Episode 5 | Jason Wong

Mental Health Resources:

HHS

NIH

Dr Chung of Kaiser Permanente

AAPI Resources:

Stop AAPI Hate

Show Notes:

2:14 The most difficult thing during that time was the fact there were so many unknowns with the pandemic

2:49 That definitely put me in a spiral in terms of my mental health

3:08 We all know our limitations when it comes to anxiety and stress

4:07 I knew it was nothing like something as intense as a heart attack, but it was an attack of some sort

4:20 It was that bad, so I decided to seek some professional help

4:49 You probably spasmed so hard that you pulled a muscle during the panic attack

4:59 It was kinda nice to get that affirmation, as much as you feel it in your brain, your body goes through it as well

5:24 I’m no longer on the medication, but I would say that it definitely saved my life during that time

6:36 It all comes with self realization -- I knew this job wasn’t for me

7:12 Being a child of immigrants, I have “inherited anxiety”

7:44 I had to go on a job search and protect my own mental health

12:14 We thought, why not be home owners and start that journey in our lives

12:34 We found a place. We fell in love with it. We made a quick move. And here we are now.

12:57 A lot of millennials are having first time home buyer remorse

14:04 A lot of it is it’s not what we thought it would be

17:15 People are finally waking up to injustices that are going on in the world

17:32 White supremacy does exist

18:33 The summer was a really rude awakening for America

18:49 As companies, as people, we can hold each other more accountable toward injustice in this world

20:33 People of Asian descent are just randomly being attacked. It begs the question as an Asian American, “Why me?”

20:48 There’s this weird fear that’s kinda stirred out of nowhere

21:48 My fear automatically goes toward my parents - so I had that conversation with them - to be more aware of their surroundings or go in a group

22:17 It’s kinda like that “talk” that you hear about in the black community

23:03 Likeness is closer to whiteness

23:12 I hate it that we’re playing into that “model minority” where it’s like “oh, we’re the safe Asians, you don’t need to fear us”

23:28 We did get the talk that we were “others” “Don’t make a wave. Don’t cause trouble. This isn’t really our land.”

24:02 A lot of paint that we’re going through - it’s helping us wake up to the fact that we also need to confront our anti-blackness as an Asian community. As we go through this pain we realize “oh man this is what it must feel like” - it gives us some empathy to be in other people’s shoes

24:40 It shows the world that we’re susceptible to hate crimes too. It is breaking that model minority myth

25:57 Asians aren’t a monolith... and a lot of people don’t know that.. especially with a President that’s going to say “China flu” and dumb stuff like that