From the outside, everything looks fine. You’re showing up to work, you’re keeping your relationships intact, and checking off milestones. Maybe you’re even excelling! But inside? There’s a quiet, heavy ache. A numbness. A thought that creeps in when you’re driving home or lying awake at night:“What’s the point?” Or,
Aging is a natural part of life, but when it begins to affect our parents, it can feel particularly disorienting and overwhelming. For many adult children, especially within Asian communities, navigating a parent’s aging process can bring up deep emotional responses, cultural expectations, and sometimes, grief long before any physical
By Helen Garcia, Filipina American Therapist & Storyteller In a recent clip, director Celine Song shared something that stopped me in my tracks. Before creating her upcoming film Materialists, she worked as a professional matchmaker in New York City. Her job? Helping people find love. But what surprised her most
Have you ever started your day with a clear plan, only to find yourself scrambling to remember what you were supposed to do next? Or struggled to juggle multiple projects without feeling completely overwhelmed? If so, you might be experiencing challenges with executive functioning skills. Executive functioning is like the
Body image is inherently complex, shaped by personal experiences, societal messages, and cultural influences that interweave in ways that can profoundly impact how we see ourselves. For Asian Americans, this complexity deepens as we navigate not just mainstream American beauty standards, but also traditional cultural expectations, family pressures, and the
Being Asian American and autistic means navigating two communities that don’t always understand or acknowledge each other. It means existing in spaces where cultural expectations around achievement, family honor, and “saving face” can clash with the reality of neurodivergent experiences. For many autistic Asian Americans, this intersection can create unique
Read more on this topic in Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity, Chapter 9: “Embracing Our Intersectional Identities” (pages 193–230). In a world that often tries to simplify who we are, it can be difficult to embrace the full complexity of our identities. We often find
As members of the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community, many of us have experienced moments that felt off – a comment, a joke, a question – that left us unsettled. But when we try to explain it, we’re often met with confusion or dismissal: “It was just a
Mental health in Asian American communities is complex, layered, and often silenced. For generations, many Asian families have internalized the belief that emotional expression is a sign of weakness—or worse, selfishness. Mental illness is not named; it is hidden behind phrases like “just tired,” “too sensitive,” or “not strong enough.”
Creativity is an expression of your unique character. It’s shaped by our cultural roots, community, and the environments in which an artist is raised in For many Asian Americans, artistic expression is not just about self-discovery; it is also about navigating identity, belonging, and generational influences. From storytelling traditions passed
