What I’ve learned:

I graduated with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy in 1997 from the University of Queensland. Certain that I would never set foot inside any university gates again, I now find myself working as an Assistant Professor, at the tail end of a Ph.D. I have published several academic papers and love helping others get excited about research. My clinical specialty relates to vascular and lymphoedema conditions… topics that I love to talk about. 

My not-so-formal education:

I know I’m not alone in believing that authentic learning unfolds when we pause and tune into the silence within. Learning to listen to the spaces between thoughts has been transformative for me. Extraordinary experiences in my personal life continue to sustain my interest in the uniqueness of people. As a natural observer of the world around me, I find people absolutely fascinating.

Till the day I die:

As a single mother to three amazing humans, my heart is full. Two have recently flown the coop and now it’s just me and my eighteen-year-old flapping around in the nest. Thank goodness for Facetime. It’s almost like they’re all still here.

What I can do:

I can paint a ‘pretty picture’. I worked for 2 years in an art gallery on the Gold Coast, assisting the main artist, Jeff Gilberthrope; renowned for his themed series of paintings; and embellishing them with portraits of customers. I now paint only for friends and for fun. Large-scale portraits are my favorite. 

I am not afraid to try new things and I see things through. I achieved a black belt in karate in my 30s but in my 40s, some might say, I went a bit ‘nuts’.

During that decade, I learned how to ride a motorbike, a mountain bike, and ski. I freely admit that I am not particularly skilled at any of them but I’ve given them all a red-hot shot. I’ve certainly ‘shredded’ some pretty awesome trails over the years on my mountain bike. Admittedly I quickly invested in a full-face helmet since realizing that I have a tendency to land on my head. 

I have visited the slopes of Switzerland, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Thredbo (Australia). I can finally claim a small degree of competence in having two oblong missiles strapped to my feet, but I wish I had grown up on the slopes. Nothing quite like being overtaken by a two-year-old.

Now that I’ve hit 50, my goals are to learn to run and smile at the same time – and to hit ‘flow-state‘ for as many minutes or hours as I can every day. When I hit that sweet spot, I’m in my happy place.