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
You’re Not Lost, You’re Between Selves
There is a moment in every transformation that feels like disorientation. Not because something is wrong, but because something old has stopped working, and something new has not yet taken form. Most people call this being lost. It isn’t. It is being between selves....
My Sunday Reflection: The Gift of Stillness
Sundays used to be the hardest. When the kids were little and the house was loud, I used to crave silence even just a few minutes to breathe. But when they started spending weekends somewhere else, the silence became deafening. I didn’t know what to do with all...
It’s Complicated
It’s a Saturday and it’s movie night, well, for me at least. My children have better things to do on their own with their thing than to spend time with me watching old movies. I stumbled upon this quite old movie called “It’s Complicated” with Meryl Streep, Alec...
New Beginnings and Never Endings
A new chapter unfolds. I’ve always felt like I hit a wall when it comes to writing on this blog. I felt like there’s nothing that I would want to write that my readers (if they’re still here) can still relate to. My life WAS an open book, it’s...
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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