Hello, I’m Hollie. I’m an 18 year old student currently in the gap between A Levels and university. I decided to set up this blog during the COVID-19 outbreak as my A Level exams had been cancelled and for the first time in years, I had a lot of free time on my hands. As of now, I hold a conditional offer to study medicine at Imperial College London so if all goes to plan with predicted grades, I should be starting university soon!
Before I created TheConsciousMedic, I set up a vegan food blog which I eventually took down, as I felt that I wanted to talk about a wider range of things. My goal for this blog is to create a platform where I can inform and inspire people by sharing my ideas on topics related to medicine (the journey to, and during, medical school as well as health-related news), the environment and planetary health, mindfulness and veganism. I was worried that this blog would be too multi-niche, but I believe all these topics meld together to suit an audience with one particular mindset: trying to learn more about the world, how humans fit into it, and how we can improve it for the better. I believe human health and planetary health are mutually inclusive; we cannot have one and not the other. I’ve been shouting about veganism ever since I made the decision to stop exploiting animals, and this remains the best decision I have ever made.
The coronavirus outbreak really highlighted to me how strongly the environment, our use of animals and diseases are linked and this urged me to create this blog. Becoming vegan led me to become interested in yoga and meditation, which are two valuable tools I use to deal with the stress that is inevitable with the fast-paced distracted world that we live in.
I am also passionate about having a good relationship with your food, exercise and body as I feel that I am at much more accepting place where I eat what makes me feel good (whether that’s a kale salad one meal, and 3 donuts the next), and exercise in a way that brings me joy, not to ‘earn’ my food. I find the discussion on weight a frustrating topic, especially going into a medical career where BMI is still used and many doctors jump to “you need to lose weight” before even listening to their patient’s concerns. I recognise my thin privilege living in a fatphobic society, so I am eager to change people’s view on the link between their weight and health as it has been a game changer in how I live my life. I aim to be a doctor in the future who doesn’t focus on inaccurate measures of health on a BMI scale, but believes that health can be achieved at every size (well known as the HAES approach). I plan to write future blog articles on these ideas and my experiences.
I also hope to have this platform as a place to provide helpful advice for aspiring medics on the application process. I intend to share more about how I am finding, and coping, at medical school and how I am balancing the demanding course with actions to be mindful and sustainable.
When deciding on a blog name, I thought the word ‘conscious’ encompassed all of these things perfectly:
- being conscious of the world around us
- being conscious of our impact on the planet and other species
- being conscious of our impact on other humans
- being conscious of the present moment (encouraging mindfulness through conscious breath and movement)
- plus, it’s a cool play on words when associated with medicine
What you can expect from me
I hope this blog enlightens you on many issues you hadn’t encountered before, but also empowers you to help change them. Expect to see informative posts on environment and sustainability, veganism, animal rights and medicine as well as tips on being more sustainable, mindful and generally being a better human. If you’re an aspiring medic or student, my tips and advice may be of use to you too.
Finally, I still want to share my love of food with you all. Enjoy a weekly vegan recipe from me as a way to present how ridiculously tasty, easy, budget-friendly and wholesome vegan food can be, but also how it aligns with the conscious and ethical values I promote.
I hope you enjoy…
TheConsciousMedic
