Katharine Chan
Bio
Sum (心, ♡) on Sleeve | Author. Speaker. Wife. Mom of 2 | Embrace Culture. Love Yourself. Improve Relationships | Empowering you to talk about your feelings despite growing up in a culture that hid them | sumonsleeve.com/books
Stories (115/0)
You Need Your Emotions Validated Whether You're From Mars or Venus
"Sometimes, she just wants a sympathetic ear." Recently, my husband and I started watching Modern Family. I had watched it before but stopped. It came out when I was in grad school, trying to figure out where I was in life. Marriage and kids were so far away, that I couldn't relate. Now, with 2 kids and half a decade of marriage under my belt, it felt right to start again.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Humans
How I Stopped People-Pleasing and Started Living Life on My Own Terms
People-pleasing = low self-esteem From always saying yes, breaking promises with ourselves, sacrificing our values to help someone out, enabling toxic behaviours, keeping silent to prevent hurting someone's feelings even though they've hurt ours, being inauthentic about our true feelings to siding with the majority when we completely disagreed, people-pleasing behaviours come in all forms.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Motivation
How A Christmas Dinner Ignited My Love For Chinese Cooking
Food. We need it. We want it. We depend on it. We are what we eat. I started cooking when I was barely 10 years old. With over 20 years of slicing and dicing, stir-frying and baking, steaming and roasting, I'd like to consider myself a foodie who is comfortable in the kitchen.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Feast
How I Find Motivation To Write When I Don't Feel Like It
A writer's block, burnout, and a lack of creativity are just some of the common struggles a writer experiences during the week. Pile on some rejection (from clients, publications, a mean troll), no one reading our stuff, and a fear of putting ourselves out there again, it's no wonder writers find it tough to keep going.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Motivation
- Top Story - May 2022
As an Asian Woman, Self-Work Means Creating Balance Between Collectivistic Instincts and Individualistic UrgesTop Story - May 2022
Recently, I saw a TikTok video of an Asian woman getting her 23andMe results. In a mere 15 seconds, she opens the envelope, looks at it and shows the audience what it says. The results are that she is Chinese and of Southeast Asian descent. The video ends with her deadpan expression and the words "I wasted $150" above her head. I chuckled at first but then I thought about it some more.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Motivation
How to Cook So You'll Actually Eat at Home
Tasteless food isn't tasty Imagine this. It's a weeknight. You just finished work and you're starving. There are leftovers in the fridge. It's dried chicken breast, bland steamed broccoli and a container of plain brown rice. You've been trying to eat more at home because it's better for your pocket and your waistline.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Feast
4 Lessons Learned from Self-Publishing 3 Books
Can you really make money from blogging? I started blogging in 2017. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I signed up for a Blogger account and basically dumped my thoughts onto digital paper each week, hit publish and shared it with my real friends on Facebook.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Motivation
Why I Started Using Screens At Mealtime
When it was just the 3 of us… When I first became a mom, I wanted to do everything by the book. But of course, like a naive new parent, I realized quickly that guidelines are merely guidelines and not meant to be followed to a T. Things don't always go as expected. I thought I would never co-sleep, never do formula, never yell, never swear, never bribe, never lie…
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Families
Why I Don't Expect My Friends And Family To Read What I Write
Six degrees of separation When I first started blogging, I had no idea who was going to read my stuff. It was a space for me to express myself, put feelings into words, and make sense of what was going on for me as a mom.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Motivation
Why You Don't Always Have To Be Positive
Ever feel down? Like giving up? Crappy? Recently, I experienced extreme disappointment. Without going into the details of what happened (just not ready yet), I realized I was coping with these feelings by minimizing them.
By Katharine Chan2 years ago in Motivation