Category: 🌸 Identity & In-Between
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between labels
“on mixed identity, culture, and expectation“ Humans love labels.We sort and name for comfort.To know where a person begins and ends.To decide what to expect. I’ve always complicated the categories.Whether that was imposed on me,or a shape I learned to take,I’m not entirely sure.It just kept happening. One of my earliest memories: primary school.My Chinese…
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the checklist
“burnout from overachieving and the cost of doing everything right“ I used to love checklists.I loved the certainty of them.The way a tick could turn effort into proof. I’d been trained for this long before spreadsheets, learning silence as a performer. Master’s degree: done.Job title: presentable.Promotion: done.Visas in different countries: approved.LinkedIn summary: glowing. On paper,…
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california sun
“cultural whiplash in the light” When I think of California, I think of people who don’t apologize for existing.Confidence. Volume. Space.Freedom like it’s their middle name.After all, isn’t that what America is about? The soaring eagle and all that. Growing up, we had satellite TV, a whopping twenty channels to choose from.Yes, a whole twenty.And…
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offstage
“the quiet right before I meet myself” The shift began quietly.A slow withdrawal I barely noticed, something like identity loss in its earliest form. For years, my life lived on the screen, curated and filtered for an audience I couldn’t see but always felt. This was part of that slow, quiet drifting. Every moment became…
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drift
“somewhere between where I came from and where I’m going” I left home nearly a decade ago, carrying a kind of expat grief I didn’t have language for yet. First stop: the capital.I told my mom it was just for my undergrad.She wasn’t thrilled, but I promised I’d be back after graduating.(Spoiler: I did not.)…