written and filmed by Linda Lin, RCC RCAT

↑ Trying something new!

For those who enjoy longer-form content to pair with my newsletters and blog posts, I've just launched a YouTube channel where I'll be talking through topics I'm exploring and sharing in a different format.

This is a new medium (and challenge!) for me, so if you find the content helpful, a like or subscription would mean a lot and encourage me to keep creating more! ✩˚ ༘

I hope this blog post finds you in moments where time feels like a meadow, or where you’re nestled somewhere you really like.

This time last year, my friend Leah challenged me to take a full month off work while we were creating our healing money anxiety art therapy course. The relevance of this exposure alone shook me. We travelled to China together, but I couldn’t honour the non-working part.

Then, an intrusive thought that was supposed to pop in and out, came true: Decipher was in crisis. Our studio was reported to be flooded by rainwater 3 days after I left for my break. I put on that leadership hat as the practice founder and parentified eldest daughter, replying to bureaucratic calls, took on some clients on the whim, 4am in China Standard Time. The anxiety voice insisted that I had to fulfill these roles and expectations to get through this. My mind locked in by crisis managing even though I was trying really hard to take a break.

 
In major contrast, one of the essence goals that made it onto my 2026 bingo card was to go analog. On my bingo card, I had written that I wanted to take two months off work (!!), wean off screens, and spend more time with analog media like filming for fun, and returning to things I really love → liberating imagination and creativity, unlocking maps of the world, and taking in philosophical pauses.

"Nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished" - Lao Tzu

Fig.2 West Lake, Hangzhou — golden hour on the water

So what happens on a full month on analog?

There was more of whatever this feeling is: "the next step appears because we moved, not because we tried to make sense of it first” and building on roles outside of being a therapist.

Procedural learning. I didn’t consciously notice it during my break, but after last year’s office flood incident and after co-creating a course on healing money wounds, going analog naturally helped me step out of crisis responding rooted in fear. I fully stepped out of my usual role of monitoring emails and everything happening back at home. This allowed my body to implicitly learn that not everyone and everything is dependent on me, and leadership doesn’t look like constant vigilance.

I’ve always loved philosophy of culture and in ethnography. Arriving in Lijiang, Yunnan, for the 2nd time (my 1st was last year), I interviewed my mom, who had finally returned to her birthplace for the first time in over 60 years (after years of me urging her to reconnect with her roots). I dug up books and history around my family's lineage (a NaXi clan from Lijiang) who lost their wealth during the cultural revolution and ethnic minority cleansing. Hence complex money wounds and inherited anxiety. 

Going rogue/off screens helped me see the world in another way. Like adopting rituals that support me to experience the flow and pace I’ve been craving. From fight and flight → rest and digest, without binary lines.

Fig.1 among a field of canola flowers in Jingdezhen

The month was full of creative, liberating moments like doing things just for fun! I noticed my creative voice sparking with more confidence (stepping out no matter how dressed up I am, dancing midway when a song gets stuck in my head, cracking jokes without filtering). There was less pressure to take things seriously or shape myself around a specific image or identity (like a “therapist” or “the older sister”), or to meet the demands of the algorithm. In these moments, my attention feels like it is sacred and actually belongs to me again.

 Going analog helped me create glitches in the system. Capitalism handed all of us a bag of rocks and told us “this is the kit we need to survive”. Grasping onto internalized strategies like ableism, production and optimization over welfare, fatphobia, or taking time here on Earth too seriously… aren’t things I actually value. They’re inherited. Forcefully fed. Learned and rehearsed from a place of fear. Even though internalized thoughts will still appear through the course, I can discern what's mine more clearly and that makes the time I spend with myself so much easier.

I felt the depth of this: diligence without context isn't discipline, it's constant numbing and busywork. The goal was never to optimize myself into exhaustion. It's always been ease, alignment and a slightly unhinged feeling of being genuinely, embarrassingly alive.

This month felt like a different pace: a kind of attention and a life that doesn’t need to be constantly monitored to be lived. I honoured this principle, "说到做到" translation “following through with my promises” throughout the walk.

I don’t think going fully analog is the point. 

I’m more curious about what parts of this I’ll carry forward.

And for now, that’s enough. 😌

Putting these feelings into words for you, in case you haven’t already named them for yourself.

Thanks for tuning in, friend ✮⋆˙

written by Linda Lin, RCC RCAT

FEAR is the number 1 theme I’ve been witnessing throughout therapy sessions these days. 

A lot of us are going back to survival mode, while the western world of psychology calls this ‘dysregulation’. Whether it’s dealing with sudden major life transitions, many times out of our control, to the rapid changes of living in the world today, fear comes up hard and fast.

As a client calls it, "honestly our brain is just a meat sac with electricity".

Our brains get mushy and our feelings feel complicated when fear shows up. I see us grabbing at straws, searching for immediate relief, for answers, solutions, quick fixes as we navigate this territory. Then we try to cope with everything at once, and we end up self-sabotaging or freezing in overwhelm when things don’t go the way anxiety wants them to.

It doesn't have to be like that. 

Life shouldn't feel THIS complicated.

Here's how I am facing feelings like fear!

(in relevance to dealing with 2026, year of the fire horse)

1. Reminding myself, feelings aren't facts.

What if we didn't treat feelings, fear, rage, disgust, contempt, irritation, dislikes as verdicts? 

Imagine what it’d be like if we didn’t treat feelings as hard labels, like “this is just who I am” or “this is how things will always be”, but as guidance we can listen to, not obey.

Feelings always signal what matters to us.
They point to our unmet needs, unclaimed desires, and the ideas or beliefs we never consciously chose.

Kinda like when we're driving and we see a sign (the feeling) that says “slippery roads ahead”. This doesn't mean that we are bound to slip and fall so we gotta turn around and go home. We can drive or walk through with care, be mindful to go a little slower, or stay on parts of the road that feel safer.
 

I'd like to believe that feelings are always trying their best to guide us toward what hurts, what matters, and what needs care. They’re asking for our attention and trust.

At its very core, feelings want us to remember that we matter — that we are deserving of understanding, even when listening to this might change everything we once believed.

Pause for a moment. Take a breath.

Notice how these words land for you before you continue reading.

ᯓ :ִ ࣪✩ ݁∶⊹˖ᯓ⭑ᯓ :ִ ࣪✮ ݁∶ ᯓ :ִ ࣪✧ ݁∶

2. Practice the art of decision making.
 

Act before courage feels perfect. What if we focused on honesty instead of busyness, or the pressure to make everything “just right,” as if we were performing for a critical audience?

Building awareness. When we slow down, we can see ourselves more clearly like our values, desires, what we care for, and the unique energy we bring into the world. 

Part of presence building is slowing down and taking courage toward attempting. We don’t have to go far or move fast. The focus is more of that simple noticing and listening to what we need in the moment.
 

Practices like art journaling, using stickers and prompts, bibliotherapy and building in small rewards or celebrations, like a Big Paper Planning Day, have helped me build the courage to simply start. 

3. Your goals need to be neuro-informed!

Hate to break it to ya but did you know SMART goals increases fear and anxiety?

SMART goals may sound clear, functional, reasonable and responsible (due to surviving under a capitalist system)
…but people find that SMART goals work hand in hand with their anxiety and cognition instead of our energy and noticing what is happening in the present moment. 

An example like, “I have to go to the gym 5x this week.”
Our brain will do this thing by adding extra rules with it. 
“No matter what.” 
“Push harder than yesterday.” 
“Okay now increase the sets by 5%.”
Before we know it, the goal stops feeling motivating and we can't put ourselves to actually do it.

So why does demanding X amount by a certain time, in a specific way, make us anxious and self-critical?

It’s similar to how we overcomplicate our art, writing, and projects. We are trained to take pride in being driven by anxiety, perfectionism, the need to “look busy,” thinking that more effort will better ourselves so that we could finally meet our goals. 

Deep down, we know that all that pressure, all that busy-work rarely moves the needle and most often than not, we become frozen by overwhelm and FEAR.

That's because SMART goals originated from a place that was NEVER meant to be used for personal development! ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

SMART goals started as a management tool for organizations and the C-suite. It wasn’t built for emotional well-being since the beginning, but to keep employees in check.

Did you know? The A in SMART originally stood for Assignable, not Achievable 😒 That’s why they land so cognitively, cold, performance-obsessed when we apply them to day-to-day goals we have for ourselves. 
 

For many of us, SMART goals lead to disappointment, lower self-esteem, and spike our anxiety. Say we’re low in energy, but we set these goals when we were high in hope. The same SMART goals can then make us feel disappointed, “not good enough,” or “inconsistent” when life doesn’t go exactly as planned.

TLDR; SMART goals weren’t made in accommodation to emotional wellbeing, neurodivergence, context to our current energy level, or to nuances and sensitivities, and when times are multi-faceted (feeling collective despair as an example).

4. Our identity builds when we see ourselves as consistent.

When we show up consistently, even in small ways, our sense of self starts to feel real, and fear becomes less relevant. Self‑perception forms when we are a certain way because we have acted that way repeatedly. 

Like when we set boundaries consistently, and it strengthens the way we see ourselves, while sustaining our relationships. A win-win-win!?!

Research shows that when our actions align with our values on a regular basis, the brain strengthens neural pathways that reinforce our self-image over time. Consistency isn’t about perfection, it’s about building a reliable story of who we are.

5. Simplify everything with essence goals.

Essence goals sound almost too simple, but they actually work. Instead of overcomplicating life with logic and overthinking, they guide us back to what really matters: our values and desires.

This is what essence means to me ↓

Essence is unwavering in self-advocacy and protection with unconditional acceptance of our values. 
Essence brings deep attunement like the way nature and land show up. Like a grounded tree or a portal accessing our intuition. 

I’d like to imagine that our essence has been with us our whole life.

 Essence goals are adaptive, discerning, and handles nuances. They focus on how we actually want to feel, live, and move through the world.

Instead of pushing past our capacities, we practice honouring our emotional reality!

Examples can look something like this:

“Move in ways that make me feel alive and strong this week.”

“Show up for my community with presence and solidarity.”

“Unplug easily and celebrate after each workday.”

So here’s to more moments of tuning into your innate wisdom (which is backed by science btw.ᐟ.ᐟ ) to support your emotional wellbeing.

Always in your corner,
Linda ♡

written by Linda Lin, RCC RCAT

Year end / holiday stress is so real. 

Many of us enter December already depleted, with our numbing or protective safety behaviours running on overdrive.

So I wanted to write a newsletter to validate some of these experiences and patterns I’ve been noticing. 

These patterns can be so familiar that they often go unnoticed, even when we know this season feels heavier than it appears from the outside.

Please note that language I use may sound ‘too clinical’ so if you’d like to personalize with different language/words to describe similar things, go for it!

The end of the year often asks us to push through exhaustion, emotions, and (over)stimulation.

This time of year often stirs up financial pressure to find the perfect gifts, brings complicated interpersonal or family dynamics to the surface, and encourages us to wrap things up or end on a high note. 

It’s easy to become overstimulated by end-of-year sales (side note: did you know we can be exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day?), while juggling invitations and obligations, both external and internal, and navigating feelings of isolation when we’re “supposed” to feel joyful, restful, and connected. 

The stress can affect our body weeks or even months before anything actually happens at all.

A lot of us are going through this month with our safety behaviours activated. These behaviours help us numb or cope with discomfort so we don’t have to fully feel or process it. 

Safety behaviours are any acts that reduce distress in the short term by anticipating or preparing for the worst, often increasing our perception of fears. They can be very sneaky, work alongside anxiety, and often go unnoticed, leaving us feeling confused, lost, and overwhelmed.

Some examples of safety behaviours I’ve noticed (not exhaustive!):

• Overcleaning or working overtime

• Bed rotting but not allowing for true rest

• Frozen in doomscrolling

• Retail therapy or overconsumption

• Comfort eating, or restricting/picking/counting/purging, or obsessing over food/”health”/body

• Exercising excessively with little to no recovery

• Always trying to fix ourselves without ever celebrating our wins

• Avoiding conflict by pleasing others (while we have no idea what our needs are)

• Rehearsing how situations will play out at future gatherings

• Replaying something you said or something unresolved over and over in our mind

• Hyper-vigilance or hyper-independence that feels “right”

• Fixating on rigid routines that fuel perfectionism

• Harsh internal dialogue when routines are disrupted or our goals aren’t met

• Numbing with something because you feel distressed or irritated at ourselves, others, systems, or the world

• Exhaustion from masking or showing up performatively at gatherings

• Texting back immediately even when we have no more capacity, or the latter, avoiding texting back for weeks

• Seeking reassurance from others for most decisions we need to make

• Intellectualizing or over-analyzing everything.

Good news is that there are patterns / wiring that we start to become more aware of! 

Here's what safety behaviours have in common:

• Coping, not processing: They keep us “safe” momentarily, but not in the long term.

• They play on our fears: Safety behaviours increase our perception of existing fears. They make fear feel more intense or obsessive, rather than helping us heal from it.

• They respond to urgency: Acting “before the shoe drops,” safety behaviours turn anxious thoughts into rules, rituals, or compulsions in the hope of preventing a consequence. These can be physical actions, mental acts, or rigid routines we feel we have to do in the moment—or else.

• They've worked before: At some point in history, these behaviours helped you cope and feel safe. That’s why they’re so familiar, and may even feel safe and comforting.

• They dislike uncertainty: Safety behaviours often show up when situations are unpredictable, unresolved, or ambiguous.

Some practices I’ve been using for long-term care and support instead of safety behaviours:

• Catching, disengaging, and redirecting from my safety behaviours toward what actually matters. For example a fear I’m working through, always feeling responsible for my team, is gradually being redirected into the belief that I am becoming a stronger leader and team member.

• Making, creating, or crafting something with my hands (great for slowing down). 
  
  Enter our giveaway to drop in access to Off Screen Hours and an art journalling kit here: a special collab with 1912 Amax Stationery.
   

• Reducing screen time on my phone, using apps like Opal to block distracting social media during the week for more mindful consumption.

• Allowing 15+ minutes of boredom each day to check in with my nervous system and mind-body.

• Eating food that keeps me satiated, exciting, and simple (base repetitive, toppings rotated!).

• Moving in ways that make me feel strong while allowing ample recovery time. Lately I’ve been enjoying low-impact, high-intensity workouts (iykyk!).

• Inviting friends to do mundane activities: dog walks, grocery shopping, co-working, cooking a meal together, or asking them for help (this one is huge for me).

What have you been practicing? 

Below I'm sharing my fave reflection questions that really help slow me down (fyi they can go deep)!

Since we tend to be reflective during this time of year, I’m inviting us to journal, discuss with a good friend and/or make some art to check in with ourselves if safety behaviours have been showing up.

Get your tea, pens and stickers ready! ⊹

• What signals do my body give me when I feel safe, and when I feel overwhelmed?
• What are my safety behaviours? List them out and try calling them out. (see above for some examples)
• What are my go-to ways of avoiding or distracting from conflict or discomfort?

• What feelings have been harder to feel lately?
• Are there parts of me that learned to stay quieter/numb/unnoticed to stay safe?
• What does this protective strategy/response want me to know?
• Where do I notice myself toning down or editing parts of who I am, especially around others this season?
• What has it taken for me to arrive here, and what needs acknowledgement and care?

In a society designed to keep us numbing, with no time to slow down, where rest is mistaken for laziness and bursts of anxiety are mistaken for productivity, our awareness is rebellion. Slowing down to notice our limits, finding ways out of misery and fear, and understanding our grief are acts of resistance. And this resistance doesn’t have to feel endless or scary.

If you’re needing some extra love and support navigating these complex experiences, our team is here for you!

May this season of reflection lead us to explore moments for rest, awareness, and connection to support us into the new year. Take good care, First name / friendsee you in 2026 ♡

Sincerely, 
Linda

Enter our giveaway before the end of the year (Dec 31st, 2025) for a chance to win: 
📓 Drop-in access to weekly Off Screen Hours (Friday workshops until Feb 2026)*
🖋️ An AMAX journaling kit — Hitotoki notebook + Pentel brush pen set

from our January newsletter, written by Linda Lin, RCC, CCC, RCAT

Dear doomscrolling, doomspending, binging…
please be gentle with me this year

Lately, I’ve noticed a familiar cast of characters resurfacing—old coping behaviours from past versions of myself, barging in like they’re the main stars of the show. They’ve brought along their usual companions: unsolicited waves of intense, complex emotions, with no proper space to hold it all.

For many of us, patterns we’ve worked so hard to unlearn are making a comeback. These habits of distraction and numbing aren’t random—they’re our nervous systems doing what they know best: shielding us from overwhelm. It’s an act of self-protection, even if it doesn’t always help in the long run.

𓅰 𓅭 𓅮 𓅯 

everything everywhere all at once  

In a single week, we had to process:

• Genocides, ecocides, scholasticides, dehumanization, forced displacement (Sudan, Congo, Tigray, Syria need our advocacy and solidarity!), all while there's finally a temporary ceasefire and no end to the occupation in Palestine.

• LA fires, rekindling existential dread as we confront our fractured relationship with the land and the ongoing climate crisis.

• Political upheaval, left our neighbour country grappling with the absurdity of a tiktok ban, while contending with the reality of oligarchic control over us both.

• Red note migration, stirring of complex emotions within the Chinese diaspora, as past experiences of sinophobia has no room to process (this is called disenfranchised grief: grief that goes unacknowledged/unvalidated by social norms).

• An unshakable, overwhelming sense of falling behind—where even the algorithm pushes content on us so we feel stuck in an echo chamber.

Your tolerance for stress may be high. But is it sustainable?

 tolerating ≠ growing pains

Our brains are on overdrive, constantly bombarded by crises, notifications, and demands pulling us in every direction. When we operate outside our window of tolerance for too long, our nervous systems (aka. mind and body connection) can shut down, creating the illusion that we simply need to keep tolerating it.

But this constant urgency makes it harder to hear our true voices amid the noise. While distraction might offer temporary relief, it can deepen the cycle of disconnection.

Being good at carrying burdens and tolerating beyond our limits,
without understanding how much we can handle,
is part of the growing pains of healing.

 🌿 nature trusts its growing pains 

- can you trust yours?

Nature doesn’t second-guess, resist, or judge its cycles of growth. It simply adapts, evolves, and unfolds, remains steadfast in its rhythm.

Here's some good news, we ARE like nature: every week, we learn something new that helps us grow beyond who we thought we were—breaking free from the limits of systemic oppression and our own ego (they call them ego deaths for a reason!).

Oh, to be one with nature… or perhaps we can just mirror it

🪞 What if we mirrored nature’s trust in the self? 🤍✨

🌀 can we stay curious and present with our own unfolding?

🌀 can we value both the painful and joyful experiences that shape us?

🌀 can we learn to trust what we create and nurture our own seasons of growth?

Nature doesn’t rush or resist.

It embraces transformation with grace.

So what if we took our visceral cues from nature's elements?

Here’s an art as therapy prompt to step out of the noise and reconnect with your inner pacing

Journal, create art, poetry, or simply reflect and imagine:

🌿 If you were a part of nature, what realm would you belong to? 
☘︎ Would you embody the wisdom of an ancient forest? 
☘︎ The rhythmic energy and motion of oceanic waves? 
☘︎ The mystical germination of desert blooms?

🌿 What would it look, feel, and sound like?