Miriam Yeung Learns to Deal With Emotional Turbulence in a Tough Year

With the pandemic overtaking 2020 and shaping the lives of everyone, those who were more fortunate came to self-reflect and re-evaluate different aspects of their lives, including spending more valuable time with their loved ones. In a recent interview, Miriam Yeung (楊千嬅) discussed how she coped during these unprecedented times and how she has grown even closer to husband, Real Ting (丁子高).

Working together, Miriam stated that it is comforting knowing that her husband is also her manager, someone that she can always confide in during tough times. Miriam praised, “He’s a Leo, and he is like one of those lions you see on Discovery Channel who protect their wives and children when they are in trouble.”

Whenever Miriam is faced with negativity, Real would take the reins and handle the situation himself, allowing her to back away and take a break. When Miriam was embroiled in political controversy due to tensions between Hong Kong and China, some netizens called her behavior cowardly, but Real stayed up all night to address the negative comments one by one. Touched by his actions, Miriam cried, “As an artiste, it’s a little awkward. As a wife, I’m very touched and I think this is the true meaning of stupid love.”

The increased stay-at-home time during the pandemic undoubtedly created friction and more arguments between the couple as well, but Miriam saw this pattern among her friends and found it to be normal given the stressful times. As for working with her husband, Miriam described, “A husband and wife are already like each other’s life managers…. The good aspect is because I am very lazy and it’s very convenient to have [my husband] as my manager. The negative aspect is finding the balance between rationality and sensibility. In life and work, there are always ups and downs.”

Torres – All Grown Up

Taking a mental and physical break from her work during the pandemic, Miriam went from a superstar back to being a regular mom and wife. Miriam realized how much she has yet to learn in terms of taking care of her family. One of the biggest challenges was learning how to cook.

“One day, my son Torres asked me, ‘Mom, can you try making Japanese omelette rice?’ He ate it before, and he really missed it so I went online to look up recipes. It turned out great the first time, and Torres was really happy. I only realized then that I haven’t been able to provide him with this type of happiness. He’s 8 years old, but this type of happiness has always been taken care of by the caretaker or helper. I spent two weeks obsessing over learning new recipes, and trying to find the perfect taste for him.

“It’s very comforting in the kitchen, and I don’t think much when I’m cooking because all my concentration is on trying to cut and slice. I also feel really relaxed when I’m eating. Eating makes people happy and I feel like I haven’t experienced this in a while. I used to never eat until I’m full, and now that I’m eating non-stop, I feel so blessed. Eating does provide joy after all,” Miriam shared.

After spending more quality time with her family, Miriam also reflected on how much Torres has grown in the last couple of years. Torres could catch Miriam’s feelings and would ask her about her emotions. Caught by surprise one time, Miriam remembered when Torres asked why she was crying. Shocked and unsure how to respond, Miriam explained that not all tears mean sadness and that she cried because she was touched.

On the last day of her self-isolation period, Miriam promised Torres that if he were able to orally recite back his Chinese work, she would take him out to play and have fun. Impressed that he kept his promise, Miriam cried again in front of her son. “I’m usually really good at handling these types of situations, but I realized how hard it is to hold it together in front of family. Prior to COVID-19, we never really communicated. While there has been a lot of frustration and challenges over the last year, I now understand that I have to face these emotions directly.”

Deeper Questions

Spending time with her husband and son 24 hours a day during the pandemic made Miriam reflect on some deeper questions in life. She asked Real, “What if one day I’m gone or you’re gone first?’ He stared at me and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ Before I felt these questions are very far away, but they can actually be very close.” As her thoughts wandered towards her parents’ health, Miriam grew more troubled and realized she had to take care of herself in the present first. “Taking care of my own health is a prerequisite before I can take care of my parents. When you’re in your 20s or 30s, you worry about getting married. After marriage, you start worrying about your family and health.”

Source: Ming Pao Weekly

This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.