Dear T,
You are precious. You are worthy. You are made of the same magic as the stars. The world tells you otherwise in countless ways, and it’s easy to believe its lies, but inevitably you will find your inner light. You are not inferior to white people. You are not lesser by the circumstances of your birth.
I want my child to learn Vietnamese, but I also want to protect him from the emotional bruises my parents dealt me. I want to pass on the language, but without passing on the trauma. I have to both learn and normalize a version of everyday Tiếng Việt that can communicate tenderness, love, and rich emotions.
Your world and the world at-large are better off when you are at your best. When you’re joyful, well-rested, energetic, living in abundance, feeling in charge of your life, and functioning at your best, you bring the best version of yourself to every interaction and every task. This is why self-care is crucial.
This is a summary of Marie Kondo’s bestselling book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, for those who want compelling reasons and guidance to declutter. Let’s start with why it’s important to tidy, then if those reasons compel you to declutter, you can find the how-to in the second half of this article.
Main point: Hoarding is a trauma response. Letting go of your physical baggage helps you heal emotionally. The purpose of this article is to bring to your awareness what drives hoarding behavior, to help you recognize it as a symptom of historical trauma, and to offer affirmations to help you release unwanted baggage.
Entitled really refers to privileges that are your inherent rights as a human being. You were born with inalienable rights, as in they can’t be taken from you by any means, ever. Somewhere along the way, you forgot your inalienable rights. This is especially true growing up with Viet parents and elders at home, then hiding your Viet identity to fit into mainstream culture outside the home.
For those of us with family working in the nail and beauty industries, historical and economic inequities against Vietnamese salon workers are highlighted by the coronavirus. I wrote this article feeling frustrated while helping my brother apply for pandemic unemployment benefit.
Key takeaway: Serial tardiness is not a character flaw or a time management problem. It’s an energy management problem. Let’s get real: you’re late because deep in your heart you don’t want to show up at all. It’s not that you didn’t manage your time. It’s that you didn’t manage your energy and therefore had none left.
When you grow up poor, security becomes one of your top goals in life. It is especially paramount if you’re a refugee or immigrant. After all, you left your homeland and took great risks in pursuit of security, both in the physical and financial sense.
A name that is easy to pronounce creates trust and familiarity, it’s the first step to making someone feel like they know you, like you, and can trust you. As soon as we got our U.S. citizenship, we all changed our name into something American English-speakers can recognize and pronounce. This means survival in America.