K-Town Rumble

Ever just feel tired of everything? There a lot to juggle these days, especially dealing with the pandemic, working from home, holidays, etc. Janet and Brian expand on dealing with mental fatigue. Sometimes, you just don’t realize that you need a break. In our society, we have some grandiose expectations and many of us have a hard time keeping burnout at bay. In fact, you could be burned out at not even know it. It’s hard to catch because we see mental fatigue the same way we see physical fatigue.

When you're constantly instructed to focus on YOUR grades, YOUR studies, YOUR family, etc. and learning how to communicate with other people (as a structured skill) is not valued or even understood. This creates gaps in our ability to navigate Western society. Janet and Brian talk about the idea of selfish communication in this episode where they address some of the recent commentary about how it is that communication is perceived by the communicator. Touching on how it applies when you've grown up in a hierarchical environment where it is the responsibility of the person on the lower end of the hierarchy to understand what the person on the higher end is communicating as opposed to the other way around.

Sure, if you want to play games any skill is a “skill,” we’re not talking about the stuff that they teach you in school. We are talking about the major stuff that they don’t teach you in school. As Asians and Asian-Americans we are often taught to focus on a STEM-centered education. Typically when we think about skills, we tend to envision something that we fix or build with our hands. Today, Janet and Brian are going to talk about skills that are commonly referred to as “soft skills” at a high level.

What’s a Koreaboo? Janet and Brian talk about a poor guy who’s girlfriend has become obsessed with K-pop. Apparently, all she talks about is K-pop and the guy is tired of it and has no idea what to do. What would you do if your significant other widely becomes obsessed with something to the extent that you can’t walk about anything else?

When you grow up in an environment where the focus is more on the things that you don’t do well rather than your strengths, you can expect that you’re going to grow up thinking more about your shortcomings rather than thinking to lean into your strengths.

Smile more?! Who is anybody to tell you how you should feel? Asian parents. Asian parents can tell you how to feel 🤣 Janet and Brian address a redditor’s story about how their parents push them to smile in family photos and the pressures that come along with growing up Asian.

In relationships, running into conflict is inevitable! There are just too many different experiences in an individual person’s life for there not to be some idea or experience that would collide with another’s. Janet and Brian had recently experienced just that, but they had taken the skills that they have learned and applied them (the best they could anyway).

It seems like it should be obvious, but we’re going to say it anyway. Resting is important! How do we all go about doing it though? Why is it that we don’t spend a whole lot of time treating rest like it is a necessity in our lives? Janet and Brian talk about why Koreans (and other Asians and anybody that’s bought into hustle culture) have a hard time acknowledging the very real fact that we all need rest.

Woah, there is nothing "classic" about this. There are tiger parents and then there is this next-level of authoritarian upbringing. Janet and Brian hear this story of an Asian teenager with some extremely controlling parents to the extent that it is not ok. Trigger warning on this episode because even hearing the original post sounds like a horror story scenario.

Hey everybody! We are taking a short (one week) break to catch up. We will be back with more content next week!