Navigating with Demi

Who am I and why did I start this blog?

I am Demi, grew up in a remote tier 5 city in China with a simple upbringing.

I thought I was born extraordinary when I was 8. In fact, I was so sure of it, that I wrote in my diary then (seems that I was destined to be a part-time blogger decades later) that I was brought to this planet to make China great again and to move humanity forward. The exact wording in Mandarin was a lot more poetic than this.

Nonetheless, it would be an understatement to say the least that I was a very prideful child and to a certain extent, probably still am. I had a lot of big dreams growing up in the mountains in southern China, and announced many of them with my poor parents. If I had an 8-year-old declaring on a weekly basis that she would become the US President, would I have kept a straight face and be as supportive as my parents had been? I have so much respect for these two.

I did learn and eventually accepted that I was ordinary. And the process of learning that and appreciating this very concept was one of the greatest pains I have ever endured and one of the best things ever happened to me. We will get to that later.

In that process, I moved back in with my parents who remained the most supportive and generously provided the 30-something me with a roof over my head and a lot of space. They also kept ALL of my diaries till 18. These torn pages and my wretched handwriting carried me right back into the younger self’s body like a beam light that powerfully penetrated through time and space. I was so stunned and remain so grateful both to the little Demi who decided that she was going to keep a diary and to my parents who’ve kept my diaries since.

Also then, it dawn on me the impact of words, and words that are not even necessarily well written. Because trust me, my diaries were definitely not. As I dealt with and ponder over the finitude of life, I learnt to appreciate that words redefine it. I also learnt to appreciate that not just stories and tales by the extraordinary minds that transformed our civilisations worth telling, ordinary journeys and the simplest joys and lessons learnt are equally worth writing for.

And I want to be the author of my ordinary life.

This blog is for me and for my parents who showed me nothing but love and taught me a child as ordinary as I was is worth loving and rooting for.

Although, if I am totally honest, it’s probably also to feed my ever-growing ego 🙂 I certainly hope not.