The Voice Within
This reflection was first written in June 2025.
I’m sharing it again here as the first post on this site — a space where I write more slowly
about psychology, learning, and assessment, and how ideas translate into practice.
It felt right to begin by continuing a line of thought, rather than starting something new.
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[earworm: Christina Aguilera – The Voice Within]
🌺 Coming back on social media — after 8 years
It’s been 8 years since I last showed up on social media.
I didn’t set out to disappear. In late 2016, I had just started as a full-time psychology and
research methods lecturer at NP, while attending night classes for the WSQ ACTA — and
later, for the Master of Education (Educational Assessment), where I wrote my dissertation
on Rasch / IRT.
For five of those eight years, I also had a three-hour daily work commute.
Somewhere along the way, life kept moving:
• I got married, almost relocated (husband was based overseas), stayed, bought a resale flat,
and renovated it
• I earned my second black belt in kyokushin karate — I took part in the grading in the
second month of my lecturer role; my first black belt is in Japanese jujitsu
• I became a certified Yin Yoga instructor after six years of practice — to balance out the
full-contact martial arts
• And now, I’m the first and only Assessment Specialist at a local university — full circle,
from assessment to teaching and back to assessment
I’ve always said that writing is food for my soul. I started blogging in 2000, when I was still
a teenager, and stopped during my undergraduate honours year when the study load became
very heavy.
Recently, I’ve come to realise I’ve lived through some lesser-known, hard-won experiences
that others are curious about.
For example:
• How did you get into assessment? It’s so specialised.
• Why did you major in psychology?
• How did you stay in full-contact martial arts for 18 years as the only woman in the dojo?
So I’m back — to write, to reflect, and to share.
Long-form, just like I used to.
See you soon.
#comebackstory #lifelonglearning #martialarts
[Views are my own.]
