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Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset, School Life 2 August 20252 August 2025

Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset: Breaking The Ice

Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Gladys Koh (26A01B) and Sreya Areekkara Poduvattil (26S03P, Peer Helper)

“I feel unwanted. Whenever I converse with people I want to know better, they aren’t interested in continuing the conversation. What should I do?”
Anxious Andy

Dear Anxious Andy,

First of all, let me assure you: you are not alone in this matter. Feeling unwanted in conversations can turn into a crippling, unbearable train of thought that is difficult to shake off.

However, contrary to what you may believe, many who seem to have their lives together—with perfect social circles and friendships that seem to come naturally, have felt exactly what you’re feeling now.

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Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset, School Life 31 July 202531 July 2025

Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset: 10 Ways to Kill Ew (the Impulse Gremlin) — A Guide to Self-Discipline

Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Tan De Ting Trina (26S03N, Peer Helper) with Jaden Lum Zi Jun (26S05A)

“I can’t control my impulses, especially when it comes to spending time on recreation instead of important work. How do I improve my self-discipline?”
Passionate Pam

Greetings, Passionate Pam!

We get it: JC is a time filled with stress, commitments, exams, stress, worksheets—oh, and did we mention stress? It’s only natural that it becomes harder to say no to the gremlin on your shoulder luring you to your phone, or to that last Netflix episode you were going to save for the weekend.

This tiny gremlin on your shoulder is a little someone we’ve named Ew. Much like the Serpent in Eden, Ew is the amalgamation of all of one’s temptations, and the reason why you can’t bring yourself to get tasks done. Fret not, because for every Ew, there are 20,000 ways to slaughter it—but for efficiency’s sake, we’ll only cover the most pertinent attack strategies in this article. As with all strategies, you’ll first need to address the root causes.

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Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset, School Life 11 July 202411 July 2024

Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset: Should I Drop Out?

Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Arshia Mahajan (25S06R) and Liew Shan Yik (25A01A, Peer Helper)

Your resident Aunties and Uncles are back with our Ask Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset column, this time as a collaboration between Raffles Press and Peer Helpers’ Programme (PHP)! Ever wanted to rant about that someone you just can’t stand? Overwhelmed with too many feelings? Submit your confessions to https://tinyurl.com/RIAAUU and we’ll give them our best shot. This column will be published at the end of every month.

“I would like to drop out of school.”
– Discouraged David

Dear Discouraged David,

Many JC students (or indeed, students in general) have entertained the notion of dropping out of school at some point in their lives. Evidently, though, what may be a passing joke for some can be a serious conviction for others.

There are numerous reasons as to why you might want to drop out of school, ranging from academic pressure, to feelings of isolation from one’s peers. Leaving school prematurely is certainly not the most ideal path to take, and definitely requires careful thought about the costs, benefits and alternative courses of action. Hopefully, this article can help you understand the circumstances, consequences and considerations of discontinuing your studies so that you can make a more informed choice.

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Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset, Commentary 30 October 202313 November 2023

Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset: Reducing Excessive Stress

Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Pan Haotian (24A01B) and Darren Wong (24S03C, Peer Helper)

Your resident Aunties and Uncles are back with our Ask Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset column, this time as a collaboration between Raffles Press and Peer Helpers’ Programme (PHP)! Ever wanted to rant about that someone you just can’t stand? Overwhelmed with too many feelings? Submit your confessions to https://tinyurl.com/RIAAUU and we’ll give them our best shot. This column will be published at the end of every month.

What should I do if my stress is making it hard for me to eat and sleep? I don’t know how to reduce the stress because it is how I feel and it is hard to change.
Stressed-Out Sebastian

Dear Stressed-Out Sebastian,

“Stress” may be the 1740th most common word in the English language (thank you, Google), but it’s likely the most common word in any Rafflesian’s vocabulary. For many of us, stress is no longer an exception in an otherwise peaceful school term: it’s the new normal. Yet we need to remember that just because something is common doesn’t mean that it’s normal, and behind the commonplace complaint of stress hides entirely unordinary symptoms.

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Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset, Commentary, School Life 29 October 202330 October 2023

Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset: Dealing with Competitiveness and Academic Insecurity

Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Low Jing Kai (24S03H) and Wang Xinxuan (24S06L, Peer Helper)

Your resident Aunties and Uncles are back with our Ask Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset column, this time as a collaboration between Raffles Press and Peer Helpers’ Programme (PHP)! Ever wanted to rant about that someone you just can’t stand? Overwhelmed with too many feelings? Submit your confessions to https://tinyurl.com/RIAAUU and we’ll give them our best shot. This column will be published at the end of every month.

In an environment which is described as a pressure cooker and competitiveness is so ingrained in our culture, how do you stay healthy when there is such a strong feeling of “I might lose out”?
Distressed Darren

Dear Distressed Darren,

Feeling that we are not doing enough, especially when we feel our peers are performing better than us, is a feeling shared by nearly every student. This feeling can motivate us to work harder and reach greater heights, yet, it can also lead us to become overcome with self-despair and lead to unnecessary stress. This is why we need to know how we can manage this feeling of inadequacy and not let it get the better of us.

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