We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaslean Ahuja-Michals a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jaslean thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I feel many times in my life I took a risk in order to pursue opportunities that could change my life. My first risk was leaving my home state- Arizona- to move to San Fransisco where I pursed my doctorate in audiology. I did not know anybody in the city and walked into a room of unknown faces- faces I would spend the next 2 years with in class, Audiology has been a rewarding career for me and even though my doctorate program was the hardest 2 years of my life it brought me a fulfilling career, long lasting friendships, and led me to residency in Santa Barbara where I met my wonderful husband. The risk of moving to a new city and starting a whole new chapter in my life was SO WORTH IT.

The second time I took a risk was starting my health and wellness page- curating cures on instagram. I was so in my head of what others would think of me- would they think I was doing this page for the wrong reasons? I finally realized I couldn’t let the judgement of others keep me from my creative outlet. Curating cures has been a beautiful form of expressing my love for natural remedies and intuitive living. It led me to a more spiritual path in life and I can now say I am the most at peace with myself than I have ever been. The truth is we don’t know how long of a life we get to live- so take the risk and do what you love- life is too short to be doing anything that doesn’t serve you.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For those who don’t know me personally- I like to say I am a blend of all things in this world. My career is in the medical field but my passion is in the holistic health and spiritual world. I truly believe you can integrate and enjoy both. Professionally I am an audiologist, an audiologist is a doctor who specializes in hearing loss and balance disorders. Therefore I diagnose hearing loss and treat patients with medical hearing devices. I love to say my job is to “give the gift of hearing back”. I have helped thousands of patients hear better and get back to doing the the activities they love. I truly enjoy what I do and I really feel it makes a positive impact in this world.

The other side to my story is I really enjoy holistic health and advocating for living a more intentional life. The culture we grew up in is heavily dependent on “hustling”. But i truly believe that prioritizing things like your health, wellness, and rest can be as productive, if not more. My health and wellness page is a mix of natural remedies for health, skin, and hair along with bringing positivity and meaningful messages to ensure people feel validated in their feelings and emotions

I am so proud of the community I have served in both my career and my social media outlet. If anybody is looking to live a happier, healthier, and more healed life- I would love for you to check out my page and connect with you!

The bottom line- I truly believe humans are not meant to just do one thing their whole life; we are complex and we should have as many interests/passions/hobbies that we can pursue to express all the sides of who we are. :)

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My doctorate program was by far the most challenging 2 years of my life. It was a high stress environment that constantly tested your knowledge and sometimes pushed you to limits you never expected to reach. There was a point where I called my mother crying saying I didn’t think I could do it anymore, I truly felt like quitting. MY mother has been so understanding and told me I could come home- it was not the reaction I had expected. In fact, something about my mom telling me I could quit made me realize I didn’t come all this way to end ( maybe she used reverse psychology on me, but hey it worked!). Im proud to say I successfully graduated and got my doctorate in audiology at age 24! This graduation not only led me to a successful career but it brought me some of the most meaningful relationships in my entire life.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

My field, whether its audiology or my creative outlet- is that you have to be passionate and empathetic, I work with patients who have hearing loss and this can be a hard topic to discuss. Hearing loss is a neurodegenerative disorder and if not treated sooner rather than later it can have high risks of cognitive decline- that can be very hard for patients to hear. It is crucial to have empathy and compassion when delivering some tough news on ones health. But that is why I love the field- when my patients trust me with their health and trust the process, the outcomes are incredible. Everybody is going through something and sometimes we take things too personally. But when we realize everybody is just trying to live a happy life and there are challenges that come in anybodies way- it makes even dealing with the grumpy patients much easier. Compassion and empathy is key when working with people. It not just about the training and knowledge- but the bedside manners and your personality is key.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.curatingcures.com
• Instagram: @curatingcures
• Youtube: curating cures
• Tik Tok: @curatingcures
• Pinterest: @jaslean