How I got pregnant with Blog

Post Blog Days

I supposed I'm an opportunist. I started writing diary in 1992 under the instruction of my Chinese Language teacher back then. I took this as a chance for me to continue this writing habit throughout my days as a teenager. It went through a slow death nearing the end of my undergraduate days because of my lost of interest and other parts of my life superseding. It lasted for about 10 years.

How I got pregnant with Blog

It took almost another 10 years, in 2009, for another opportunity to arise. As a trainee in Family Therapy, I am tasked to write a reflective diary and a clinical log, as part of my course requirement to chart my growth both personally and clinically.

I choose to back date this entry as this idea of blogging was mooted on my first day at my Family Therapy course in Oct 2009. When my course programme leader introduced the concept of reflective diary and clinical log to us. I asked if I could turn it into a blog. While she was agreeable, I was cautioned against confidentiality for clients and sensitivity towards things said about colleagues, as well as to yield a more concise version for submission as part of course requirement.

But why blog? I could just keep it as a personal diary. Well, I hope to share this rebirth of me as a social worker, to a family therapist cum social worker. I hope the sharing could circumvent boundaries, especially with those interested in systemic family work but not able to witness in person this journey with me here in London. By having more people observing and participating in this journey, it also enriches my learning. Together, hopefully we create new perspectives about ourselves and the worlds we live in.

It took me 3 months of pregnancy before I finally set out on this as my first major task in 2010 . After a day of brainstorming for the blog name with HW, I finally decided on the blog name Amethyst Rippling. I have some reservation initially whether to keep it within restricted view but decided in the end to make it fully public for whoever interested to participate in this learning journey with me, It also embraces the transparency and  the effect of second order cybernetics in the post-modern approaches in Family Therapy.

I must say I am 10 years behind time since blogging became ubiquitous way back in 1999 … also regardless of how many years I will sustain writing this moving ahead, I am glad that I have finally, officially launched it online on 6-Oct-2009 (idea mooted)/ 5-Jan-2010 (actual publishing date) !

There will be two different labels to the blog - a reflective diary that focuses more on my personal growth and another clinical log, that focuses on my clinical learning points.