At the beginning of 2026 I was commissioned to illustrate the cover of the book ‘Staying Human: What No One Tells You About Becoming a Doctor’ by Dr James Houston.

What does becoming a doctor ask of the person doing it?

Staying Human is for doctors, healthcare professionals, students and anyone trying to remain themselves inside demanding work.

Becoming a doctor is not just learning medicine. It is stepping into responsibility, uncertainty, pressure and emotional labour that can quietly follow you home. The harder part is often not the knowledge itself, but what the work asks of the person doing it.

Written from within medicine, this book gives language to the parts of training, clinical work and caring work that are often left unnamed. It explores the cost of caring, the pressure to cope, the fear of getting things wrong, quiet self-blame, blurred boundaries and the difficulty of knowing where you end and the work begins.

It is not a manual, and it does not offer perfect solutions to an imperfect system. Instead, it offers stories, reflection and steadier ways of thinking about the hidden curriculum of medicine and the emotional weight of responsible work.

For anyone who has felt their work seep into their body, their relationships or their sense of self, Staying Human is an invitation to work with honesty, protect what matters and build a life that does not require you to disappear inside it.

‘Staying Human’ is available to buy here and more information and resources about James’ Staying Human project is available here which I highly recommend checking out!