The Blessing in the Breakdown

Sometimes, what feels like the worst thing that could happen…turns out to be the best thing that needed to happen.

September was a whirlwind month - two back-to-back art showcases at Tembusu Art Gallery and my art talk on Art & Self Love. On the morning of the talk, when I was supposed to be in my calm, focused “event energy,” my washing machine broke down.

Water flooded the kitchen floor 😭 If you’ve ever used detergent with softener, you’ll know how slippery it gets - and how sensory-overloading it can feel when things spiral out of control. Not the best scenario for a highly sensitive person with a speaking event ahead.

Normally, the old me would have melted down. I would have blamed everyone, snapped, and punished myself for being “messy,” for “not having it together.” But this time… something different happened.

I responded instead of reacted.

I wiped the floor, moved the clothes to my mum’s house, and went to buy a new washer (which was delivered that very same night!) - all before showing up for my art talk. And through it all, I felt grateful. Grateful for my husband, who dropped his studies to help. Grateful for the lesson the universe sent me that day - one that was perfectly aligned with my talk topic: Art and Self-Love.

Because that morning, self-love looked like this:

• Choosing kindness over self-criticism.

• Responding with calm instead of panic.

• Trusting that everything could still flow, even in chaos.

And it did.

The art talk went beautifully. My friends came - not just with gifts and flowers, but with their presence, laughter, and love. And a reiki master, who is also an esteemed local artist, told me something that made me tear up:

“Your phoenix works are so full of love.”

A month later, both phoenix pieces found their forever homes - journeying to new spaces to bless and energise their collectors.

Looking back, I realised the washing machine incident wasn’t bad luck or bad timing. It was a divine rehearsal - a gentle test to show me how far I’ve come. It reminded me that the inner work I’ve done to nurture my nervous system is paying off - and that I’ve grown more than I give myself credit for.

In every challenge now, I try to stay curious and ask myself:

What is the lesson here?

What is this moment trying to teach me?

When we stop resisting life and start listening to it, we often find beauty hiding in the breakdowns.

And that’s exactly what October taught me - that the Universe always works for us, never against us.

P.S. My new washer has a dryer function (something I’ve always wanted - perfect for the upcoming rainy season). And when it’s running, it smells just like my Japanese mama’s house. She passed in 2021, and every time I catch that familiar scent, it sends a warm buzz through my heart. A reminder that love, like art, always lives within me. ❤️