Role of President's Wife

Now, I would like to share my experience as a President’s wife because I want to share this to help and guide the upcoming spouses in the future. The first thing for which one should be prepared is that your life will change very fast. You will notice that your spouse will not be able to address issues at home the way he/she normally would. You must be prepared for that because it will be constant ongoing changes, 24/7 calls, and video conferences, and continued interactions with JSMU Alumni and University. This may be difficult to accept as things at home cannot be put on pause while your spouse is President. You will be lucky if your husband can keep you updated with his meetings or everyday schedule, but most likely he won’t because he himself will be not prepared for such schedules in the beginning slowly you will see that your husband is more active dealing with JSMUAANA then he may be with you or your children. As a wife, this can be very challenging, and you might not be able to handle drastic changes that may lead to arguments at home. My advice would be to leave him alone. Yes! That’s the best advice I could give you. Let him have his space as he is doing nothing more than fulfilling his dreams. Trust me, at the end of his presidency, you will be very proud of him. You will be even more proud at the end when he was able to be successful because you gave him the time and space to put in his all. Be supportive and oversee your family’s ups and downs while he’s running his presidency. While he is busy with his duties, find things to occupy you that make you happy. For me, this involved playing tennis, learning music, and meeting people I hadn’t talked to in years. It was the first time in my life that I gave myself time to this extent. At first, it was hard to get used to, but I began to appreciate that time as I learned that while my husband was following his passion, I was developing my own. This was not an easy change but I did it for his sake so he can focus on his work and his commitment to JSMUAANA. This difficult road was made more so because I was not aware of the challenges and for a while, I felt that our lives had been changed forever. Now looking back at it, I realized it was a temporary adjustment everyone in the family had to make for him to succeed. Had I known the struggles we would face and that they would be temporary, I would have adjusted to support him and my family sooner. For this reason, I wanted to share my experience with future presidents and their spouses.

For Future presidents, I would like to advise that making sure communication is strong with your family should be a priority for our community. This is a big change for you just as much as it is a big change for them. While your duties to your family cannot be ignored during this time, they will be able to support you better when they understand what you’re going through as well. Give time to your spouse. It will be the biggest adjustment for her most of all. If nothing else, make a day during the week when you take a break from all the meetings and phone calls. It will be the biggest blessing for both of you.

At the end of the day, the work that Presidents, past and future, do for this wonderful organization is immeasurable and JSMUAANA would be nothing without the devotion of its Alumni. The work is important and sometimes takes up a lot of time and effort, but at the end of the day, it is always for a good cause. We look forward to what each future president contributes to this growing organization and the change it brings to Pakistan and its medical communities.

<strong>I wish all the future President and their spouses the best of luck!</strong>