​​

I grew up in newly independent Bangladesh, a young nation struggling to find its own identity while attempting to sever ties with an identity of old. I often wonder how much this shaped my own relationship with identity - a dilemma I know many can relate to.

​

​We were fortunate to have a garden in our front yard, where I spent my days running barefoot, picking fruit from trees, examining insects, and disappearing into worlds shaped by imagination and play. Life felt alive, curious, and full of possibility.

​

Somewhere along the way, that playfulness began to fade. As the seriousness of life took hold, imagination slowly gave way to responsibility, expectation, and the quiet pressure to become someone specific.

​

My parents were both deeply engaged in their businesses, and I naturally followed in their footsteps. From an early age, I learned what a “successful” life was supposed to look like. Yet when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I often felt strangely blank. I didn’t have a ready answer. A part of me felt I was already doing what mattered most: exploring, imagining, and playing, although I didn’t yet have the language to name it.

​

Learning to Perform Success

 

As I grew older, it became clear that the world had expectations about who I should become. For a long time, I tried to meet them, hoping that achievement would fill the quiet emptiness I carried inside.

​

I ran a successful flour business, expanded operations overseas, and later moved into trading, agriculture and insurance. From the outside, my life appeared accomplished and stable. But inwardly, something was missing. No matter how much I achieved, it never felt like enough.

​

My healing began when I started coming back to myself. As I reconnected with who I was beneath the roles, expectations, and coping mechanisms, I discovered that I no longer needed them.

​

A New Chapter

 

Living in Bali marked a turning point. Life there invited something different - a slower rhythm, a deeper listening. I began to live in a more holistic and integrated way, learning to respect the needs of my body, mind, and spirit. Balance was no longer an abstract idea, but a lived experience.

​

During this time, I felt drawn toward mental health work. I began working with people struggling with addiction, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm. Sitting with others in their most vulnerable moments felt meaningful in a way nothing else had. It was here that my earlier questions about meaning, identity, and aliveness, began to find a home.

​

This led me to deepen my training and move into one-to-one psychotherapy work, where presence, curiosity and authenticity became central.

​

Where I Am Now

 

That path eventually brought me to the UK, where I now work privately and within the NHS. My work today is shaped by everything that came before it - the child who played freely, the adult who learned to perform success ,and the return to a more authentic, integrated way of living.

At the heart of my work is a belief that many of our struggles: anxiety, depression, addiction, disconnection - arise when we lose touch with who we truly are, and perhaps this is something we can explore together.

​​

​​

Thank you for reading my story.