Emotional Explorations
Emotional Explorations is an email newsletter series where together, we explore our deeper emotional truths. Through these short letters, I hope to bring us all more clarity — why we feel the things we feel, and how we came to be who we are.
Committing to decisions while feeling torn
Hello friends! I recently had a pretty big decision to make. Someone had approached me with what was essentially my dream job, and I had to decide whether to take it. What made that decision difficult is that I was already living out my dream job: the coaching and content creation I do for Emotional Explorations is genuinely some of the most rewarding work I've ever done. I knew that taking up the job was the right move, because my employer was happy for me to continue Emotional Explorations...
The surprising usefulness of unfilled space in life
Hello friends! I've always been known as someone who is very productive. It's rare that you'll find me sitting around doing nothing. And that's because, for the longest time, I believed that all space in life should be filled in. That any space left unused is waste. But I've recently changed my stance.Unfilled space is a useful resource itself. That's what this week's exploration is about. This week's theme: The power of space. Let's start with a simple thought experiment:What makes a room a...
The exclusively advanced form of procrastination
Hello friends! I've recently noticed an odd pattern amongst my clients: they're great at overcoming procrastination, yet, the problems they present in coaching sessions also seem to oddly resemble the symptoms of procrastination. This perplexed me. "What could be different about the two forms of procrastination?" That's what this week's exploration is about. This week's theme: Advanced procrastination Let's start with the basic form of procrastination using an example we're all familiar with:...
I just turned 30. Here's my one reflection on my 20s.
Hello friends! I recently turned 30 (woohoo) and it got me reflecting on the decade that's just been. How wonderful it has been. Genuinely, I feel very fortunate to look back with fondness across each chapter: doing well at university, carving out my own path in my first graduate job, all my learnings at McKinsey, and of course... the opportunity to build something of my own with Emotional Explorations. There's nothing I would've changed about my 20s, because all of it made me who I am today....
A tree grows taller... and deeper.
Hello friends! I was recently reflecting on my coaching journey to see if I could tease out the one common thread that ties together everything my clients face. It took a while, but I eventually found the one unifying dream outcome across all of my clients: I want to perform and achieve my goals. I just want to do it in a manner where my emotions aren't fluctuating with the external conditions. And for some reason, this image of a tree then popped into my head. My clients were like tall trees...
Feeling lost: The only two conditions that got you here
Hello friends! We've all been there before. Those moments in life when you feel so lost and the only question on your mind is: "What should I do?" This unknowingness is painfully familiar. But it's actually fairly straightforward to resolve if we back solved the conditions that got us feeling lost in the first place. That's what this week's exploration is about. This week's theme: Why we feel lost: the two conditions Put aside your life for a second and try to bring yourself to another...
How to know when it's the right time to *insert your big life decision*
Hello friends! One of the most commonly asked questions I receive is this: "How did you know it was the right time to quit McKinsey?" I got asked this so much that I started to ask myself the meta-question of: "Why do I get asked this question so frequently?" And then it dawned on me. The question wasn't about timing... it was about how to know when you're ready. There's no framework people can go to for this problem, and so that's why I get asked this question all the time. And so I came up...
When life feels confusing, be selective with the kinds of questions you ask.
Hello friends! I spent a lot of my early-to-mid-20's feeling confused about what I should do with my life. During this period, I collected a lot of questions that I thought would help me gain clarity. And then I noticed something interesting... The most commonly suggested questions always left me feeling more confused: What is your purpose? What are your strengths? What world problems do you want to solve? While certain variations of those questions seemed to be far more effective: What makes...
Why some goals leave us feeling empty
Hello friends! "When I achieve my biggest goals... I just feel relieved." This is a recurring theme in conversations I've had since starting up Emotional Explorations. People who want to feel more from their goals... but their past goals just left them feeling empty. And so first thing's first... it's completely normal. I've felt it myself! In my journal entries after the biggest wins in my life, the word "relief" always popped up. I couldn't understand why back then, but now I do. That's...
The psychology behind gut feelings
Hello friends! I don't know about you, but I've always found gut feelings to be some mysterious 'woo-woo' thing that we get told to avoid like the plague. Well, I strongly disagree with that now. Gut feelings are only mysterious because we don't understand them. But there's a psychology to them, and that's what this week's exploration is about. This week's theme: The psychology behind gut feelings 1. Understanding the mind Carl Jung, one of the pioneering psychologists who mapped out the...
Emotional Explorations is an email newsletter series where together, we explore our deeper emotional truths. Through these short letters, I hope to bring us all more clarity — why we feel the things we feel, and how we came to be who we are.