Inner Peace

Tell us what you do for work. Why did you decide to go down this career path?
I’m an Occupational Therapist currently in the last leg of a four-year bond. For my job, I spend most of my time doing up full patient workloads while juggling other projects such as creating protocols for new therapists and mentoring students.

I’ve wanted to work in healthcare since I was young, and after doing my research on different healthcare professions, I found Occupational Therapy to be the most holistic field and hence decided to give it a go.

Is Occupational Therapy something you see yourself pursuing in the long term?
I actually have no idea if I want to continue being a therapist after my bond ends.

Sure, it’s meaningful work and something I’ve become familiar with after three years, but I just want to see what else is out there and go with the flow—maybe it’s the quarter-life crisis talking (laughs).

We hear that you’ve just transitioned to a part-time work arrangement. How are you spending your pockets of free time now?
When I was working full-time, I was so crammed with work that I ended up catching up on sleep in any spare time I had. This part-time arrangement is much better for me in terms of work-life balance, despite having to extend my bond by two months.

Since then, I’ve been trying to be more active and going back to dancing, which I haven’t done in a while, but age sure is catching up with me!

I also recently started going for therapy to work on myself and determine where my emotions stem from so I can deal with them in a healthier way.

Have you noticed a change in your relationships with others since starting therapy?
Growing up as the eldest daughter in a typical Asian household, I took up a lot of responsibilities within the family and always felt the need to put on a strong front. Since starting therapy, I’m slowly learning to trust that my family members can take care of themselves, and that they can also be a source of support for me.

Naturally, this hyper-independence also leaked into my romantic relationship, so I’ve been learning to be a bit more vulnerable and lean on my partner more for a change.

Is there anything you’re looking forward to this year?
I’m just working on living from day to day right now because we often forget to be present and in the moment.

Many a times, we get so caught up with waiting for the next ‘big thing’ that we don’t realise that we are actually experiencing the ‘big thing’ that we were previously anticipating.