Tiny Buddha

Author: Noch Noch

  • Give Yourself Some Credit!

    Give Yourself Some Credit!

    “Always concentrate on how far you’ve come, rather than how far you have left to go.” ~Unknown

    After pitching an idea to an international online magazine a month ago, I recently sent the article to the editor. I was quite nervous. It had taken me more than a month. Every time I sat down to write, I didn’t know how to begin.

    I typed and then deleted my paragraphs. I typed again, and then deleted the whole document. I wasn’t happy with what I had written.

    Eventually, I said to myself, I had to submit something because it had taken too long. So in the flurry of two hours, I hammered out the article, sent it to a friend for comments, and went about perfecting it.

    I revised my writing, taking a few of my friend’s suggestions, but still I wasn’t completely satisfied with what I had produced. Yet, I didn’t know how else I would improve it anymore. By then, I was tired of reading, re-reading, and re-re-reading, so I sent it off.

    For three days I waited gingerly by my computer, causing myself needless anxiety over whether or not the article would be accepted.

    This was crucial for me as I was taking the first step in testing the market to see if it was receptive to my thoughts, and perhaps a book about the experiences of a Generation Y female executive overcoming depression.

    Plus, the website was authoritative in its own right and it would give me some exposure and signs as to whether my direction was in on track.

    I was more than ecstatic that the editor came back and said they had already published the post and gave me a link to it.

    You might think I felt proud of myself for this achievement. (more…)

  • Uplifting Depression: 15 Unexpected Lessons from Adversity

    Uplifting Depression: 15 Unexpected Lessons from Adversity

    “Whenever something negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it.” ~Eckhart Tolle

    Two years ago, reading this quote, I would smirk and think, “What a cliché.”

    In the last two years, I would read this quote and be in utter disbelief that anything can be learned when one is in the depths of hell.

    Today, I read this quote and resonate confidently, that yes, even though I tried to end my life, even though I had to quit a high paying job, even though I still suffer from major depression, good has come out of my negative experience, and I have learned the lesson to take care of myself and listen to my body, albeit the hard way.

    Around November 2009, my doctor said to me, “Noch, I think you are burned out. Your migraines are most probably due to stress. Please go see a psychologist.”

    My fiancé dragged a reluctant me into the shrink’s office, and I came out, diagnosed with major depression. I had no idea what it meant or what would become of me. I just felt extremely unmotivated, had no appetite, only had negative thoughts in my little head, and was excruciatingly tired of life.

    I was immensely frustrated with myself. I didn’t know why I was depressed, or burned out. I thought I had it all: the executive job, high on the corporate ladder at the young age of twenty-eight.

    I spoke a few languages, lived all around the world, had a man who loved me for who I was, had my few soul mates and a wide network of friends. So what happened to me?

    Indeed, I felt really ungrateful to be sick at all.

    All the people who passed me everyday in the misty smog of Beijing seemed to live much harder lives, scraping by the wayside. So, who was I to be unhappy about my life? I had no answer. And the more I thought about it, the more I got caught in my web of negative thoughts and unreasonable reasoning of life.

    I closed myself off from the rest of the world and disappeared off the social radar. I was forced to take medical leave from work, being physically unable to do any work or concentrate.

    The few close friends who knew of my plight tried to console me.

    “It’s a challenge and test, to make you stronger,” they’d say. They gave me examples of all these great leaders of the world who had to go through trials and tribulations to get to where they were. There was something in store for me, and it would end up a positive life changing experience, they reassured me. (more…)