I went into the profession of pharmacy on a whim. I always thought I wanted to be a paediatrician. I loved kids and loved helping people. I thought those two things melded perfectly into being a doctor for children. I envisioned having a super cute office filled with stuffed animals and clouds painted on the ceiling. It was going to be perfect…

Fast-forward to my first year of undergraduate sciences and Dalhousie University. I hated everything about that year. I hated going to classes with hundreds of other students. I hated that the professors had no idea who I was or what I could become. And I hated the exams. Very high pressure, very low expectation. Generally awful.

It was during that year that I met my best friend. I knew her from high school but we weren’t very close at that tenuous time in our lives. She was the only person I recognized in my first year chemistry class and we gravitated towards each other so we wouldn’t have to sit alone in a giant classroom of freshmen. We became fast friends and during the first few months of term she revealed to me that she was applying to pharmacy school, as many in her family had done before her. She said I should look into the program. I did just that and found it to be exactly what I wanted. It meant I could be in the health professions, have a well paying job and a large amount of knowledge. It also meant I didn’t have to go to school for 12 more years or mop up blood. Both of those items were extremely appealing.

And so, my friend and I worked vigilantly to get into pharmacy school that year. We got in after our first try. The two of us (along with another good friend who had been trying to get in and was successful) celebrated that June when we found out we were in the same class.

As I went through my pharmacy degree, I was so thankful. I LOVED the programme. I couldn’t wait to start new courses. I thrived on the stress of studying and learning and absorbing. And when I wrote my licensing exams, I felt Dalhousie had prepared me as best any college could.

I started working as a staff pharmacist in 2009 and to this day still love this profession. On a daily basis I help customers. I help them find toilet paper and hair brushes. But I also help them with getting their milk to let down after they’ve given birth to a beautiful baby boy and are terrified he’s not getting enough to eat. I help them with their addictions and blood pressure. I help them with their blood glucose meters and their hearing aids. I help them when they feel no one is listening. I hug them when they lose a loved one. I help them with their health, both physical and mental. That is what I signed up for when I became a pharmacist. And I love every second of it. Even if it started as a whim.