Sum On Sleeve Podcast

When you have a product that you believe in, it makes it easier. I'm an author of 3 books. I needed to sell my books, promote them, tell people about them, get them to resonate with my message and story and then, take their precious hard-earned dollars out of their wallets to spend on me. It’s the right thing to do but I dreaded it. It became one of those things you know you should do but you don’...

In this PODCAST, Jane and I have a frank conversation from body confidence, married life in quarantine and our thoughts on the racism that has recently surfaced during this unprecedented time. We dive into some tough topics while staying authentic to who we are. Self-confidence tips How do you stay confident about our bodies as we go through change? Ageing, pregnancies, the ups and downs of life a...

How do you feel about your body? How do you feel about food? As someone who has struggled with body confidence her whole life, I've had a love-hate relationship with these 2. ***Warning: there are various descriptive, emotional triggers in the rest of this story. Please be advised**  From disordered eating, laxatives, cleanses, liquid diets, binging then throwing up, caffeine pills and patche...

This was originally a live session hat aired on July 10th, 8 pm PST In this podcast, Angie Wong and I sat down and had a real and raw conversation about relationships. We chatted about relationships of all sorts, romantic, non-romantic, family, strangers, diving into the nitty-gritty of human connection and energy. I spoke about the past lessons from a previous relationship that revealed toxic beh...

You will get your independence back I remember the moment I felt like I “lost my independence.” I was driving back home from a mom group when I saw that Garden Works was having a sale. I was about to turn in when my daughter started wailing. I looked at the clock and I said to myself, “Right, it’s ten o’clock. It’s time to go home for a feed, diaper change and then a nap. Will I come back and chec...

Ask for helpful help (including support for your partner) and refuse unhelpful help People love to help. It’s an inherent characteristic of our species. We see someone struggling and we want to do something for them. So that’s why those World Vision commercials worked so well huh? However, not all help is created equal and that depends on what you find helpful. For instance, imagine having your pa...

Vent, rant, do verbal diarrhea with your trusted emotional support circle (they won’t judge) Whether it’s your sister, your mom, your besties, your aunt, your cousin, or an online support group, find your tribe. Your partner will not get it. You’ll want to vent about him to someone because you may resent him and he can only take so much. During that time when you’re learning how to be a mom, you w...

Breastfeeding may or may not work out and that’s totally okay Some women have that magical first moment with their newborns, eyes meet, skin-to-skin, tears of joy, a well-fitted latch, not tongue-tide, hefty gulps from colostrum filled breasts. Some women aren’t physically able to breastfeed. Some women struggle with breastfeeding at first and choose to keep trying, with lots of ups and downs unti...

You have a right to request and refuse visitors From friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, everyone wants to see the baby. And this can either augment or diminish your experience depending on how you want to recover. But how do you know how you want to recover if you’ve never given birth? Think about a time when you’ve gotten sick, had the flu or had surgery. Maybe that time you had your Wisd...

It’s okay if you don’t feel an instant, magical connection with your baby What you see on TV and movies don’t actually happen. First, those babies look way too big to be newborns. Second, Hollywood has yet to master the “after giving birth” look. Lastly, the magical connection doesn’t always happen immediately. I had completely different experiences with my first and second. Maybe it was being a n...

Treat your body with kindness Your body just performed a miracle. It grew an entire human, eyeballs, earlobes, brains, fingernails and everything. It needs to heal, replenish and recover. It’s amazing what the body can do and you need to appreciate what it’s been through. This is not the time to obsess over stretch marks, loose skin, or jiggly thighs. It’s time to love your body even more. Every c...

Your past Why it didn’t work out with your exes Talking about your exes may be considered taboo on a first date. However, once a couple has reached a point in their relationship where they’re talking about marriage, a lot can be learned about someone when they share what happened in their past relationships and why they ended. You don’t have to get into the nitty-gritty but reflecting on your past...

Where and how to live It’s hard to maintain a marriage if you’re physically apart. The stress of long-distance relationships, commutes, time-zone differences would drive any couple to the edge. Where do you want to live together? Where would you want to raise your kids? How do you want to live? Are you deadset on living in a specific city or province/state or country? How open are you to a nomadic...

Kids or no kids? That is the question.  Without a doubt, both of you have to see eye to eye on this question because it’s not like you can turn back time or get a refund.  If you are on polar ends with your partner… And neither of you are willing to budge, there is no give or take.  Once you decide what to do, it’s almost certain that one of you will resent the other; it creates an...

Money is often quoted as one of the top reasons marriages end in divorce. It’s a point of contention even during casual conversations because of its association with power, status, security, freedom, and autonomy, topics that can easily pinch our values.   Money is emotional Money shaped a lot of our childhoods (growing up with humble surroundings versus with privilege), contributing to our v...

What solidified that they were "The One"    Brian: You just knew. This one is a secret.   Katharine: He met everything that I needed, wanted and deserved in a life partner. We had many similar values and beliefs around family and money. I was attracted to his confident, ambitious, open-minded, and extroverted personality. He's a dreamer who likes to think big, a natural entrepreneur...

When someone tells me I'm doing a good job or that I look great, I get uncomfortable. My first instinct is to downplay, then deny and then think of a compliment about the other person, deflecting the attention off of me.  And then when I compliment, it's the most insincere thing. It comes across like I'm just saying something good about the other person for the sake of removing their focus on...

What do you want to do with your life? Isn't that a loaded question?   Self-discovery Exercise: What you’re good at doing versus what you love doing    What are you damn good at? What’s a skill that you have that you always get praised for?   What do you love talking about? If you could play God and control a social situation so that people talk about a certain topic, what...

Ever feel like life is going by and you're just sitting there watching it?  You do things to get through the day, check the boxes and complete the tasks.  And then one day, it hits you and you're sick and tired of the routine and you feel like a mindless mess that's running on autopilot.   Things need to get done, especially when you have kids and you're running a household. It's a...

Tigertail is a 2020 American drama film written and directed by Alan Yang  Here are my two cents about the film.  What were your initial thoughts of the film and first reaction(s) to seeing the trailer?  What attempt does writer/director Alan Yang get “right” in this film that other filmmakers haven’t been able to do for mainstream audiences before?  Did this help you understan...

As we age, we tend to know ourselves better, what gives us pain, what gives us pleasure. But when we know ourselves more, it can also make us narrow-minded, preventing us from trying new things. It can also limit our desire to learn and grow.  How can we balance our increased self-awareness with a decreased desire to learn and grow? We need to continually challenge ourselves well beyond "old...

Have insecurities? Scared to be yourself? Worried about what others think of you? Or may think of you if you were to be real with them? You're not alone which means most people are too busy thinking about themselves to pay attention to you. So be authentic to who you are, let yourself shine because you might just inspire someone else to. Most people are their own worst critics. Just watch people a...

The other day, I was picking up my daughter from my parents when I get an email from Medium saying that I made a bit of money last month from writing.  Holy shit! The Medium Writers Program pays if your stuff gets read. So, the better writer you are, the more money you get paid. So I had a moment of self-validation. People want to pay for my writing! I was incredibly proud of myself. It wasn'...

You tell your friend about the KETO diet you're on, the workout you're doing, the meditation app you're using...they still haven't lost the weight, they're still anxious and stressed. One day, she comes and visits you and she's as happy as a clam, and lost all the weight she wanted. Then she starts raving about how she finally listened to someone else's advice. How do you feel? Sometimes people ne...

Growing up, I used chopsticks for pretty much every meal I ate. It's because all I ate was Chinese food.⁣ ⁣ Fast forward... ⁣ ⁣ having moved out, got married, had the kids...I've realized I don't use chopsticks that often. ⁣ ⁣ Spoon, forks and knives fill our dishwasher every week as my daughter keeps asking me to teach her how to use chopsticks. ⁣ ⁣ I've been procrastinating teaching her because...