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.
MORE ABOUT ME
LATEST
When to Bring Your Child for Counseling
Bringing your child for counseling, is this necessary? There’s a part of parenting that no one really prepares you for. It's not the school stuff, not the schedules, and not even the usual “how to raise your kids well” kind of advice. I’m talking about the moments...
How I’m starting to live a life that’s mine
Lately, I’ve been noticing something that I don’t think I was ready to fully acknowledge before. My life is starting to open up in a way it hasn’t in years. My eldest just graduated from college, which still feels a bit unreal when I think about it, because I can...
What I’ve learned from raising my kids on my own
I didn’t grow up thinking this is how my life would look, and I think that’s something I still catch myself processing every now and then, especially on days when everything feels a little heavier than usual and I just want to pause and ask, “Wait… how did I end up...
It’s Okay to Need Help Sometimes..Really
Yesterday was… a lot. It started with me getting locked inside my own bedroom. The doorknob decided to give up on life and somehow locked itself. I couldn’t open it from the inside. It couldn’t be opened from the outside either. It had to be dismantled. Not...
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.
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.
© Catching Butterflies 2008 & Beyond| Mary Anne Lim
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