The Ability to Confront Mental Health Issues – A Luxury?

Mental health has always been a topic for a heated discussion, as much on the Internet as in daily life discussions. But not everyone has the ability to do so. Why so you ask? I do not have the answer for that either; but one thing I can tell you is that for me, being able to talk about one’s mental health state is a luxury and privilege. Before you get angry and disagree completely with me, let me make my point clearer.

Help Others Help Yourself

It is a cultural thing. Many of us grew up being taught to help and prioritise others’ needs over our own without ever being told to take care of ourselves. The latter tends to be seen as a selfish act, with the exception of some very extreme circumstances. At times, we feel the sense of social obligation telling us to be nice to people and to temporarily forget about being nice to ourselves; but more often than not, we end up not being attentive of our feelings until much later, which can be extremely mentally draining. I personally struggled (and still am) with asking others for help for a number of reasons. It was not until recently (when I was in a terrible health condition) that I started to learn the importance of reaching out for support from others. In this concerning period, when we are not always having help available by our sides, it often comes in necessary to know how to seek for help when in need. Thus, I want to write a few words to let anyone who is having difficulty with asking others for help know that it is critical in these moments in time that they do so.

Extroversion, Introversion and What Lies between

By now, everyone has probably been impacted by the ongoing not-yet-to-be-resolved epidemic of the year (hopefully). Being in UK with the entire ‘social-distancing‘ thing and lockdown-(ish) regulations going on, one can go insane. Earlier today, I came across a post, on Facebook, that mentioned the concepts of extroversion and introversion. Despite being quite lengthy, the post missed the points and the meanings of the two concepts to begin with, which makes me wonder how many people out there with a misconception about the two terms. Someone recently told me: “You must be going crazy being inside”, to which I asked what they meant and was told: “Because you’re such an extrovert“. “Interesting” – I thought to myself.

The Stress from 21st Century’s Youth Culture

A couple of weeks ago, I came across this one tweet on Twitter (which I do not particularly remember what the account was so give credit) that goes by saying that youth culture is feeling like someone is going to kill you if you don’t succeed by 25 years old. Very systematically speaking, what even is youth culture? And how painfully relatable is that tweet for young people nowadays? I am aware that youth culture everywhere is very different, and it is a bit of a shame that as someone who did not grow up and spend the majority of my life here, I am not completely acquainted with every aspects of UK youth culture, while being affected by the majority of US media and keeping in contact with Vietnamese culture. This, to some extent, gives me a wider look on the issues with youth culture nowadays. And the fact that I have spent nearly the last five years in the UK gives me a somewhat solid stand of argument.

The Culture of Bias We Are Living in

The word “bias” itself already means something negative, and we are all aware of it, but why is bias still existing? I had never really paid much attention to it, although I have always been aware of its existence and how it undermines my thought process. It was not until I was suggested to consider ‘unconscious bias‘ for my Master’s dissertation that I actually started looking into it. It is shocking how much of a norm people have made it become in their lives. I am not here to lecture anyone on or to try to address the impacts of bias, because we have all probably already known the negativity it brings along. Rather, I just want to talk about it, and try to start a conversation (or two) about it.

Midnight Existential Crisis.

It is safe to say that I normally have my life together, which has been something I am very proud of, most of the time. But towards the end of my degree, I felt like the pressure of having to enter ‘the real life’ with the struggles of being an adult really hit and I started panicking. Since then, I have been thinking to myself a lot about what I should do next in life and have often found myself among difficult choices, none of which I am very drawn to.

A Little Balade in Paris (part 2) – Disneyland

In last week’s post, I was sharing my first night in Paris with my friend and her birthday dinner in the lovely little restaurant La Bécane à Gaston. On the second day in the capital of France, we have decided to visit the most magical place on Earth – Disneyland (I am not saying that Disneyland Paris is the most magical place on Earth but rather any place Disney-associated). Come with the story of how the day in Disneyland went are the tips and advices that I wish I had known prior to the visit.

A Little Balade in Paris (part 1)

Finally, I have time to properly sit down and write after all the craziness in the past year. I have always wanted to visit France since my school days where I learned and read about the beauty of the country and its history and culture through authors like Albert Camus and Victor Hugo. Beside that, its renowned reputation for food has also been contributing to my desire to explore the country in general and Paris in particular. Despite all that, I have never been a crazy traveler myself, hence why it took me all this time to actually decide to spend my holiday in Paris. Although I did not spend a lot of time here, I have got to visit so many different places that left me stunned and craving for more. To treasure this experience, I have decided to write it down in a blog post; also because I have not been able to update this blog in such a long time due to my crazy busy schedule between university and work. 

My April Favourites

It has been a while since I last updated my favourite list. Since I have missed out on quite a number, I figured out I might as well just combine all the gems I have found during the few months together in this blog. There have been quite a few hits and misses; but at the same time, they are based on my opinion and also my very own experiences with the products, which means others might not go through the same things I have. x

Be Your True Colours

Recently, I have been so caught up with a lot of works that I completely did not have any bit of time to sit down and write something. It is just like the feelings when you find it necessary to update your diary but at the same time you are so occupied the whole time that by the end of the day, you are just exhausted. I am writing this on my train, when the wifi connection as well as the mobile data are super week. Thus, I was just thinking it might be a good idea to write about one of the things that have made me think a lot in the past few weeks.