*I wrote this in November 2016.

When I was younger, my parents would sit with me and watch me put together my Lion King puzzle. At first, they would watch me try and unsuccessfully piece together the first two pieces I could grab, put aside one of the pieces and try again, and again, and again. After a generous amount of unsuccessful attempts, my parents made me put all the pieces back in the box, shake it, and then dump it all out on to our kitchen table. They would then help me flip over each puzzle piece so that they would all be upward facing and explain, “that way you can see everything you’re working with”. They would give me tips on where to start - corner pieces, end pieces, etc. and let me slowly piece together my Lion King puzzle by myself. My parents were/are wonderful teachers. Little do they know the simple guidance they provided back then, would eventually stick with me in how I approach all of the weird and nebulous puzzles I’ve encountered in life and will eventually encounter as I continue to grow.

A few weeks ago, I made some pretty serious decisions about which puzzle I wanted to attack next. All my life, everything I did academically and professionally, was geared towards completing the puzzle of medicine. I wanted to be a paediatrician. For so many years, I struggled to piece together my academic interests with my professional goals, forcing them to fit together in a way that would just not coalesce. It just didn’t fit. And I couldn’t understand why. Until this year.

The beginning of 2016 marked a new year for me to turn shit around and leave the disaster of 2015 behind. I took this year as a very serious opportunity to put all of my academic interests, professional goals, potential career paths, strengths, weaknesses, and ideas back into a box, shake it all up, and dump it all back onto my desk. Through the painful process of writing my Master’s thesis, I somehow positioned myself in a unique set of circumstances that flipped each of these pieces right-side up and I was finally able to clearly see everything that I was working with. Writing that monstrous 200+ paged thesis made my passions crystal clear; the reason these pieces never fit was because they were in the wrong box. I’m not supposed to be a doctor - that’s not at all what I’m passionate about; rather, I’m meant to be a lawyer and meant to go beyond receiving a JD degree -  I’m meant to be a legal academic.

I have spent the better part of my life working at a medical office in the Jane and Finch area. I regularly help and care for people who experience the social system from a position of struggle. My MA research was conceptualized from  and developed through my experience at the clinic. Refugee health and health policy (the premise of my graduate work) proved to be two things that I am extremely passionate about and my thesis demonstrated that if I genuinely want to continue to help refugees and immigrants, then I need a career where I can make the kind of difference that doesn’t involve treating colds and fevers. I want to help these marginalized populations navigate their way through the social system from a position of strength and studying the law can help ease their transitions to this country. Moreover, I want to be able to help with the dissolution of legal boundaries and help disseminate legal knowledge to those that need it most. It’s clear that I love to write - furthering my time in academia affords me the chance to continue doing what I love and well, isn’t that the whole point of this puzzle?

My puzzle is slowly coming together - the edges have formed, the pieces are finally starting to fit together, and the cornerstones remain in tact. I guess I just have to continue working on piecing together other aspects of it, but it’s good to know it’s all starting to make sense. 

Also, my parents are indescribably wise and yet, they have no idea. If/when I ever have kids, I hope they’ll learn to love puzzles as much as I do.