I thought it was just me. I struggled with being 'authentic' all the time. And I could not pinpoint the reason. Until now. From the first chapter from Gemma Hartley’s FED UP I knew I was about to read something epic. Her book discusses the idea of excessive emotional labour with most women. Emotional labour is how we alter out speech, our appearance, mannerisms about our internal expectations to keep peace. We walk around with hidden beliefs and expectations of ourselves to s

Relationships are complicated. Every person is created with different upbringings, values and experiences. Every person navigates through life with the eyes of their family, school friends and their community. And that’s why relationships are complicated. Like a human fingerprint, there is only one version of us. In this lifetime, we are here to figure who we are and what our lives are destined for. There will be many joys and pains from a living a fulfilling life. We invest

For more than four years, I have been working on most weekends. I’m not trying to brag or be a victim but it was my choice to grow my skills. And for most people at the beginning of the year, I reflected about the last year and intended to ‘relax’ this year and not too work so hard. Compared to previous years, this was very unlike me. But something interesting happened. It felt uncomfortable to have a direction that was not purposeful. Like a stretched out jumper, it no longe

In the classic story Wizard of Oz, the story takes us on journey from Kansas to the magical land of Oz encountering characters representing good and bad. And one of those loveable characters is the Lion who dreams about visiting the Great Oz to give him courage. The film cleverly represents the contradictions of the Lion from picking on her small dog Toto to being paralysed with fear approaching the Great Oz. We see a character that wants to be brave and courageous but mistak