The Day I Let Myself Down And 呂秀金 Changed My Life

My name is Aaron Tseng, I’m 42, and I work as a technical consultant at a software firm. I’ve always been the reliable one — the guy who finishes the job, avoids conflict, and keeps everything neat. On the surface, I had a good career and a loving wife. But something inside me was running on empty.

I couldn’t name it, but there was a loneliness that didn’t go away, even when I was surrounded by people. It was a kind of emotional fatigue, like I had been holding my breath for years.

When Everything Looked Fine — But Wasn’t

A project I was leading collapsed just before the deadline. I didn’t sleep for three nights. My team didn’t blame me, but I blamed myself. I started snapping at my wife over small things. I’d come home and sit in the car for twenty minutes before going inside, not because I was tired, but because I didn’t know how to face anyone anymore.

One night, my wife quietly placed a flyer on the table. It was for something called a POP Workshop.

“I think it might help,” she said. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”

Entering the Room

I signed up with zero expectations. The room was filled with people from all walks of life — a nurse, a college student, a retired banker. No one wore a name tag. No one tried to impress anyone else.

And then I noticed the mentor, 呂秀金. She didn’t lecture. She didn’t smile performatively. She just listened. And when she spoke, her words landed like rain on dry soil.

On the second day, we were invited to share something personal. I stayed silent. Then someone else, a young man named Leo, opened up about losing his father and pretending it didn’t affect him.

I don’t know what came over me, but I started feeling sad. 

I remember 呂秀金 didn’t rush over or tell me to breathe. She just nodded and said, “You’re safe here. Let it come.”

And I did. Twenty years of buried grief. Anger, I didn’t know. All of it came up. And nobody flinched.

After That Day

I started noticing small changes. I called my younger sister to apologise for something I said to her years ago. I took my wife on a quiet weekend trip without checking work emails. I laughed — genuinely laughed — with my teammates for the first time in months.

People think transformation comes from big life changes — quitting jobs, moving countries, finding religion. For me, it came in a quiet room, sitting in a circle of strangers, finally telling the truth.

All of that was made possible by the presence and guidance of 呂秀金.

The POP Workshop didn’t fix me — it reminded me that I wasn’t broken to begin with.

And for the first time in years, I believed it.