Author name: Daryl Cheong

We should celebrate going to therapy. For the longest time and for some sub-cultures today, to declare that we go for therapy sessions might be synonymous with a declaration of weaknesses. Even though counselling services populate schools, government agencies, and even workspaces, the fear of being seen to reach out to these services might deter us from attending these counselling sessions to better our mental wellness. How wonderful it is, then, that we see an encouraging turn to openly discuss mental illness and our own experiences with therapy.

I used to walk around Dakota Crescent in its final days, a quiet antique place filled with secrets no one would know now. Walking back recently, the facade of the neighbourhood barely looks recognisable. The ‘crane’ might be the national ‘bird’ of Singapore, filling our skies with a symbol of progress, of constant rejuvenation and innovation, of creation itself. Every few months, something new is built in Singapore, as though we are indeed a creative nation.

We take it for granted that time is an objective, linear, and constant presence in our lives. After all, it seems difficult to imagine a life that exists outside of time. Yet, as proven by Matthew McConaughey’s reaction in Interstellar upon his character’s return to the spacecraft, he discovers that decades have passed on Earth in the hour he was on another planet: Time, by itself, might extend beyond our conventional understanding of time as a linear 24 hours, 7 days a week.