Hi there, I’m Mona and right now a lot is changing in my life.

I wasn’t always this unsure about life.

I admit when I was younger I was never one of these kids that had a clear vision of what I wanted to be when I grew up, like dreaming about becoming a princess, a nurse or a ballerina. During my time at school I was decidedly average, and sometimes below average, in basically all of my subjects. I never put in more effort than I absolutely had to and was content with the uncertainty of not really knowing were life would take me in the end. Towards the end of Highschool however I felt like I had found a subject (Biology) I enjoyed and did relatively well in, so I decided to stick to this path and work towards a career as a biologist.

During my time at Uni, studying Biosciences as an undergrad, I quickly realised that the field that fascinated me the most was Neuroscience. Anything to do with neuropsychiatric or neurodevelopment disorders had really caught my interest. I went straight into my Masters with the clear vision of majoring in Neuroscience and following up with a PhD in one of those two fields. I had finally found a dream I felt like it was worth believing in: becoming a neuroscientist.

Fast forward to the last 6 months of my Masters program. The time had come to finally think about which lab I would potentially like to join for a follow up PhD position. The more I started to ponder this question however, the more uneasy and doubtful I felt. It took a while for me to realise that I was really questioning whether this path was still the right one for me regardless of which lab I would join in the end. Truth be told that realisation completely threw me off. Throughout my whole 6 years at university I had never stopped to reflect and think whether I was still on the right track or not.

After going back and forth multiple times I ultimately decided against pursuing a career as a neuroscientist past my time as a master student, with no plan b might I add. Having never even considered any other career for the past 10 years or so I was left in a state of inner turmoil and chaos and with no clear direction of where to go next.

I went soul searching for a few months and prioritised reflecting on my interests and possible future careers until I slowly but surely landed on a new path. A path that feels inherently right for me and brings me so much joy every day, that sometimes I can hardly contain it.

I have no idea where I will land in the end but I guess that’s part of the excitement, isn’t it?