#43: Adrian Ang: What I Built Almost Cost Me Who I Am

You may know him as “Xiao Ming”, the funny guy behind the shades, the face of SGAG. But in this conversation, I sat with Adrian Ang, the man behind the persona.Adrian and I go way back to our school days. And over the past few years, we’ve reconnected, not over memes or milestones, but over the messy, honest work of untangling who we are from what we’ve built.In this episode, Adrian opens up about the cost of becoming someone the world applauds, and the quiet courage it took to start unbecoming what no longer served him.We talked about:The moment his son asked him to take off the sunglassesHow he nearly lost himself trying to keep it all togetherDrinking to escape, leading while empty, and hurting the people he loved mostAnd what it really means to heal — slowly, gently, from the inside out00:00 Introduction: The Man Behind the Persona01:37 Adrian Today: Diving Beneath the Surface04:54 Kampung Childhood & Free-Spirited Beginnings06:50 Becoming “Xiao Ming”: The Internet Persona Is Born09:20 When the Character Overshadows the Creator11:22 The Cost of Compartmentalising Who We Are16:17 Chasing Impact, Validation & Approval22:37 What Success Really Cost Him25:56 Breaking Point: The Spiral He Couldn’t Ignore30:31 Shutting Down, Pushing Love Away34:53 Reclaiming Himself, One Layer at a Time38:58 The Practice of Healing & Rewiring44:12 The Hardest Work: Sitting With Discomfort48:54 Learning to Find Peace Within51:29 Redefining Success, Impact & Enoughness56:58 To My Younger Self: It’s Okay to Feel01:02:58 If His Eyes Could Speak…01:04:08 Closing Reflections: The Journey Back to SelfFollow Rachel here: https://www.instagram.com/ms_rach/Follow Adrian here: https://www.instagram.com/adrian.xiaoming/