NochNoch.com

I have been hypocritical. I advocate being ourselves, being natural, being who we are, and yet, I have been hiding from the world all these years. My profile picture did not show my face. I did not even use my real name.

I do not have what it takes. I am the average. The mediocrity. Not that special. I do not think I have the resilience to keep standing back up after every cold rejection, every disheartening defeat, every failed attempt. I do not have what it takes to get through “The Struggle” to become what I…

My dreams recently bring me nostalgia. I see people from old days: ex-colleagues, romances, school mates. In my dreams, I was frequently on a boat or ferry, bombarded with people. I wake up feeling a sense of pity, not quite regret, but definitely wondering how many opportunities I had lost in building connections and relationships with…

I was going to write about the stupidity of Mothers’ Day, pitch it to Huffington Post, let it get rejected, and then grudgingly post it on my own blog so it would not get read. It never got written in time. I chose to nap instead of storming on my keyboard – until now. My…

Most of you know my story – from having it all to crashing into an avalanche of depression to reinventing myself. Through all this journey, the pivotal key was Bearapy and the collection of bears. They taught me how to play again. They created a safe space for me to project my fears onto them,…

there was a time when I adhered to guidance, and abandoned the subjects I wanted to study there was a time when I succumbed to practicalities, and took up law & politics instead of journalism there was a time when I gave up my aspirations in international criminal law for a salary in banking there…

In the last few days since the launch of the Bearapy online campaign for World Health Day, I have posted one bear a day on my social media platforms. Different people answered the question “What emotion is this bear feeling?” and thank you to everyone who reposted or commented. We got varied answers. For this…

Most of us post happy things on social media, such as “so honoured to eat this amazing pie” to infer how wonderful our lives are. Yet, for many, we could be suffering inside. We hide our real emotions – the disappointments, the frustrations, the sorrow for fear of how others would judge us. So we…

About a month ago, I thought I was going to spiral into another episode. Was it anxiety? Depression? Or baby hormones? Who knows. What was bugging me? I am not sure — or I was sure, but unwilling to admit it. I lost motivation to get up in the morning. My body ached from head to…

A week has past since Women’s Day, and it seems the chatter has died down — some were about grander issues as rights and equality, and some were more sensationalized: Chinese retailers called it “Goddess Day” for discounts and sales. How many of these conversations or calls for actions were sustainable after a week? Or do…