Hello my name is Katharine
Before I tell you who I am, let me ask you some questions:
- Do you FEEL things? Have EMOTIONS?
- Are you open-minded? Are you a lifelong LEARNER?
- Are you someone who knows SHIT happens and learning from them makes us more resilient for what’s to come?
- Do you enjoy foul language (see point above)?
- Do you enjoy personal stories with a side of dark humour and SARCASM?
- Do you have a hard time identifying and talking about your FEELINGS?
- Do you wear your HEART on your sleeve?
- Or do you keep your heart up your sleeve like a professional poker player?
- Are you an INTROVERT who spends a lot of time inside their head and wonder if others think the same way as them, looking for a place to connect?
- Or are an EXTROVERT who thinks out loud and are wondering what those introverts are thinking about and why they aren’t talking?
- Do you want to be MORE emotionally intelligent?
- Do you have PARENTS? Are you a PARENT?
- Do you have IMMIGRANT parents?
- Are you an IMMIGRANT parent?
- Do you have a LIFE PARTNER?
- Do you want a LIFE PARTNER?
If you answered yes to any of these, you've come to right place!
Heart
I am a MILLENNIAL born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
I’m a MOM to the sweetest, silliest, and happy baby (most of the time).
I’m MARRIED to the most caring and inspiring man who keeps me on my toes to always dream big.
To this day, I’ve only lived in the Lower Mainland. However, I’ve done some travelling, from Tokyo to Petra to Reykjavik.
My parents are immigrants from Hong Kong and they came to Canada in the 70s.
I’m the youngest of three daughters.
I love to write, cook, eat, hike, sweat, run and have REAL conversations.
Growing up in the ’90s with CHINESE immigrant parents, talking about feelings in my family didn’t come naturally.
There was a generational gap as well as a cultural and language BARRIER that made communicating about some things (puberty, romantic relationships, popularity, body image, friendships etc) difficult.
It’s not like we didn’t talk about them, we just didn’t go into depth. I think a lot of kids can relate.
Since I was a young adult, I talked to my mom about everything. We have a very close and honest relationship.
Most of the time, we can read each other and know what each of us is thinking about.
Then there are moments where I get FRUSTRATED because I can’t express in Cantonese what I want to express and her English is limited to what she knows.
I’m GRATEFUL that when I became an adult, my mom and I became friends which is something I hope will transpire as my daughter gets older.
Please take note of the word older (I’m thinking like 18 or something); I’m not one of those moms who wants to be friends with their 3 year old okay? She’s gonna have to respect my authority (in Cartman’s voice) for a while before we get there.
My MOTIVATION to be a mom stems from overcoming some mental health challenges as a teenager. That prompted me to start making mental notes of all the things my parents did right and all the opportunities I had to do better once I became a parent.
My BLOG is to reminisce about moments in my childhood and reflect on them as they come up for my daughter.
It’s also my opportunity to foreshadow what’s to come for me in the future and how I hope to deal with it.
Mind
Here are my SPECS:
- Over a DECADE of professional working experience in British Columbia’s healthcare system
- MSc (Health Sciences)
- BSc (Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology)
- Project Management Professional (PMP) designation
- Prosci Change Management designation
- 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program™ from Coaching Out of The Box
- Published healthcare articles in scientific journals
- Co-authored chapters in healthcare-related books
- Presented at local and national healthcare conferences
- LinkedIn for proof
My thesis was titled, “The Association Between Exposure to Smoking and Symptoms of Depression Among British Columbia Youth.”
Hence, there’s a common theme about MENTAL HEALTH in my blog.
I wanted to be a physiotherapist but after a short stint at a clinic, I realized I didn’t like touching people.
I went into academic research instead and published scientific journals and co-authored a couple of books.
However, that type of work, although important, wasn’t quite my passion. Plus, academic research can be a bit dry for my taste.
So I transitioned into quality improvement work within healthcare, leading culture change, focusing on empowering clinical practitioners, developing partnerships that enable systems-level change to provide seamless, high-quality patient care.
I’ve witnessed some of the darkest and lightest sides of humanity and those moments have made me see the world with an open mind.
I’ve marched alongside female survival sex workers in Downtown Eastside’s Women’s Memorial March and worked in a forensic psychiatric hospital for clients not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
I’ve been to almost every ambulance station in the province, from Fort St. John to Port McNeil to Keremeos and rode third in an ambulance too many times to count.
On my first ride along, it included a call to a 16-year-old female who had attempted suicide, something that hits close to home for me.
At the end of the day
Combining the experiences of my HEART and MIND, I want to help you on this life adventure with all its ebbs and flows.
I want to HELP you:
- have a VOICE
- embrace your CULTURE
- learn to LOVE yourself,
- improve RELATIONSHIPS
- gain the COURAGE to be vulnerable
- feel CONNECTED
LASTLY to be empowered to talk about things that never got talked about.
Let’s LAUGH and CRY about those smooth and gritty bits while loving ourselves along the way.
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Take care,
Katharine
XOXO
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1 Comment
Leonora Obed · June 10, 2021 at 11:13 am
Thanks for your insights! I’m determined to break free from the Asian culture of materialism. I want to have “enough”, quality over quantity. To own what is useful and makes me happy, and not to go with the Joneses or because I “should” have it. To know what suits me. I think that Asian culture is prone to groupthink and blind imitation, due to saving face. Few follow their hearts. Life is too short to be spent in mindless pursuit of stuff.