As part of our partnership with Love, Bonito, we got to sit down with Rachel Lim, Co Founder of @lovebonito to talk about how she takes care of her mental health as an Asian-woman entrepreneur.
Q: As an entrepreneur, what is the best investment you can make for your personal and professional life?
A: “Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself, and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet.” This is a John Maxwell saying that I always return to.
Over the last few years, I’ve made a daily commitment to do something for myself that strengthens me mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually – reading for 10 minutes, getting in a workout and journaling for example.or I’ve discovered the immeasurable value of spending time with myself, getting to know myself deeply, working through areas where I could improve on, expanding my mind by learning new skills, honing and practicing to keep making progress and growing. Investing in ourselves is truly the best investment we could ever make because it improves not only our lives, but the lives of those around us too.
Q: How do you prioritize and take care of your mental health?
A: I try to let go of things I can’t control.
Whenever I feel anxious, overwhelmed or upset, I’d take out my notebook, draw a line in the middle of the page and jot down “things that I can control” in one column vs “things that I cannot control” in the other with regard to the situation. So often, the negativity is much bigger in our head than it is in reality, and writing it out like that has helped me to reframe my perspective and focus. This has proven to be so effective in guiding my attention back to working on what I can control and taking the next best step to do the best thing. So, instead of wasting your energy on what’s out of control in the first place, you re-direct your attention to what you can. In life, these are things we can always control: Our attitude, our response, our self-talk, our actions. It sounds simple and logical enough, but it takes practice.
Q: How do you handle your emotions?
A: When I was going through a particularly difficult season, my therapist gave me a piece of advice that I’ll always remember: “Give yourself permission to feel your feelings, own it and learn from it.” I used to suppress my emotions, positive or negative, and sweep them under the carpet convincing myself that they’d eventually go away. But they never do. Instead, they find their way to the surface and explode later in unhealthy ways. The lessons you don’t learn will keep coming back louder and bigger until you do. My therapist’s advice has helped me develop the habit of pausing to acknowledge what I’m feeling, to address it, and decide what I want to do with it. This has trained me to regulate my emotions to restore a healthy balance, sometimes simply by breathing it all in and letting go of all that I shouldn’t hold on to anymore.
We’re so grateful to Love, Bonito for partnering with us! Designing for the key moments and milestones of a woman’s life, Love, Bonito’s comprehensive assortment features stylish and comfortable pieces for the modern Asian woman at home, work and play. Love, Bonito is the largest vertically integrated, omnichannel women’s fashion brand in Southeast Asia today. The brand remains committed to relationship building and nurturance, imbuing soul into innovation with thoughtful design and dedicated community outreach.
For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/3NOpexR.