The Lights Within

Two years ago, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, a lost soul just graduated with her psychology degree; freshly gotten out of the IELTS test centre, triumphing she survived and overcame her worst fears at the time. She thought to herself, what now? But didn't she make a subtle promise to herself in that turmoil? Proclaiming, "it's time to bring back real meanings and enjoyment to life". She had her heart reset on fire. She was going to fall in love with life again. She needed to feel alive and meaningful, meaning solely defined by herself. Then there was this spark. She was asked, "Do you wanna build something together?" That timing could not be better. We took some time to figure out how we should bring this project to life, through what medium, and so on. Gradually, we pieced the puzzle together, reconsidered different alternatives and by all means just tried things out. I was thoroughly excited to see this seed that had been deep-seated in the bottom ...

While we've been talking about mental health and wellness, there's one population we haven't really touched on. I've j ust been introduced to a children's book on mental wellness, and I'm hugely inspired and reminded again just how essential it is to bring awareness to children's mental well-being.  Both of us have been studying children's development since uni days and have been working with children for a while now. We've been taught about their language and motor milestones, school readiness, early social skills and so on. These are undoubtedly some of the most discussed topics between parents and the early childhood sector, it is also where many parents' concerns laid. Books about early childhood possess an entire shelf in the book store (if not an entire corner); hundreds of results will show up when you search online. Basically, information  about children's development and physical health is quite accessible and fairly established. But...

Let's normalise not wanting to share about something? I believe most people have topics they refuse to talk about, from small personal choices to past traumatic experiences. Not that it is a secret, it's more on "I don't feel like sharing". For me, I don't always update my social media accounts, someone actually said I kept my life secretive. Huh... but wait, that's not my intention.  For this blog, we will progress from the easier-to-share to the harder-to-share.  Dear Diary, v.s. Dear Friend,  Your thoughts, ideas and memories belong to you. Yes, you have the right to share, but likewise, you have the right to keep it to yourself. Some preferred to share every little moment on social media, others rather record it in a diary.  There isn't a right or wrong preference.  Not everything has to be shared, even if it's totally shareable, for instance, the music I'm listening to at the moment. Sometimes I'd just want to hang out with myself - fe...

Please, don't see, just a boy caught up in dreams and fantasies. I think this blog is going to be rather personal. And to be honest, I'm not sure where this is heading... but we'll see :) Are you the type of person whose internet surfer has thousands of tabs opened at once?  This situation does not only apply to my electronic devices, but my brain.  Perhaps I got inspired very easily, that's why I "casually"  bear a bunch of messy thoughts in my head all day and it is sparkly active at midnight. These ideas range from upgrading my ACNH island, to "what if I create a brand new career path and lifestyle" kind of wilder ones.  Before I even have a systematic word of the year, I vividly remembered choosing this loud word as my teenage years' goal - "extraordinary". Guess that doesn't require any further explanation. But  the older I get, the more frequent I've been told, "be more  pragmatic and  realistic". It feels like g...

Looking back on 2021, for many people, it is a year with lots of uncertainty as well as with plenty of new experiences. This is the same for me. I went through this year with no academic plans at the end, but it also gave me space to explore new fields that I am interested in.  After traveling to different cities for interns and volunteer work, I love sharing and exchanging my experience with others recently. During those conversations, I was often asked “How could you be so brave?” and “Don’t you feel afraid of those uncertainty?”. These questions at the first place, were so hard for me to answer, since I would never describe myself as a brave person.  Actually, I would be easily nervous and become anxious when starting a new journey. I still remember I was so anxious the night before starting my first intern, which made me fail to fall asleep for the whole night. However, I don’t think this is the reason that could stop me from taking attempts and new adventures, as I accept...

Yes, we are back! It has been a pretty hectic year for us, and we are sure for everyone, too. We sincerely hope that your 2021 was excitedly packed yet mentally healthy.  There are plenty of mental health topics we would love to share, but after a relatively big gap between our last blog and this, we decided to go with a deep-rooted topic - positive self-talk. Building positive self-talk has always been one of our blog's main themes, but we just never state it as literal as this. Looking back at our previous blog content, we are consistently trying to encourage everyone to appreciate more of who they are, gently embrace yourself, have faith in yourself and be supportive to yourself. These, are in fact branches that tie to the same root: positive self-talk.  Over this year's experience, I figured that the way you talk to yourself is an essential cornerstone to better mental health. And perhaps the key to breakthrough from the walls that stop you from pursuing what you desire, o...