To all my friends who are bemoaning the impending Chinese New Year “festivities”, here’s my piece to commiserate with you. It’s not specific to CNY though, it’s a delayed article about the whole SAD situation. (Actually, it’s about why some of us don’t always relish festive seasons and family gatherings, but we’ll get to that […]
Why you should do less this year
We’re always looking to do more, aren’t we? With each new year, new resolutions and new ambitions are visualised. But what if we streamlined and decluttered those goals? I don’t know about you, but I have a nasty habit of being distracted by the new and shiny. Not physical stuff, but mental stuff. Like wanting […]
Lucky to be brave?
I received so many good wishes from close and not-so-close friends when I launched Not A Pretty Picture last weekend. There were two types of responses, really: People started sharing their experiences with mental health matters, whether their own or of someone they know. People complimented me on being brave and having the balls to […]
Symptoms of Schizophrenia (my experience with my brother)
Schizophrenia is a disorder of fragmented mental processes. It is NOT split personality. It is a disease of the brain. Sufferers interpret reality abnormally. These are a few symptoms: 1. Hearing voices. Sufferers hear voices. No, not like you and I who hear our inner critic or champion. They literally hear voices in their heads. […]
The hardest thing for a parent to do
I remember the day my mother had to leave my brother in the then Woodbridge hospital. I remember her coming home, sobbing and saying something to the effect of “I’ve gone and done it. I’ve done it.. I’ve done it…” She wasn’t saying that to me, but I was nearby, listening. She would have been […]
Why is everything so heavy?
I remember the moment when I heard that the frontman of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington had killed himself. I was holidaying in Norway, it was bright and sunny at 12 midnight on account of it being summer and the sun never setting. Hubby and I were having a couple of drinks when I heard this. […]
I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me
It had been a week of uncontrollable crying. There were no particular triggers, well, my whole life can be viewed as a trigger, but I would just randomly burst into tears. I noticed it happened mostly when I was in the shower or driving. Maybe in my most private or cocooned up moments. It was […]
How I Deal
If there were a magic formula on how to deal with depression, I can guarantee you this disease would be eradicated from the world. But there isn’t. No matter all the steps I am about to tell you on how I get by daily, if you’re in it, you may not even be able to […]
Every tear a waterfall
Have you ever cried like your world was ending? I have. Countless times. Since I was a teenager, without even knowing what the hell I was crying for. When you’re young and you grow up in an environment without the kind of openness or emotional support you see on all those American TV shows where […]
It’s ok if they don’t like your post
I was inspired to write this upon reflecting on what a friend of mine who was going through tough times said. He has a blog himself, which he occasionally updates and shares on Facebook. On a random day, I checked in with him, and when he said he wasn’t well, I became very quickly concerned […]