Just a week ago I released my 30th episode!! It does feel surreal.

I started out this space almost a year ago, with the goal to share, spread awareness and inspire. This was done through creating weekly podcast episodes on various mental health and psychology topics I feel deeply passionate about. What is common is, each of the episodes was produced as a unique combination of my personal story, lessons learnt and psychological concepts which I personally feel might benefit others in their personal growth journey as much as it did for me.

We live in a world where genuine connections are becoming increasingly rare and difficult these days. Attention spans are shorter, and it is increasingly harder to sustain long and deep meaningful convos with the many distractions around us. Hence, I value this privilege to be able to connect genuinely and meaningfully with the community via this platform, and also in a way which feels safe to everyone.

Sharing and connecting in a way that connects with my heart and yours have truly been the most fulfilling part of this journey. 

HOW HAS MY PODCAST CREATION JOURNEY BEEN?

Personally, content creation has also served many purposes.

In the process of creation, I am also constantly learning more about myself. I use it as a guide and opportunity to look deeper into my core motivations. Some creations gave me answers which I had been searching for a long time. Some had also helped me to organize my difficult emotions and thoughts. Some allowed me to encourage myself when times were difficult. Each episode conveys a vulnerable part of myself which I’ve willingly decided to give to others. It was the most genuine way I could think of, when it comes to conveying to another that they are not alone in their struggles. And sometimes that’s all we need to know for that little bit more strength to pull through whatever life is throwing at us. 

Deep down, I had always intended for my episodes to bring to others and the self some sort of certainty and empowerment. I hope to be the voice for the less spoken views and also hard-to-verbalise emotions. Sometimes, it is also to help us discover and see the self- healing capability and wisdom we all already possess within ourselves. 

But in reality, I also realised that the process of creation is nothing but a process of re-learning, self-judgement and sometimes a whole lot of confusion to unpack for me.

The sharing of my lessons learnt is also a platform where new learning takes place for me. This learning comes from observing how I share certain information, how I angle certain topics, etc. I see gaps in my thinking, I feel unexpected emotions that serve as a signal for me to challenge how I make sense of certain experiences often after listening to what I had verbalised. That is also why I enjoy the process of creation so much. It is the cultivation of curiosity and re-discovery of what I thought I had already known for certain.

So it’s been a year since I started, and I very much still find myself adopting the “beginner’s mindset” when it comes to the creation of each piece of content. In the process of creation, I always find that there is always still so much for me to learn and at the same time unlearn. That said, I want to fully immerse myself and be as present as I can in this whole process too. 

Lastly, I just wanted to share that today marks the day I’ve reached my 2000th podcast download, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the love and support shown. I am super grateful for the support the community has shown towards my work for the past year and I just wanted to say Thank YOU so much because you do not know how much this means to me.

So, Thank you!

WHAT DOES THE COMMUNITY MEAN TO ME?

I have said this a few times but this community, a.k.a YOU is the reason that keeps me going. I am glad you’re here, and currently reading this because it is a huge honour to be able to be part of this community and to share this space with you.

Sometimes, it can feel strange to send out episodes and writings from behind my screen without getting to see how it connects with you. And hence, I appreciate every feedback received. I appreciate every share & tag you did on social media so that I get to see how it lands with you. And, I also deeply appreciate the time you also take to share this space with others. All of which really means the most to me on this journey.

I am currently working on a new offering- a new way of connecting, and sharing with you. This thought has been something at the back of my mind since I started this journey. It’s been something I long wanted to do, but perhaps didn’t give myself the permission to actualise because of the thoughts of  “I am not enough yet”, “I need to be a certain way first”, even when my intuition tells me otherwise.

Sometimes we can’t help it. But it is a true pity when we allow unhelpful thoughts stemming from our feelings of inadequacy. get into the way of the things we could possibly do and the value we could possibly bring to others. 

One thing I hope to do more often is allow myself to adopt a beginners’ mindset. With a beginner’s mindset, I allow myself to show up more often, I allow myself to be curious about the possibilities I can venture into and also the endless possibilities of how something would turn out instead of fixating on black-and-white thinking such as “I will succeed” or “I will fail”. Such thinking often serves little, and nothing is ever so clear cut. The reality often lies somewhere in between. 

And coincidentally, a close friend of mine also reminded me of this yesterday: Sometimes, all you have now is what you already can give and offer. And I am only saying this because I find that we can all fall into a trap of rationalising that we have to be somewhere first before we can do certain things well or offer value and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

No matter where we are in life, we already carry a certain set of experiences and value that we can bring to the table that is unique to us, and it is about seeing that and reminding ourselves of our own worth regardless. Sometimes, we already have what it takes, and we have it in us. What we need is more trust, and not the gap we tell ourselves between where we are now and where we need to be in order to effectively perform certain things or even share certain views. Trust and give ourselves the permission to believe in the value we can offer, and observe where that leads us to. 

This is what I have internalised from my friend’s timely and causal words of encouragement from our conversation and I sincerely hope for you to give yourself the permission to recognise the uniqueness and value you already have in you, and can offer at this moment 🙂

It feels invigorating to imagine all kinds of new possibilities with this step I have decided and allowed myself to take. I am excited and will share more in time to come!

MOVING FORWARD

Moving forward, I will continue to do my best in providing the best content/ resources I can and in a way where it balances between frequency and quality (something that I do struggle with as a content creator sometimes). You can look forward to my content not just in the form of podcast episodes, but also short-form educational Tiktok videos, Instagram reels, and Instagram stories mainly on mental health and psychology. 

So be sure to follow social media: @chillbynette’s Instagram & @chillbynette’s TikTok for more resources insights on mental health, emotional wellness and psychology 🧠

Written By:
Jeannette Qhek
BSc in Psychology & Human Resources (Singapore Management University)
Voice of Chill By Nette