Reader, do you ever struggle to celebrate your achievements? Growing up in my conservative Asian family, I learned to never tell people of my accomplishments (other than my parents, of course). Like, if I got good grades, I never said to anyone, āIām proud of my good grades!ā or āI did well in school!ā It never even occurred to me to think such a thing. I donāt remember my parents ever explicitly telling me ādonāt brag about your gradesā, but somehow, I learned not to talk about my grades,...
5 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 7 min read
Dear Reader, I'd like to share something personal with you. (Trigger warning: I'll be sharing about depression, anxiety, and trauma.) Before I learned I was traumatized, I thought I was just mentally ill. Before I learned I was mentally ill, I thought I was just dysfunctional. When the doctor told me I have depression and anxiety, I felt both denial and relief. On the one hand, I didnāt think it was true, because Iād lived with it for so long, I thought being depressed and stressed was just...
6 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
Dear Reader, Well, well, wellā¦weāre 1Ā½ months into 2024 and Iām already 5 months behind. How does this happen??? I hope your ānew yearā has been off to a good start! Iāve already gone through two new years (solar and lunisolar), in fact thereās been so much going on (and Iām behind on all of it), so this newsletter will be more of a news roundup! Lunar/Lunisolar/Asian New Year???...Diversity within Diaspora [Photo captions: my grey-and-white tabby cat, Earl Grey, sniffing my new year treat...
over 1 year agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
Sometimes, I'm not holding on to hope.Sometimes hope is holding on to me. Hope is not the thing with feathers That comes home to roost When you need it most. Hope is an ugly thing With teeth and claws and Patchy fur thatās seen some sh*t. Itās what thrives in the discards And survives in the ugliest parts of our world, Able to find a way to go on When nothing else can even find a way in. ~ Excerpt from Caitlin Seida's poem,āHope Is Not a Bird, Emily, Itās a Sewer Ratā, Dear Reader, Itās been...
over 1 year agoĀ ā¢Ā 1 min read
Dear Reader, This past weekend, I attended a workshop by Linda Thai on historical intergenerational trauma and healing for refugees. One of the many things she said which Changed My Lens was how refugees, who are really people seeking refuge, could be seeking refuge from within their own home country. One Indigenous person shared that her native home is Turtle Island, it is the home of herself and her people. She also said that she is a refugee on Turtle Island, seeking refuge from the...
almost 2 years agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
Dear Reader, Imagine you got sick and went to your doctor, who said they could heal you. How would you feel if you found out that same doctor was poisoning you? Itās an extreme analogy, and in my opinion, entirely apropos to the way companies simultaneously market their mental health benefits while causing their employeesā mental illnesses. Yesterday was Bell Letās Talk day in Canada, a day where mega-corp Bell Canada āhighlights organizations around the country that are creating positive...
over 2 years agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Dear Reader, Today is Saturday December 24. There are two good reasons why I shouldn't be working today: 1) It's the weekend 2) It's Christmas Eve, and I celebrate Christmas. So why am I working? Lots of reasons, but the one that comes to mind right now is: because I don't give myself permission to stop. I've been pretty quiet lately on newsletters and social media (sorry friends), and that's mainly due to the total overwhelm, stress, and exhaustion I'm experiencing. Some of it's personal,...
over 2 years agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Dear Reader, Several years ago, I made a huge mistake at work. This was the kind of mistake where the consequences weren't just about my personal performance, it could have caused the company serious public harm. Needless to say, I was horrified, terrified, ashamed, and blamed myself deeply. I completely beat myself up over it. I went to my boss, the CFO, and told them what happened. They accepted my explanation and apology without verbalizing any condemnation, but they were also tight-lipped...
over 2 years agoĀ ā¢Ā 7 min read
Dear Reader, As we continue to observe Canada's Women's History Month, did you know that Person's Day occurred this week, marking the anniversary of women being included in the legal definition of āpersonsā? Prior to October 18, 1929, the British North America Act "used the word 'persons' when referring to more than one person and 'he' when referring to one person. Many argued the Act implicitly stated that only a man could be a person, which prevented women from participating fully in...
over 2 years agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read