What Keeps
Me Well

This is a website that somewhat takes the form of a photo journal and a journey through what wellbeing means to me, to share with others in NURS 180. Wellbeing is not a destination. It is a constant, evolving process of returning to the people, places, and practices that keep me grounded.

Jai Dhillon  ·  NURS 180

01 / Nourish

Cooking is how I take care of myself

When I moved to UBC for university, I quickly realized that eating well was not purely about nutrition. It was about feeling at home. As an international student thousands of kilometres from family, the kitchen became the one place where distance shrank.

This photo is from almost ten years ago. My dad cooking steak for me in his kitchen in Singapore. He works in oil and gas and would come home exhausted, often barely having taken care of himself all day. But he would still take the time to make sure I was happy and well fed. That act of care, quiet and consistent, is something I didn't fully appreciate until I was living on my own.

My dad cooking steak in his kitchen in Singapore, 2016

Without even planning it, I started doing the same thing here in my campus apartment. Choosing the cut, seasoning it by hand, getting the sear right. It forces me to slow down, step away from assignments and deadlines, and do something physical and tangible.

And when I plate it up and sit down in my student residence, I feel connected to something bigger than myself. To him, to home, to the version of me that watched and learned without realizing it. These days I also cook for Charlotte. It's become my way of showing care for the people around me, the same way my dad did for me. It also helps me take that one step away from being Uber Eats' most loyal customer of the month. Learning about mindful eating in this course gave language to something I was already doing without realizing it. Cooking forces me to slow down and be present with the food I'm preparing, and that mindfulness carries through to the meal itself.

Raw steaks being seasoned on a cutting board
Spiced chicken cooking on a pan Finished steak on a cutting board with Zwilling knives

Following in my dad's footsteps, one pan at a time.

02 / Connect

Wellbeing lives in the people around me

One of the earliest things this course explored was the idea that wellbeing has multiple domains, and that social and relational wellbeing is just as vital as physical or mental health. That idea reframed how I think about my own family, scattered as we are.

My family is scattered across three continents. My sister and her husband Patrick in New York. My mom and her partner in Dubai. Me and my girlfriend Charlotte in Vancouver.

We don't get to be in the same room very often. But when we do, there's a tradition that has followed us everywhere: Monopoly. It sounds simple, but sitting around a board together, arguing over rent on Park Lane, is one of the few things that makes the distance feel like it doesn't matter.

Monopoly board game spread out on a table

Last year, something happened that I'll carry with me for a long time. My dad and Charlotte finally met, in Vietnam of all places.

Watching them sit together at dinner, my dad showing her something on his phone, the two of them laughing. I was lucky to capture the moment. That was wellbeing in its purest form. Not something I could plan or optimize. Just people I love, choosing to know each other.

Dad and Charlotte meeting for the first time at a restaurant in Vietnam

Patrick is my brother-in-law and one of my closest friends. This photo is from Scotland in 2024, when we met for the first time. He's the kind of person who makes every room feel lighter. Whether we're grabbing dinner or just catching up, time with him reminds me that family isn't only the people you grow up with. It's also the people who choose to show up.

Me and Patrick, my brother-in-law, at dinner
The whole family together at a restaurant in Dubai, 2025

Dubai, 2025. The first time the whole family was in the same place. This is where the Monopoly tradition started.

Wellbeing isn't a solo project. It's built in the space between people, in shared meals, familiar arguments over board games, and the quiet comfort of being known. It's something I have to keep choosing, not something I achieve once.

03 / Gather

The table is where it all comes together

Charlotte's family welcomed me into their home for Family Day in Ontario. As an international student, being invited to someone's family table hits differently. It's an act of generosity that goes beyond food. The spread that morning, the laughter, the casual warmth of it all. That's the kind of thing that sustains you through the harder weeks of the semester.

Turkish-style breakfast spread with olives, cheese, eggs, and fruit

A Turkish-style breakfast spread. Dozens of small dishes, each one an invitation to slow down and stay at the table a little longer.

Whether it's a Christmas dinner with homemade quiche and little reindeer desserts, or a weeknight pasta with salmon, these moments remind me that nourishment is as much about who you're eating with as what you're eating.

Christmas dinner table with quiche, salad, and reindeer desserts Weeknight dinner with pasta, salmon, and prosecco

Christmas dinner with Charlotte's family (left) and a dinner I captured while visiting over Family Day and reading break (right).

04 / Ground

Walking to clear my head

Misty coastal walk with bare trees and ocean view Clear blue sky view of ocean and snow-capped mountains

Two moods of the same coastline. Both equally restorative.

Walking is something I started doing more consistently as part of NURS 180's asynchronous activities, and it has become one of the most reliable tools in my wellbeing routine. When I feel anxiety building, whether it's about future career prospects, the uncertainty of where I'll end up after graduation, or just the general weight of figuring out direction in life, I go for a walk. No headphones, no destination. Just the trail, the trees, the water. I like looking at people going about their day, watching the nature around me, and embracing whatever the weather decides to be. After learning about the physiology of stress in this course, I also understand why this works. Walking activates the parasympathetic nervous system and helps bring down cortisol. It also helps me regulate my blood pressure, which I've recently found out runs higher than it should.

On grey days, there's a particular stillness to the coast that I find calming. The mist sitting on the water, the bare branches, the quiet. On clear days, seeing the snow-capped mountains across the strait reminds me of how lucky I am to be here. These walks are my reset button. They cost nothing, take thirty minutes, and they work every time.

05 / Perspective

What the Navy taught me about wellbeing

Before UBC, before Vancouver, before any of this, I served in the Republic of Singapore Navy. I grew up in Singapore, and like every male citizen, I completed National Service. I was posted to the Navy and spent my service sailing across Asia and beyond.

It was two years that stripped away a lot of the noise I didn't even know I was carrying. When you're out at sea, there's no algorithm deciding what you should care about. There's just the water, your crewmates, and the work in front of you.

Commissioning photo in Republic of Singapore Navy dress uniform
View from a naval vessel sailing across open ocean

Somewhere in open water during a sailing. Moments like these taught me what stillness actually feels like.

The Navy gave me a sense of discipline, but more than that, it gave me perspective. This course's focus on resilience in Week 1 resonated with me because of this experience. Wellbeing isn't always about comfort. Sometimes it's about knowing you can endure hard things and come out the other side with a clearer sense of who you are. The cognitive restructuring tools we explored later in the course also connected here. The Navy taught me to reframe difficult situations long before I had a name for that skill.

It also taught me not to take the small things for granted. The ability to choose what I study, to cook my own meals, to walk along the ocean whenever I want. These aren't just nice things. They're privileges I notice because I spent two years in a world where none of them were guaranteed.

The Milky Way visible above the ship's mast during a night sailing Naval vessels docked at port in Singapore at dusk

The Milky Way from the deck of the ship during a night sailing (left). Vessels dressed at port in Singapore (right).

I used to think wellbeing was something you achieved. Now I think it's something you return to, again and again, through the rituals that remind you who you are.

06 / Explore

Curiosity as self-care

This might be unexpected in a wellbeing project, but one of the things that makes me feel most alive is studying finance. I know that sounds like the opposite of self-care, but hear me out.

I study and specialize in finance at UBC Sauder, and I have access to a Bloomberg Terminal, a tool that most people in the industry don't get to touch until they're well into their careers. Every time I sit down at that screen, I'm reminded of a privilege I don't take for granted. This course's exploration of our comparing minds helped me see that wellbeing isn't about having more than others. It's about recognizing and appreciating what you do have.

Bloomberg Terminal showing factor ETF comparison charts

That photo is from visiting my sister in New York. Charlotte and I found some ridiculously cheap routing to get there and made an adventure out of the journey itself. Curiosity, whether it's pointed at factor investing or finding the cheapest way across the continent, is one of the most energizing things I know.

New York City skyline viewed from a bridge over the water

A note on planes

I also love aviation and plane-spotting. It might sound niche, but planes carry a particular emotional weight for me. Growing up in Singapore, Singapore Airlines was everywhere. Now, with home being Dubai, seeing an Emirates A380 at an airport is like spotting an ambassador from home. These planes are taking people to and from your home country. When you're abroad, catching a glimpse of your national carrier at an unfamiliar airport feels like a small reminder that home isn't as far away as it seems.

A plane taking off into the morning sun Emirates A380 on the tarmac under dramatic clouds

Taking off into the morning sun, one of my favourite photos I've ever taken. An Emirates A380 on the ground, a symbol of home wherever I find it.

07 / Create

Baking bread (in a pot, because I don't have a bread pan)

Charlotte and I decided to start baking bread together this semester. Partly as a way to spend time together that didn't involve screens, and partly because we just wanted to see if we could.

We don't have a bread pan, so the loaf goes in a pot. It's imperfect and a bit lopsided, and that's kind of the point.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere about wellbeing: you don't need the perfect setup. You work with what you have, you give it time, and sometimes what comes out of the oven is better than what you expected.

Freshly baked bread in a pot in the oven

Baking has become a small weekly ritual for us. Kneading dough, waiting for it to rise, sitting together while the apartment fills with the smell of fresh bread. It's the simplest form of creating something from nothing, and it makes me feel more present than almost anything else. Between us, I also think I'm the better baker of the two of us, but Charlotte might disagree. It's also a natural digital detox. There's no phone involved, no notifications, just flour and patience. This course helped me realize how intentionally stepping away from screens is itself an act of self-care.

Wellbeing isn't one thing

It's the steak I season the way my dad taught me. It's Charlotte's family welcoming me to their table. It's my sister across the continent and a Monopoly board between us. It's a walk along the coast when everything feels like too much. It's the privilege of studying what I love. It's bread in a pot.

NURS 180 taught me that wellbeing is not a checklist. It's a practice. It spans every domain of my life: physical, emotional, social, spiritual. And it's something I have to keep returning to, in the small, repeated acts of showing up for the people and practices that make me feel like myself.

Thank you for coming along with me on this journey where I tried to piece together the many things that define wellbeing for me. This course has taught me a great deal about what wellbeing really means, and I hope that having gotten a glimpse into my wellbeing journey has left you with something too.

Jai Dhillon