An Update (Why I’ve Been Gone)

by Celes |
Filed in Updates

Hi everyone! This is a quick update to let you know what I’ve been up to.

First off, whether you’re a new or long-time reader at Personal Excellence, thank you for being a part of the PE community. Without you, PE would never exist, so thank you for being here. You are the reason why I do what I do.

I know it’s been a while. I’m sorry for the lack of updates for the past 5 years. Some of you emailed me to check if I was alive, and why there haven’t been any updates.

The truth is, it’s been a very difficult past 5 years for me. There have been a series of things that happened, things that crushed me and that I was unable to write about as I was still working through them (and still am, for some of them).

A quick summary of what has happened on my end (not in chronological order):

I gave birth to my daughter (she’s now 5!) and stopped working to dedicate myself to full-time motherhood.
We moved from Singapore to the UK, and had to overcome many challenges, from COVID lockdowns turning our plans upside down, to getting a job in a foreign land (for my husband), to finding housing without a job, with a baby in tow.
My mother-in-law became gravely ill and my husband and I became deeply involved in her care. She sadly passed away after an 18-month battle.
I became very ill with worsening health issues for the past 10 years, which led me on a long journey to search for answers after mainstream medical professionals were unable to give me any. I eventually found out that they are due to dental work that I received when I was young, including mercury fillings and a root canal.
My husband had his own health issues, including neurological issues and severe chronic fatigue, that I supported him through, which turned out to be due to dental work he had when he was young as well, specifically mercury fillings.
I faced repeated, persistent conflicts in my blood family that I later realized was due to a toxic family-in-law who was badmouthing everyone and sowing discord in the family.
And then there was COVID, which made everything — be it raising a baby, caring for the ill, or moving to a new country — much more difficult than it already is.

In the midst of all these, I had to step back from everything and turn completely inward to be there for my family. I had to step back from everything in my life — my career, relationships, personal life, etc. — so that I could dedicate myself fully to my husband and baby and deal with all the challenges with my entire being.

From raising a new life to grieving the passing of a loved one, from dealing with persistent health issues to living in continuous ambiguity of the future be it due to the pandemic or moving to a new country without a job or contacts, it was a very difficult and dark period for me — as I’m sure it must have been for many of you during the past few years, especially due to the pandemic.

As my daughter now settles into school and I juggle the duties of motherhood and my professional life, as I work on my own health healing journey, and as my family settles down in the UK (a shoutout to the UK readers!), I’m excited to return to my life path and life mission — supporting you in your growth.

I appreciate your patience all these years. I miss you guys and I hope you are doing well. I know that the world has changed a lot in these past 5 years. I know the online space has changed a lot, with new blogs, new websites, new influencers, etc. Some of you may have moved on to other websites and content during this time. I hope that now that I’m back, I can continue to support you in your growth — your problems, challenges, and goals — as I have in the past.

I miss all of you. But I’m back now. And I can’t wait to update you more on what’s been happening.

Some quick updates:

I recently did a subscriber cleanout as it’s been so many years and many emails are either inactive or defunct. Some of your email addresses may have been deleted by mistake. To ensure that you’re still on my email list, please subscribe here.
I miss connecting with you guys. I briefly considered enabling blog comments, but thought it’s going to result in the same issues of spam and noise as before. Keeping reader communication via email is the best way to go for now (until I find a better approach), so join my email list so that we can stay connected.

I’m currently working on updating old content, as well as updating my foundational personal growth courses 30DLBL (Live a Better Life in 30 Days) and 30BBM (Be a Better Me in 30 Days), which I’ll share more in time to come. Once again, join my email list for all updates — I don’t post every update on the blog.

If there’s anything you’d like to see, use my contact form or join my email list and reply to the email there. I’m back and I can’t wait to talk to you guys soon. :)