You’ve always felt different from a young age. You grew up being told you weren’t enough.  These would be the voices of a permanent gloom, a cloud that would follow you for the rest of your life. Yet you try outrunning your cloud. You pick up self-help books. You play motivational podcasts on repeat. You adopt the billionaires’ morning routines. But nothing changes. You’re still you. Only now you take cold showers and meditate as soon as you wake up. In a blink of an eye, your teenage years disappear behind you. You’ve garnered a few decades of life experience, but the dark cloud keeps lo ..read more

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. My pre-all-black days. I’ve always worn a black T-shirt for as far as I can remember. Scroll back through my Instagram account and you’ll probably catch the rogue grey or white, but I’ve always leaned more toward black clothes. I have to credit my genesis story to the series Californication. Hank Moody was a true inspiration to the budding writer that was yours truly, and so I adopted the fictional character’s wardrobe, as well as the philosophy of a personal uniform. But then came the next level—the day I decided to wear all black. Every day. I re ..read more

Ever since I joined the publishing industry, I aspired to be an editor. I just needed the writing skills, and I had a decent serving of that. I pictured myself catching typos and lecturing writers on how they could improve their style. I’d be perched at my desk, approving or rejecting pitches like I was swiping on Tinder. Every once in a while, I’d throw out words like ‘pagination’ or ‘masthead’. Turns out, I had totally misjudged that role. As a deputy editor for a lifestyle magazine, I get a first-hand look at what my boss does, and I’m quickly learning the many reasons why I might not want ..read more

During my active days on here, I’d wield the term Hiatus Monster a lot, complete with capitalisations and trademark symbol for the added oomph. I’d save this term specifically for bloggers who’d publish ‘I’m back’ posts after months of inactivity. “Everybody falls prey to the Hiatus Monster,” I’d type. “Hopefully you’ll evade capture the next time!” Not once did I think I’d fall into the monster’s jaws myself. Until now. A new human appears! A quick thank you Before that, I’d just like to take one minute to thank the likes of Kelvin, Brad, Betsy, Hetty, Melissa, A Peaceful Tree, Rhiannon, Sa ..read more

Ideas are about confluence. I believe it’s Neil Gaiman who said that. I can’t come up with quotes like that. That’s because I don’t typically insert ten-dollar words like confluence into my everyday speech. And that’s despite the fact that I live in Kuala Lumpur (which literally means muddy confluence in Malay), but I digress. Anyway, in my spare time, I watch sketchbook videos so I can fancy myself an artist. That’s when I came across this talented Singaporean’s video and found myself upon a confluence. Chroma Moma’s (who shall henceforth be known as CM) thoughts on art mirrored mine on writi ..read more

My entire life has been based on sweating the details. I’d been a hairdresser, then an auditor, then a writer. And those vocations have been all about that centimetre, that one decimal, that one letter. So it didn’t come as a surprise that I felt obligated to pursue my hobbies the same way. That meant sticking to Ryder Carroll’s bullet journal guidelines to a tee. Or picking only one specific word processor to rule them all. Heck, I got into backpacks once because I decided to travel with only one carry-on, no matter the duration or location. But life is never linear, and the danger of distill ..read more

Say what you want about the self-help world, but if there’s one thing they got right, it’s morning routines. You don’t even need to adopt the industry standard habits either. No 4 a.m. wake-up times or cold showers necessary. A walk would suffice. Or a stretch. Even brewing your coffee a certain way counts as a routine, as long as you commit to it daily. Why are routines important? Because when there is one constant, every other variable in life becomes more noticeable. We’re human, after all, and we’re all susceptible to the likes of insomnia, illness, or in my case, constantly making vague r ..read more

You might adopt a diet to lose weight, a workout regimen to get fitter, a writing routine to finish your novel. But you’ll never attain anything meaningful if your pursuits end after you reach the finish line. It’s not about reaching your weight goal. It’s about staying there. No point aiming for riches if you’re just going to squander it all the very next day. Seeking improvement requires ditching the habits that are holding us back. So it makes no sense to return to past habits once you reach your goals. That means changing your eating habits for a lifetime. Not retiring from your passions ..read more

In the game of life, it’s important to play the odds. Maybe you’re born with a shitty hand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work on improving your chances. Casinos are rich for a reason. Despite the tiny edge the house has, they still make a killing thanks to volume. And while your life shouldn’t be compared to how much people spend at blackjack tables, you should know that the tiny improvements you make over time could very well result in a vastly different life. Sure, banking on that overnight success might be the dream, but which is more likely? Winning the lottery? Or getting that promotio ..read more

You move the starting line backwards. That means simply sitting at the keyboard for an hour if the goal is to write. Changing into your gym clothes and stepping out the door if it’s to run. Or just opening your textbook if it’s to study. Don’t look too far ahead, don’t aim for the results. Good things rarely pay off immediately, anyway. You’ll find the momentum from these starting tasks to be rather compelling in getting you to complete your tasks. I’ve been reading Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey and it’s been a blast seeing how other creatives approach their craft. That’s how ..read more