How to Unwind Anxiety in the New Year ⭐️

Last issue, Emily shared her tips for conducting a life audit for 2025. During my own reflection in the final weeks of 2024, I shamefully admitted to spending an alarming amount of money on bubble tea—my go-to coping mechanism. 

Most of 2024 felt like a downward spiral. Anxiety consumed me, from family to career, leaving me unhappy and trapped in a cycle of negativity. Outwardly, I seemed fine, but internally, I struggled to function. As I prepared for 2025, I was determined to manage my anxiety in a healthier way. Two weeks into January, I’m reading “Unwinding Anxiety” and practicing an exercise I found helpful.

Introducing the habit mapper

TL;DR: The author explains that we often self-treat anxiety with habits, some positive but mostly harmful (e.g., overeating, revenge bedtime). The first step to overcoming it is building awareness by understanding the origins of the habits we want to change.

Example: The situation is my excessive bubble tea consumption.

A habit mapper might not work right away, but after a few tries, one will soon realize that bubble tea didn’t ease my anxiety and needed to be removed. The most important thing is also not to replace one bad habit with another.

Good news - this habit loop also works on almost everything else (e.g: I tried it when some coworker’s actions pissed me off the other day). 

[Button] Free download: The Habit Loop

One suggestion:

Ask yourself, "How does this anxiety feel in my body, and where is it most intense?" The goal is to shift into a reflective state, allowing your body to naturally calm and the anxiety/frustration to gradually fade.

It seems simple, and it’s easy to start small (some of you might already be doing this!). Alongside my travels this year, I’m excited to feel more grounded and get back to building, starting with the AWW Summit in Singapore this May. If you’re into self-development, I’d love to see you there! 🩵

- Joanna Ng, Events Director

Grab Your Tickets to The AWW Travel Summit! Singapore 🇸🇬 We’re Coming on May 2-3rd!

Guided by our community’s motto, “wander on your own terms,” this summit will bring together creative and entrepreneurial Asian women. ✨

This two-day summit is about building the skills, connections, and confidence to create a meaningful life. Expect stimulating conversations, new friendships, and a celebration of life’s most important themes from health, relationships, to building wealth. Grab your early bird tickets before prices go up! First 10 signups will get a special gift.

Cool Jobs We’ve Seen in the Mix 🧳

• Tidio - this company is in the top 50 AI and customer service products in G2’s best software awards 2024; they’re hiring acount executives, customer success, product management, growth marketing, and senior devops manager. These remote roles are based in EU/America

• Shell.ai - MyShell is building an AI consumer layer that connects users, creators, and open-source AI researchers. They’re hiring remote roles in APAC region for content ops, marketing, videography, QA, and product

• Remote - hiring for operations, finance, IT, legal, marketing, payroll in APAC AND EU

AWW Highlights 💛

• How Clover Lam turned her divorce into a life full of abundance - She shared, "Any big thing, like a breakup or divorce, is the universe's way of telling you deserve better. I know it hurts like hell right now, but your highest self is trying to save you. Even though it doesn't seem like it right now, trust in the process. You got this!"

• Tips on maintaining friendships and a global network - Be realistic about the proximity and the cadence of which you can meet and connect with someone. Here are some tips that we found useful when maintaining my global community and friendships we wanna keep along the way 🫶 

• Life after moving abroad - Jay Yang shares three things to focus on, including learning to navigate alone, overcoming cultural challenges, and building a good routine.

Want to be featured on our Instagram or join a fireside chat? Email us at [email protected] 💌