to know. It has also given me confidence to embrace the different hats that I wear and go forth in this space, whether that be in the diabetes field or in general.

Growth

Patience and the ability to slow down is something I’d like to work on in 2025. Life with two toddlers is enough to test my limits, particularly at the end of the day when we’re all exhausted. I find myself feeling panicked and anxious more often than not at the thought of the amount of work I have waiting for me. Then feeling guilty that I’m snapping at the girls from the stress and feeling guilty for not spending as much time with them as I would like. So in 2025, mindfulness and being present in the moment is something I’m going to try and practice more of.

Gratitude

2024 has honestly felt insanely rushed and being stretched to my limits. Yet I think overall, it has been very enjoyable. I’m grateful for the team I have around me at work – the ability to laugh in face of adversity has really carried us through. Flexibility with my work has allowed me to juggle my job as a mum. I’m grateful that my husband’s career has taken off – even if it means single parenting a lot of the time, it will all pay off in the future. His willingness to keep growing with me as we navigate (or struggle) through challenging times is something I treasure, even though there are times where I didn’t think things would work out. I’m grateful for my girls – no matter how much they threaten to push me off the edge, they are such beautiful, understanding and kind souls at heart. They make my world dance in technicolour in a way I never thought would be possible.