Who Am I?
Hi, Lydia here! I'm a digital creator, artist/writer, traveler, and the founder of Thoughtful Wanders, a digital space that cultivates (un)learning about the world, society, and self through a creative, curious, and critical lens. I create work that challenges preconceived notions about society and ourselves, linking the everyday to systemic structures and critically reflecting with play and humor to make sense of how we are all connected at the end of the day.
My creative work includes comics/illustrations, photography, writing, video, and collages of all of the above. I enjoy experimenting and turning the ideas from my hyperactive brain into something tangible and visible for others to experience. I graduated from Carleton College with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology & Anthropology. Since then, I've worked and traveled in a wide array of spaces and places. My main priorities in life are to continue (un)learning about the world—from getting to see the physical spans of planet Earth to decolonizing my mind—and to keep creativity, play, and DIY alive in myself and others. I work towards a future where we are engaged with the communities around us, infusing joy and healing in ourselves and others, while dismantling oppressive systems and building an equitable world. A world where we stop exploiting the earth and each other, and instead, lean into our gifts of play and creativity to build a home where there is enough for everyone.
Learn more on some of the work I've done // how to work with me/contact me (links coming soon).
More About Me
Childhood in small town, South Africa
I've spent a third of my life in South Africa, Taiwan, and the U.S., respectively at this point. I identify with "third culture kid" as much as I do an immigrant, a child of immigrants, diaspora, Asian American, "global citizen" etc. I've spent my life navigating in-betweens and different spaces, and continue to do so. Growing up in small town South Africa, my family spent a lot of time with other Taiwanese immigrants. In many ways, my strongest exposure to Taiwan was through growing up in South Africa and attending Chinese school in the afternoons (after Catholic primary school), hanging out with other immigrant kids. My most vivid memories from my childhood in South Africa include spending a lot of time by myself in nature (in our yard), swimming, decorating pet rocks, hanging out with the trees and flowers around, and drawing a lot. My love for art, for nature, for being in water, for imaginary friends, for puzzles and creative play are rooted from this time of my life.
Teen years in Taipei, Taiwan
During my teen years, our family moved back to Taipei. I enrolled in international (American) school and then suddenly, when I was physically closest to Taiwan, my exposure to Taiwanese (Mandarin) language and culture actually diminished. I was thrown into a completely different world at international school, navigating differences existing in class, family background, status and more. I gained the social capital that would allow me to go onwards to navigate American higher education, while also struggled in an environment where even though I looked like everyone else around me, I had a hard time fitting in and being myself.
Formative Travel Years & College
At 17, I spent a summer in Mongolia, which was the trip that made me fall in love with travel. What started out as a "voluntourist" trip, was my first time being exposed to very different worlds from what I was used to. Suddenly, I saw another country, culture, with a very different development and historical context from the places I had been. I met and interacted with travelers from all around the world. Learning their stories opened up my world and showed me what sort of lives were possible. I decided then that I wanted to spend the rest of my life continuing to travel, learn, and expand my worldview. The next summer, I traveled back to South Africa and spent 2 months volunteering on a safari reserve. At the time, I thought I wanted to pursue a career in ecology/zoology/environmental sciences. Getting to help out with conservation efforts in a reserve was another incredible experience, that continued to spur on my travel bug.
I enrolled in a liberal arts college in rural Minnesota for undergrad. Struggled with dire culture shock and being in a completely new context (first living in the U.S.!), but eventually found my footing and enjoyed spending 4 years absorbed in reading, writing, learning, and making lifelong friends. Throughout those years, I also spent 6 months volunteering and backpacking across India and Nepal, a semester studying Metropolitan Development in Berlin, and a summer interning in rural areas of the Dominican Republic. My time traveling, studying, and living in these different contexts were transformative and shaped a lot of who I am now, as a traveler, and as a person.
Interest in Social Issues, Sociology, Critical Theory
I ended up majoring in Sociology & Anthropology (combined major at my alma mater) instead of the sciences after my travels. It was after experiencing India & Nepal for 6 months during my gap semester, and spending more time in the "Global South" witnessing all sorts of inequalities and disparities, perpetuated by the Global North, that I started combining my travel experiences with learning about the world from a "critical" perspective. When I returned to school, I became much more interested in topics surrounding decolonization, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, intersectional feminism etc. These topics became the focal point of my studies and what I thought about and engaged with outside of school.
One winter I enrolled in two critical theory classes, one in sociology and the other in literature methods. Learning and reading critical theory was the most impactful experience I had in college. Once I read all this thought and writing on understanding capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, neoliberalism, colonialism & imperialism...it helped me understand my life and my family's up to this point in a way that almost "cured" the mental health struggles and existential crises I was going through. It helped me see the motivations existing in the world more clearly, and how systems like capitalism keep the world deeply unequal and individuals alienated from each other. I became more motivated to keep reading, unlearning my original notions of the world, and connecting it to my own life. The rest of my time in college was honed into how the personal was political, and how the political becomes personal; now, it's a main "essence" of Thoughtful Wanders. It's become a primary goal of mine to help others challenge social norms and confines, and build a life paved by one's values instead.
Bay Area, Tech, Jobs & Work, U.S. Travel, #Adulting
After graduating college, I moved to the Bay Area where I lived and worked on and off for the next four years. I lived in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco during my time there. While I loved it, it was also a place full of up close daily contradictions (e.g. wealth disparities), and was quite dystopia-like at times. I started working full-time in client-facing work at tech startups. I grew and learned so much during the years, the primary one being, learning to navigate the life that comes with having a full-time job doing something unaligned with what fulfilled me. I knew my long term goal was to have the resources and freedom to travel and work on my creative projects so I started planning, budgeting, and saving as soon as I started working. I lived and worked on a lower salary (for Bay Area white-collar standards) while paying off student loans. With careful planning and intention, I managed to save up enough to quit my job in 2022.
The years after graduating and before quitting my job in 2022 was a rollercoaster period. I can say now I have lived through working a job that makes one feel life-energy-drained and miserable. My mental health got very low at times, and it was truly a grind most days, but I also learned to enjoy many aspects of work, such as working on teams with great people. Other people who were also living through the daily drudgery (and privilege) of being a white collar worker living under late-stage capitalism. During the pandemic, I spent many months living with friends and loved ones in other parts of the U.S. and at times, abroad. Continued to take in the world, mostly the United States, (un)learning and challenging my preconceived notions of people and places all the while.
Mental Health, "Highly Sensitive Person", & Personal Growth
I've struggled with anxiety throughout most of my teen years and twenties, and at times, mild to strong depression (though, a lot of it was also due to existential crises). From having my life upheaved to move at a young age, combined with emotional discord at home, I was forced to emotionally "grow up" very young. When that happens, which it often does to immigrant children, with a very special flavor for eldest Asian daughters, one's emotional maturity also gets stunted. Since I struggled a lot emotionally and mental health-wise early on, but did not have much support, I tried to work on it on my own. I started reading self-help books when I was 16 and that helped me get through some harder times in my life. In college, I started counseling on and off, but it wasn't until the pandemic when I started to see a therapist regularly and tackling my anxieties and wounds. Getting diagnosed with (relatively mild) ADHD has also helped me better understand my own brain and how it works. Since being aware of my neurodivergence, I've been able to accept myself better and figure out what works best for me (instead of constantly comparing myself to others, who function fundamentally differently).
When I traveled in India in 2014, I spent a lot of time in Tibetan neighborhoods and was introduced to Buddhism early on. Some of the core tenets I learned from Tibetan Buddhism has stuck with me and been useful in navigating life. I've also historically been a chronic journal-er and journaled a lot throughout these years to cope. When I learned of the "highly sensitive person" term, I realized I was one. There was a time period I committed myself to therapy, coaching (when resources from work helped out), and also joined in on support groups. I made understanding myself and healing a priority. Becoming more observant of what happens inside of me along with what happens outside of me increased my self awareness and ability to be more kind and compassionate to myself and others. I note "personal growth and the metaphysical" as an essence of Thoughtful Wanders because I think it's such an important aspect to life, to being human, to the act of unlearning, to changing, for a more harmonious self and world. Only because I am able to be more self-aware and recognize when I am not feeling well, or when I am getting defensive, am I able to meet myself in compassion and give myself what I need, before continuing to engage with others. I am of the belief that if we all worked on our own healing and increased our self-awareness, the world would be a better place. Basically, a world with less egos and more compassion!
Art & Creativity
I've been drawing since I was a little kid. I took some form of art classes throughout most of my school life, but stopped once I got to college. Relearning to be creative again was a drawn out process, which I write about in my piece on how the #100dayproject changed my creative life for the better. Combined with the mental health struggles and just navigating life, making art or exercising my creativity was not something I had capacity for. It wasn't until I started making a stable income and had more mental capacity to envision what activities I found fulfilling, did I start really prioritizing it. However, looking back, my "not drawing" time was still sprinkled with photography, occasional drawings and annotations, and other creative activities. I don't think we ever really "lose" our creativity.
I've had a vivid imagination as long as I can remember and it's been quite the journey to learn how to harness it and turn these imaginations and ideas into a concrete creative practice. A priority for me is how to convey what goes on in my brain to real life. Another priority of my creative practice is to create work that combines my love for color, abstract and loose "messy" art, with my love for nature, animals, and my interest in social commentary, meaning, and substance. How do I keep creating work full of color and fun, all while telling a story that is meaningful? My affinity for art tends towards cartoonists, comics, and children's book illustration. Something else I am working on is unlearning the constraints of what traditional schooling and other "shoulds" I've learned, to actively unlearn those "shoulds", so my creativity has space to grow in its own unique way.
Creativity is now one of the top priorities of my life and something I try to practice intentionally everyday with the mediums I choose to use. It's something I am very excited about helping others re-find/re-nurture as well. Follow along Thoughtful Wanders Studio (Facebook | Instagram | Tiktok) and check out all articles linked to the "Creative Studio".
Current Chapter: Travel, Taipei & Building Thoughtful Wanders
Since quitting my job in September 2022, I've been on adventures of many types, including the travel, emotional, intellectual...etc. My home base is now in Taipei where I have built some wonderful community and friendships. I continue to travel when I can and am also focusing on building Thoughtful Wanders where I get to share my work and also create community for others who are interested in travel, critical thinking, and creativity!
Why subscribe? Why Join the community? (links coming soon)
Connect with Thoughtful Wanders on Social!
Thoughtful Wanders has a couple branches on social media.
You can find the main Thoughtful Wanders @thoughtfulwanders
If you're interested in following all art & creativity content, follow the Art Studio @thoughtfulwanders_studio
Lastly, ifyou're interested in cinematic shots & photography, follow @thoughtfulwanders_moments