Seung Chan Lim

Two Sets of Questions

Posted on September 14, 2025March 9, 2025 by Seung Chan Lim 0

Why do I lack so much motivation and willpower?
How can I not feel pain and discomfort?
What more can I do?
How can I more effectively communicate my pain to others?

Which leaves the tension unreleased, does nothing to the weight carried

Creates even more tension, adds even more weight

Which will probably create more tension.

Which creates more weight, thus more tension, maybe even trigger our injury

How can I (re)design my thinking process and interactions with people in or around my business, such that I can regularly…

Restore my energy and vitality.
Release my tensions.
Share, offload, or temporarily stash some of the weight I’m carrying.
Recover from and prevent injuries, or at least minimize the chance of triggering them.

Validation

Posted on September 14, 2025March 9, 2025 by Seung Chan Lim 0

At first,
I thought I had to do something huge
for my life
to be worth something.

Until I realized
that doing something huge
would still not be enough
unless I could feel
that it was indeed
worth it.

In other words,
what I was after
was a feeling.

…

Once I realized
that validation
was what I was after,
I noticed I lacked clarity
on whose validation I craved
and why.

…

Once I gained clarity
on whose validation I craved
and why,
it turned out
there were only a handful of people
whose validation
I deeply craved.

So I went to them
one by one
to learn how I can provide them
value,
only to learn
how remarkably simple—
not easy, but simple—
it was
to do so.

It was then
that I realized
that at the end of the day,
the most difficult challenge
wasn’t
earning their validation.

The most difficult challenge
was accepting
that my life can have significant worth
without doing something
huge.

Confusing Empathy

Posted on September 14, 2025February 1, 2025 by Seung Chan Lim 0

“But empathy
can be draining!”
protested
the founder.

“Give me
an example
of a time
when empathy
drained you.”
I asked.

“In my last 1-on-1
I wanted to tell my employee
how horrible
they were doing.
But I kept my mouth shut
because I didn’t want
to hurt him.”
she answered.

“What emotions did you feel
when you thought of
the possibility
of hurting him?”
I asked.

“Worry.”
she answered.

“There is nothing wrong
with feeling worry.
In fact, I appreciate your willingness to notice
and to acknowledge it.
At the same time,
I want to invite you
to not blame empathy
for our worry.”