From a young age, I knew that pursuing the path of the writer would not be easy. But what I  hadn’t accounted for, was the envy I would feel towards my friends’ successes. I knew pursuing a career as an author meant choosing the road less travelled. But there was a difference between knowing something and experiencing it.
Three Steps Forward, One Step Back: Why Setbacks can be Important
If you’re a recent graduate looking to enter the workforce, then congratulations on your achievement. It can be easy to assume that, having crossed the finish line of your studies, the hard part must now be over. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If you’ve ever applied for a scholarship, a job, or an…
How Hayao Miyazaki Taught Me Not To Fear Creative Collaboration
The more I learnt about Hayao Miyazaki’s process, the less I feared creative collaboration. Following my idol’s approach, I was able to be assured that sharing my ideas with other creatives could be an enriching experience and help bring my projects to fruition.
What My Disability Taught Me About Creativity
For as long as I can remember, creativity has been the foundation of every hobby and favoured pastime I have had. I thrived in imagination, whether it was music, theatre, drama, reading—even playing make believe. I loved all of it, every moment on stage, every song sung, every new piece played, every page and chapter….
How To Shift The Comparison Mindset
I grew up with two older sisters. One loved to read and always had a book in her hand, while the other loved to sing and play the piano. I loved to entertain my family and explore my imagination, writing little skits to amuse myself and others, but as soon as I started school, I felt…
How To Rest When Your Schedule Is Full
In times of transformation, like shifting from the identity of ‘student’ to ‘graduate,’ it can be hard to allow ourselves a moment to pause. Add in the constant lens of social media, which shows us only the highlights of our peers and friends’ lives, we’ve been conditioned to feel like if we’re not working perfectly to plan, then we must be falling behind.
Tales From My Quarter-Life Crisis
When I came to the realisation that both the career I had spent years studying towards, and the job I had worked so hard at were not for me, I went into crisis mode. I spent the better part of a year agonising over all the possibilities. I had so many interests, and strengths, that I could potentially turn into a career. With my career search, inevitably came the soul-searching. I had to consider facets of myself that I never had before, and I was confronted with the age-old questions: “Who am I?”
The Struggle of Prioritising University Over Work
Getting a High Distinction on an assessment won’t pay for dinner, but at the same time, you still want to do well in your studies. So, where do you draw the line between studying and work? And how can you put uni first while trying to earn a living? If you’re set on studying and need to make a living, then neither of these things is something you can just ‘give up’ on. You need both to survive.
You Don’t Need to Travel the World to Find Yourself
I always wanted to learn how to fight. I would watch movies when I was a kid and wish to move like Neo in The Matrix, kick ass like The Bride in Kill Bill and be unsuspectingly tough like Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed. When I was twenty-five, I heard about a place in China where you could go and…
Faith in the Face of Death Drops
Content Warning: This article mentions sexual assault and harassment. For a lot of people who haven’t done it before, pole dance sounds terrifying. Even to those who have been doing it for a while, some tricks look more intimidating than a medieval torture device. When I first started, I couldn’t figure out how to spin…
