CATCHING BUTTERFLIES
MARY ANNE LIM
CATCHING BUTTERFLIES
MARY ANNE LIM
Notes from a life still in progress
I’m not writing from the other side of any of it.
I’m Anne . I’ve been writing here since 2008 – through typhoon, a relationship that ended, years of raising my children mostly on my own, and a long stretch where I wasn’t okay and didn’t say so.
I’m writing from inside it, which is the only place I’ve ever been able to write from honestly. If you’re carrying something you haven’t named yet, you’re in the right place.
LATEST
The Words I Whisper When I’m Angry (My Ho’oponopono)
It’s been a long time since I wrote something that’s very personal to me. It’s because I’ve been hiding and avoiding things that I think would take away my peace. But I am human and I can’t erase emotions. There are some emotions we do want to feel always like...
I Thought I Was Fine. My Body Knew Otherwise.
I kept telling myself I was coping. My body had a different answer.
What Simplifying Really Meant for Me, and What It Could Mean for You
Every August, the world remembers to tell us to simplify. It has a whole week for it now, and I understand the appeal. There is real tenderness in any invitation to put things down. But I've come to be wary of the kind of simplifying that arrives with a shopping list....
What Nobody Tells You About Therapy When You’re the Strong One
I was the strong one. The helper. The last person anyone expected to need a therapist — including me.
ALL BLOG POST
The archive · 2008–2025
216 posts across seventeen years. 2013 and 2014 were the loud ones. Two years are empty and I’ve left them that way.
Select a year above.
PUBLISHED WRITING
My writing has appeared in
Thrive Global & Prime Influencers
Personal & Mental Health
Thrive Global · 2018
How I Made Friends With Depression
On being diagnosed, the medication no one explained, and choosing to stay.
business & productivity
Thrive Global · 2018
Finding the Balance in Your Career & Health in the Digital Age
Why staying plugged in is costing us — and how to reconnect to what matters.
prime influencers · 2018
6 Simple Ways to Reach Potential Clients for Your Consulting Business
Practical, field-tested ways to find the people who need what you do.
BOOKS
The Quiet Powers
The Quiet Powers is a reflective memoir for women rebuilding after separation — especially mothers rediscovering who they are beyond the roles they once held.
In seasons marked by uncertainty, emotional exhaustion, and quiet grief, strength does not always arrive loudly. Sometimes it steadies. Sometimes it softens. Sometimes it simply helps you breathe again.
Through deeply personal reflection, Mary Anne T. Lim explores the inner shifts that carried her through life’s hardest chapters — stillness, acceptance, surrender, forgiveness, gratitude, love, and authenticity. This is not a dramatic story of triumph. It is a calm and honest journey toward peace within.
If you are rebuilding your life quietly — choosing steadiness over chaos and peace over performance — this book is a companion for your becoming.
— Anne
I also write for women rebuilding on their own, at She Thrives Solo.
I also write for people wanting to get out of a toxic relationship, at Keep the Narc Away.
© Catching Butterflies 2008 & Beyond | Mary Anne Lim
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