Balik kampung used to feel simple—filled with laughter, food, and carefree moments. But growing up changes how we experience Hari Raya. What once brought excitement can now carry reflection, nostalgia, and quiet uncertainty. This piece explores the bittersweet shift from childhood to adulthood, where family traditions remain the same, but our roles, emotions, and perspectives begin to evolve.

Living with bipolar disorder can feel like experiencing life in 4K—where emotions are vivid, intense, and impossible to mute. While clinical definitions outline mood shifts between mania and depression, they often miss the lived reality of heightened sensitivity, deep empathy, and emotional overwhelm. This reflection explores the concept of “affective resonance,” and how being deeply attuned to the world can be both a profound strength and a quiet burden.

At eight, archery gave me a dream: the Olympics. By sixteen, that dream collapsed under discrimination, humiliation, and betrayal. I thought I had lost everything—my sport, my identity, and my trust in people. But sometimes life brings us back to the very first lesson of growth: learning to trust again.