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Abstract

ery single time if we’re face-to-face. But my brain switches on when I write, so that is what I turn to when I want to be my best self. Writing words down is the only way I can make sense of the mess that is my mind.My first language, though, is memes. My phone camera roll has more pictures of memes than of my cats, and more pictures of my cats than of my kids, even though I consider my kids to be the best things I ever produced in life. Basically, if you speak memes, cats, and/or kids, we will get along famously.My second language is emojis. I struggle writing professionally because I have to fight guttural urges to add emojis after every 3rd sentence. I would be MUCH more expressive and interesting as a writer if I could use emojis. :’(Some things people seem to find interesting about me: I have some weird piercings but am otherwise a mild personality with several useless talents, which include the following: I have perfect pitch, can say the alphabet backward, and easily reproduce on a piano any tune I’ve heard once or twice.My bachelor’s degree, which I rarely use anymore, was in piano performance. This explains why I can do weird things with pianos.I grew up in Malaysia and now live in the suburbs of the DC area, where all the shit happens.In my free time, I’m all about escapism, so I soak in the most brain-rotting reality tv shows available. Then, in an attempt to counteract the twaddle, I practice and teach the Chinese martial arts of kung fu and tai chi. My adventures in that world are a rich source of stories that I’ll share in my writings over time.It has taken me every glorious, painful year of life so far to scratch the surface of figuring out who I am. The outer edges of my self insist on evolving with age, so I’m constantly sprinting to keep up. Yet my core holds steady, which is why I can firmly say that the following things are the biggest parts of me:<ol><li>I am fiercely driven to better myself, except when I’m being a lazy ass, which is roughly 45% of the time. With that comes a curiosity to learn and try all the things. When I want something badly enough, I won’t rest until I <a href="https://sarahlauparker.medium.com/how-to-keep-your-new-years-resolutions-like-a-boss-fb75af694be">figure it out</a>.</li><li>To this end, I have a weakness where I nerd-out hard about growth areas like health, fitness, and nutrition. And I spend a lot of time diving into self-development areas from parenting and relationships to productivity. Just ask my kids - they’re all lin

Options

ing up for future adult therapy to talk about mom and the latest thing she made us try.</li><li>Injustices of any kind make me hot, and not in a good way. There is no quicker way to piss me off than to see others treated badly. I will stand up for the underdog any time I can. I’m not outwardly aggressive about it, but I have my ninja style of dealing with people who need to be dealt with.</li><li>On the other hand, I’m rarely black and white about issues. I see shades of grey everywhere. (Please stop looking at my hair, that’s not what I was talking about. It has fallen victim to pandemic-related neglect and hasn’t been dyed in a year, okay?) I’m wretchedly empathetic and stress myself out seeing every side of everything. Being all too easily able to step in and out of others’ shoes is both a gift and a curse — something I keep learning to live with.</li><li>Kindness is one of my highest prized values. I treasure people who are kind and strive to be more like them. I’ve learned that kindness isn’t automatic nor easy; it is a set of muscles you have to exercise regularly. The older I get, the more I realize that it is unnecessary to allow unkind or unpleasant people to occupy time or space in my life.</li></ol>I was a reader first on Medium. I read voraciously here for over three years and had a vague hankering to start writing at some point, but you know how I keep saying I am a lazy ass? Yeah. I now kick said lazy ass daily for not pushing myself to do it years ago. I’ve grown a lot as a person and a writer in the short time I’ve been more actively participating here.I’m pursuing a goal to build a freelance writing/copywriting and editing career. Doors opened for me in that direction this year and I’m running through them as fast as my short little legs will take me. Happily, all of this feels right for me at this time in my life. Medium is a fantastic playground for my thoughts along the way, and many of you have been encouraging and supportive to me as readers, fellow writers, and mentors. I appreciate you.Someday when I’m more established here I’d like to tell you the story of how one of the biggest writers on Medium was incredibly kind and generous to me when I was a nobody. (As you can see, I’m still a nobody right now, so we’ll be waiting on that story. It will be a long wait.)If you got this far, wow! Thank you for your time. It may only be worth a few cents to my wallet (just being real here), but it’s worth a million bucks to my soul. Please do drop me a comment so I can properly meet and greet you, too.</article></body>

About Me — Sarah Lau Parker

“She hasn’t changed the toilet paper roll in 22 years.”

Photo by author, taken the day she came down with Covid-19. Here she is cuddling with her cat, blissfully unaware of the fact that she’s about to get her brain poked, then be isolated in a room for the next 14 days.

I could list a bunch of facts about myself, but I’m a lazy ass, so I made my family, friends, and some random people do it for me:

“She hasn’t changed the toilet paper roll in 22 years.” -husband

“I always think of myself as short until I look at my mom.” -teenage daughter

“Very kind and followed my instructions. I’m very grateful!” -Doordash customer

“It’s been a long journey…” -friend

“My sister is the kind of person who made me watch Unsolved Mysteries and X-Files when I was 7 so I would have nightmares for the rest of my life, but she’s also the kind of person who would teach my kids about the birds and bees so I don’t have to.” -only sister

“You’re a crazy cat lady.” -8 yr old daughter

“She’ll bend over backward to keep doing nice things for people who’re complete asshats to her.” -friend

“The only thing I don’t like about my mom is that she always makes us clean.” -10 yr old daughter

“You suck.” -cousin

“She’ll make fun of all my weird things but she’ll also always be the first to tell me that she likes me just the way I am. She makes me feel like it’s okay to be me.” -friend

“My mom is so addicted to Pokémon Go that she’s been known to drive around in the middle of the night just to play it.” -adult son

“You’re SO beautiful!” -random person on the street on a day that I was NOT beautiful.

“Sarah, if you weren’t doing something extreme, it wouldn’t be you.” -friend

I’ll throw in the following Part II for free if you want to know more, and also because I’m trying not to be a lazy ass anymore.

I have never been able to verbally express myself well. I’m a frequent victim of brain freeze and will lose an argument every single time if we’re face-to-face. But my brain switches on when I write, so that is what I turn to when I want to be my best self. Writing words down is the only way I can make sense of the mess that is my mind.

My first language, though, is memes. My phone camera roll has more pictures of memes than of my cats, and more pictures of my cats than of my kids, even though I consider my kids to be the best things I ever produced in life. Basically, if you speak memes, cats, and/or kids, we will get along famously.

My second language is emojis. I struggle writing professionally because I have to fight guttural urges to add emojis after every 3rd sentence. I would be MUCH more expressive and interesting as a writer if I could use emojis. :’(

Some things people seem to find interesting about me: I have some weird piercings but am otherwise a mild personality with several useless talents, which include the following: I have perfect pitch, can say the alphabet backward, and easily reproduce on a piano any tune I’ve heard once or twice.

My bachelor’s degree, which I rarely use anymore, was in piano performance. This explains why I can do weird things with pianos.

I grew up in Malaysia and now live in the suburbs of the DC area, where all the shit happens.

In my free time, I’m all about escapism, so I soak in the most brain-rotting reality tv shows available. Then, in an attempt to counteract the twaddle, I practice and teach the Chinese martial arts of kung fu and tai chi. My adventures in that world are a rich source of stories that I’ll share in my writings over time.

It has taken me every glorious, painful year of life so far to scratch the surface of figuring out who I am. The outer edges of my self insist on evolving with age, so I’m constantly sprinting to keep up. Yet my core holds steady, which is why I can firmly say that the following things are the biggest parts of me:

I am fiercely driven to better myself, except when I’m being a lazy ass, which is roughly 45% of the time. With that comes a curiosity to learn and try all the things. When I want something badly enough, I won’t rest until I figure it out.
To this end, I have a weakness where I nerd-out hard about growth areas like health, fitness, and nutrition. And I spend a lot of time diving into self-development areas from parenting and relationships to productivity. Just ask my kids - they’re all lining up for future adult therapy to talk about mom and the latest thing she made us try.
Injustices of any kind make me hot, and not in a good way. There is no quicker way to piss me off than to see others treated badly. I will stand up for the underdog any time I can. I’m not outwardly aggressive about it, but I have my ninja style of dealing with people who need to be dealt with.
On the other hand, I’m rarely black and white about issues. I see shades of grey everywhere. (Please stop looking at my hair, that’s not what I was talking about. It has fallen victim to pandemic-related neglect and hasn’t been dyed in a year, okay?) I’m wretchedly empathetic and stress myself out seeing every side of everything. Being all too easily able to step in and out of others’ shoes is both a gift and a curse — something I keep learning to live with.
Kindness is one of my highest prized values. I treasure people who are kind and strive to be more like them. I’ve learned that kindness isn’t automatic nor easy; it is a set of muscles you have to exercise regularly. The older I get, the more I realize that it is unnecessary to allow unkind or unpleasant people to occupy time or space in my life.

I was a reader first on Medium. I read voraciously here for over three years and had a vague hankering to start writing at some point, but you know how I keep saying I am a lazy ass? Yeah. I now kick said lazy ass daily for not pushing myself to do it years ago. I’ve grown a lot as a person and a writer in the short time I’ve been more actively participating here.

I’m pursuing a goal to build a freelance writing/copywriting and editing career. Doors opened for me in that direction this year and I’m running through them as fast as my short little legs will take me. Happily, all of this feels right for me at this time in my life. Medium is a fantastic playground for my thoughts along the way, and many of you have been encouraging and supportive to me as readers, fellow writers, and mentors. I appreciate you.

Someday when I’m more established here I’d like to tell you the story of how one of the biggest writers on Medium was incredibly kind and generous to me when I was a nobody. (As you can see, I’m still a nobody right now, so we’ll be waiting on that story. It will be a long wait.)

If you got this far, wow! Thank you for your time. It may only be worth a few cents to my wallet (just being real here), but it’s worth a million bucks to my soul. Please do drop me a comment so I can properly meet and greet you, too.