Be Authentic, Show Up and You’ll Get There — Interview with Amy Choy (ChicnBliss Community)
My guest on Mental Wealth For Entrepreneurs Podcast episode #16 is Amy Choy (@chicnbliss) — a professional landscape designer, content creator and health and well-being coach. Amy has an unusual story — she grew in Canada, lived and worked abroad across the US, UK, Hong Kong and China, and now she’s been stranded in Bangkok due to COVID pandemic. Yet, during the lockdown, Amy decided to follow her passion and started ChicnBliss community to inspire and motivate people to follow their bliss and a life they love.
Show notes
Katerina: Hi Amy. Great to see you. How are you?
Amy: I am good, thank you. Thank you for having me.
Katerina: Thank you for coming to our podcast. So, Amy, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background.
Amy: Sure. So, I am a professional landscape architect. I was born in Hong Kong, grown in Canada, and then I studied and worked abroad in many different countries in the last 10 years, and I’ve been practising as a landscape architect up till this year. And I currently… I am based in Bangkok Thailand.
Katerina: Right. What are you doing in Bangkok?
Amy: So, partially we are still on a lockdown. I did move here while I was on search for projects for my landscape work, and somehow because of this pandemic, I’ve started to do things that I’ve always wanted to do in these last four years. And so since I’d say, a month… five weeks ago I launched my platform called ChicnBliss.com as a health and well being platform and I’ve been spending most of my time building this community. And then I think… it’s a very vibrant group and I’ve been running a 21 days personal growth challenge with them. We actually just finished on Friday, we had a celebration on Saturday and online party. This coincided with a Thailand locked down which has an alcohol ban so it was together at 21 days challenge for personal growth, changing three to five habits that you’ve always wanted to do, or three to five tasks that you want to do that brings you towards a bigger goal. And then on top of that was 22 days alcohol free so it a very huge celebration. I was actually on Saturday like… obviously now we can drink and.
And then I was… because of this community, I’ve attracted a company called Lifestyle Juicery, they sponsored me to do a six day juice detox, and I don’t know why I said yes but it was really tough… it was, I would say I’ve done a lot of challenges in my life of personal development as an entrepreneur, and as a landscape person but this was the toughest challenge I ever had to do like drinking six days of like cold raw press juice. I didn’t have baseline food but it was hard like you just feel like your body has been pushed in so many ways.
So, by Saturday it was huge celebration, and you do see a lot of benefits so it was like, and it continued out to this week. So basically this week you continue to see benefits of, you know, in terms of your well being, your energy level, your skin, psoriasis so. So, yeah, it’s actually been a really lovely week. And I’m really happy and that with this podcast it’s like a massive sharing.
Katerina: Alright, Okay. Yeah. But that’s quite a move from landscaping designs to health and well being platform. How did you find this niche? Why there is such a move from landscaping to well-being?
Amy: I have always loved landscape. I still love landscape and public grounds, and when I say landscape, it’s not just like some gardening. So, my very first job that I landed on 10 years, or 12 years ago in London was actually the London Olympic Park. So, I had the joy and the honour to work with the person who directed and envisioned this project, and I was working with all these people who we know engineers to horticulturalists. It was a huge impact to social space, and then you know that it has impacted people’s life and that has always been my passion, not just … or once space, it was really to change people’s lives and how they interact with each other.
And unfortunately now with pandemic the public space is going to completely changed right? How we always gonna have that one 1.5 metre distance like I think all the benches are going to change, like, sort of chopped off. And so through the journey of, you know, becoming a landscape designer I sort of stumbled in my own personal journey in terms of my, my own health and well being. So, you know, when I started out, I could do all nighters, I would work late nights you know like everybody who just graduate. And I would still be able to go out afterwards and it’s just that, you know, as years go by you notice how much it takes out from your health and I think there was a point seven years ago when really culminated to, you know, volcanic explosion… If you remember, like 10 years ago there was a ash cloud from Iceland.
Katerina: Yeah, all the planes were grounded. You couldn’t fly anyway in Europe.
Amy: Yeah, I was like that… I was on a massive burnout. I had… my family has psoriasis, but it was never to the state that I had… I basically had a psoriasis, psoriasis that covered maybe 60-70% of my body and I would look like I was burning in fire. So, that was how how how difficult it was in terms of the, the, the psoriasis and then I started to realise that the the health part of me was like so important that I didn’t choose, I was choosing career over health. Like I still remember this moment I told my principal which is directed…
Katerina: Are you saying that your problems with health were caused by toxic stress that you experienced at work?
Amy: Yeah, it was stress, stress, a lot of anxiety, stress from, you know, if you’re going to have a job because we did come up from recession 2008, stress from China striving to be the best… in the female professional world… perfection in a landscape world, and also moving around and always trying to be the best, and maybe internally that I have this, you know, try to be like really perfect and, and I think it certainly has to do with a level in the mindset. Because I remember that moment that I was full of psoriasis scratching like a monkey you know and I was telling the director that I will finish this deadline and I’ll go look at my psoriasis. And she was like, I think you should do that now, not after you finish the deadline, you know, but that was how I was and it was so painful to have to choose to take care of my psoriasis. It sounds ridiculous now but at that point it was really difficult emotionally very difficult to choose to, you know, take care of my psoriasis and not be thriving in my career. I think at that point I was only 30–31.
And so, but ever since then I would say life has really changed for me. And so, I, I’ve always felt that that I healed my psoriasis as you can see, and holistically, and I always thought that the experience that I went through for the psoriasis and burnout and obviously burnout leads to a massive anxiety, panic attack depression. And those journeys are meant, not just for me, and to share with other people. And I’ve contemplated for a long time when I get this now and then, so I I have always wanted to build a platform to share this journey and knowledge to benefit out of people who may be suffering… actually, whether you’re female not only can young generation coming out you’re coming in, you have massive stress and anxiety and you’re being loaded more and more things you know you’re being pressed to do things with lesser time, it’s not getting better at the moment you know and you know one person doing like five people things you know so I and so I somehow always said, I’ll do it later. Now that I settled myself first I’ll do it later.
Which partially was true I needed to take care of myself, but by this year I was going to you know sort out a landscape position first and now get to this website and that didn’t happen because of the pandemic. And so I saw I was sitting down with so much time and then my friend who is an entrepreneur, so why don’t you do it now and I was like oh I know and then I want to do XYZ. I was having a lot of plans that to to see it perfectly. And then she just pushed me like give it a like do it do it do it like every single one one and a half weekend so far I just like launched it, and I just basically I launched it… I launched a community online, and that was writing quotes stories and I ran a challenge and that’s how it started. And I’ve been doing that now for the last five days. And it’s actually a really joy, I’ve been getting a lot of positive energy from them. I feel great for being able to share. And it is really amazing to see how many people out are also having the same situation, you know, wherever they are, people would from Indonesia to Singapore to LA or the UK or, you know, people from their 30s still having a job to like in their 40s and being a mom, you know, everybody is going through the same you know same situation, you know, and especially with this pandemic.
The stress level, and anxiety, the feelings of not knowing what’s going to happen, it’s shared among like basically everyone globally, despite of, you know, wherever you are, whichever nationality, ethnic, ethnically and your age. So for me this jump is interesting, but I’m really enjoying it. I do still love my landscape, but I really have to say I feel a sense of fulfilment whenever I feel that I’ve helped people, especially with this 21 days challenge you really see people wrestle with certain habits they want to change because of their mentality. And it really, you can really see somebody has grown over that 21 days… even myself there were things that it was hard for me but with the group was so much better. So, I really appreciate that move. It’s totally different. It requires different skill set, different mentality. I think landscape in a professional design consultancy world, requires you to have certain level of pride in your work. Like a designer I have to spread — this is my approach, you know like, I can do this you know what guys like in the health and well being is more of a collective platform. And you, you basically have to give your kindness and care and then, you know, to see how people change and to nurture them and then you receive in return.
So, a totally different state of mind. But I feel I’m making much bigger impact to more people in a shorter period of time, and I feel like the, you know, when you give you get. So, I also feel I’m getting positive energy back and I’m receiving so much more so I’m quite happy in terms of, you know, having this platform, and you know.
Katerina: Yeah, cuz it’s interesting, you’re saying you are following your passion as is obviously it’s, it’s coming from your experience of dealing with stress and and you you you want to help other people but at the same time, health and well being industry is absolutely massive right... And it’s so competitive as well. How do you stand out from all this noise because there are so many experts, and there are so many trainers in well being, you know, experts and coaches and all that… How do you attract people to your community? What are the some strategies you use to attract people to your community? Because it’s it’s it is a competitive industry to run.
Amy: Yeah, I agree. And I can see some call friends who are in the same community can be actually quite stressful. I can see that there’s so much noise. You know ongoingly. I think that was part of this is part of my, my doubt, and “what if” that I’m dealing with on a daily basis right now because I’m on the moment of kind of voting, and like authentically my own programme to attract the right audience. And so, I haven’t really engulfed into that level of competition yet. But I can see, I understand what you’re saying.
I can see how competitive it is, and I can see how it’s going to be even more after this pandemic because this one is going to become big. This industry is going to basically, perhaps the key of, you know, all the industries, and everybody’s not diving into it, but I suppose for me, as I establish myself I would think that because I, I have, I’m basically sharing a journey that I’ve went through myself. I really that… it’s uniquely from me. And I know it’s… it’s a living proof that I have done it. And I’m able to connect with the people who might be in the same situation similar problems is just online… some communities… I have written to people who said they want to like commit suicide… had suicidal thoughts, or they have anxiety. And you do see typical responses for things that you get from you know other people have certain quotes. But I think I wrote her something that really touched her heart.
Katerina: Are you actually contacting people through… is it a Facebook you’re using?
Amy: It was one of those you know those mindset inspiration quote group, and then this lady was posting herself like I have so much suicidal thoughts right now… I don’t think this… and I feel like, you know, totally worthless and people are telling her to snap out of it and I was like oh my gosh, so I just rolled from, you know, having been through depression, you know, major depression episodes to her… and really, from my heart to tell her that okay you know this is what state you’re in that. This is what you really need to do, you won’t be able to do these things and here and I copied the the link that there was an online counselling help.
And then also somebody else follow up with, you know, a hotline that they could call. And I was surprised it nearly drew on like you know 10 or 15 people who respond to me saying I wrote really well. But I think the person ultimately did got help. I didn’t… because it was you know it was just in a big community 50,000 people. I see the danger of people who would just tell them like, oh yeah you just snap out of the, you’ll be fine you know… you can’t do this.
Katerina: Yeah, that’s the worst thing isn’t it… It’s the worst response you can get out just gotta get over it and you know.
Amy: Yeah I’ve gotten that before. And so I’m happy to tell us… I think in Asian culture is a little difficult for people to deal with emotions. So even my parents they still sometimes having a hard time talking about depression. In two weeks it will be the first time that I haven’t had a relapse in four years which was supposed to be a … diagnosis from from from a psychiatrists, and so I’ve made holistic changes that have transformed me to to make friends with it and not to relapse from it.
And I’m extremely happy about it. A lot of celebration, but I do understand like the time I had that breakdown is always come from a combination of stress, and you know, a definition… a condition that’s given to you from your culture, from the society, from the in industry. So the, the easiest example would be... I was always delivering landscape projects at my best, and you know I have an impeccable portfolio, but people who are still people who are like, you know, directors and executives who may not see the value… will still always tell you you’re not enough. You deliver a four project in 10 days there was for six like six like two months — you’re too slow, you delivered something that seemed that within like one month that’s for one year.
That’s because it’s in China, I guess it’s also for the rest of the world but for especially in China, you’re not enough right so you have to do it faster, you know. And there was this sense of you have to do it efficiently but it may not necessarily be effective right so brings new… end up being revising and revising and revising and that really draws your… your mental health down because you don’t have time to recharge. You’re not getting recognised, you’re not getting a raise. And for me, especially coming out of recession, always last in first out rule… So, every time going in and press three months. And then when there’s no job you’re made redundant.
So, you’re doing all your hard work, you’re doing everything that you are supposed to do, and we were made redundant right. So that taken a toll on me like for a straight you knows five six years of that and and it ultimately led me into like to see this massive breakdown... along with other things. And and so I have had people actually at that point who didn’t understand me, who didn’t know who I am, and they will just tell “Oh you’re just snap out of it, just be happy, you know, you have so many things.” And, and in hindsight looking back right now, it was, it was wrong, like those people like those things that they say it’s funny we see that as well but if you are ready, in this kind of condition… it’s not really be your choice to to say “snap out of it” because you have, in the face of so many things that are stressful. You know, either like a challenge, from your firm, your colleagues… in front of you. And then you know you also have a lot of things that you have to deal with in your personal life.
And so, especially I guess for entrepreneurs, it must be additionally challenging because if you are in that situation, then you may not have the colleague or you know the organisation as a support right? So… and and because it’s going so fast right now, like you say that, even for the health and well being industry, every single day there’s like materials coming out every five minutes, you know. The Facebook is a great place to show what you can do, but it’s also the place where it’s so difficult because it’s got information coming out every two minutes you know and you’re like, you’re going through this like you know it’s like Avengers End Game… like this tunnel you know it’s like, you don’t have time to digest.
So, coming back to that question I guess like I was so… actually I felt overwhelmed at the very beginning because I have people who are also creators of their own community. And if you want to support you’re going to around like five six community and then you want to do well being your own platform and then you want to learn from your online coach and then at the end you’re like so frazzled. And finally I talked to one friend and I just sat there I was so … about it, I just didn’t know what to do. It’s just too much, and the end… at the end I was like you know it’s just stop comparing to other people.
First of all, you know, there are some people who really can go 24/7 without a stop, and in social media. But that’s not me, and I know that if I do that it’s just non productive for me. And then the second thing is I stopped comparing to people, because I know there will always be people who might have more readers, more members, more followers, more ideas. And I think it’s ultimately your own journey, because if you compare to someone there will always be someone better than you. And if you compare on Facebook. That’s the worst because it compared to the whole world. And and so I kind of come to terms with that and then also overcome the feelings that I was feeling slightly guilty that I wasn’t as active as my other fellow creators. Because I… you know they are supporting me so I feel that I support them.
But then I thought, you know what, like, I shouldn’t think that way. I would love to support them. But I wouldn’t want to think that they will only support me if I support them, like that’s a totally wrong mentality. And I have to go back to thinking that you know the constants that without the things I’ll do will have a real impact on people because it’s uniquely me. And so I kind of went from that place and then so since then I felt a lot more peaceful, I’m like, much less anxious and stressed out, and you know I feel I can choose so I chose, I choose a few groups I really would dedicate to. But I don’t feel bad if I can’t come into group today. No, I can’t attend your life right away. I feel okay because it’s just impossible, like if we think about a real life time frame, like it’s impossible to support 20 Facebook groups, every single day and be able to also do your own content. I think it’s, it’s not it’s not healthy. And it’s counterproductive to those groups because they only see you… you become like a bot.
Like, you see an emoji or like you know but it doesn’t really give them substance and anyone who is in the health and well being, they would have a certain sensitivity and know if this person is coming in authentically or you know you always know if somebody is listening on the phone or not. It’s the same thing on the internet, you know, if somebody actually, you know, is like genuinely supportive, or like whatever… So that helped a lot in terms of reducing the stress level. And then also after that I talked to my friend… so friends support was very important who are maybe also either doing entrepreneur or doing small business. And I talked to them and I had a plan, I came up with a plan basically I’ll say okay this is what I’m going to do… I’m going to spend this amount of time just doing my own thing. And still, first thing is take care of myself, there’s no self — that’s it right… so do that and then do my own content, and I’ll dedicate this amount of time on social media.
So when I’m on it I’m not being swayed from looking at your broadcast and the next things oh, and then afterwards like half days gone… and my mind’s just overloaded with information. I was very focused like okay, I’m going to spend one to two hours maximum during this time and this is what I’m going to do. I kind of made it a road team. And so if I don’t guess what everything that’s fine too. And ever since I’ve done that I felt so much better. I don’t have that social… I guess people call it FOMO, like, like the fear of missing out, and then you have to follow every group, and I was able to like see all these notifications on the little clock the alarm bell, but I don’t go in and react and click on them, a single one of them.
I kind of have my own systems — Okay I come in. I post on my group, and I respond to the, and I post on this and I have maybe half an hour just to be inspired and see whatever I like and then that’s it. So, it really helps like that that helps alone and I think that probably is ultimately to those people who have really successful entrepreneurs out there I don’t, I can see they wouldn’t put 24 hours into Facebook media because like then where do they come out with their with the contents right. So yeah for anyone who does work that’s related to media, I would think, yeah, that that like being disconnected actually helps to connect better in terms of like connect yourself and connect to your audience and will do massively massively stress and anxiety.
Katerina: Yeah, I mean that’s that’s a great point. So, what’s your views on procrastination though.
Amy: I think it relates… for me it relates to a few things. I think it’s a lot of fear and perfectionism.
Katerina: So how do you deal with it
Amy: I don’t know if I have gotten around it yet I’m still wrestling with the like… I wanted to launch this website for …, sometimes you have to you, you tell your friends, it sounds really clear and you go off and then, you know, I had all these questions that keep coming back. And so for me I think some… actually it’s interesting … is about mindfulness, and awareness. So the first thing is that is that I’m mindful and aware of that I am procrastinating… that I am like having these doubts and why I’m procrastinating because I’m afraid or maybe it is not the time, maybe it is time to do other things you know. So that that level of awareness is number one. Because then you don’t know then you know you obviously are bouncing around, you know, in between on social media.
Read the full interview here.
Originally published at Katerina.Thomas.com
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About the Author:
I help entrepreneurs to build their emotional and business resilience. My mission is to teach business owners the critical action steps for building entrepreneurial resilience, surviving business challenges, and using powerful strategies to review, reinvent and relaunch their business.
