Why I Never Had a Best Friend And What I Found Instead
I always thought something was wrong with me because I never had the best friend I saw on TV. Then, 13 years after study abroad, I walked back into a room with my people and had to rethink everything I believed about connection.
I Burned Out, Got Laid Off, and Learned to Stop Waiting for Someday
I lost my job and my mom got cancer in the same year. It was the collapse of everything I'd built for stability and the thing that finally broke me out of someday thinking for good.
Why Achieving Your Goals Still Feels Empty (And What to Do About It)
You did everything right and still felt nothing. Here's what the arrival fallacy actually is, why your brain is wired for it, and the question that finally breaks the loop.
I Broke Every Morning Pages Rule and Finally Found Clarity
I tried morning pages as a burned-out overachiever who had already tried everything else. They didn't fix me but they made it impossible to keep lying to myself. Here's my honest review, including the three things I changed that made them actually work.
Why Chasing External Validation Keeps You Stuck (And What to Do Instead)
The validation you're chasing? It's never going to come from outside. Not from the title, not from the salary, not from anyone pointing at your life going look at everything she's doing. I know because I spent years outsourcing my self-worth to all of those things. Here's what I learned when I finally stopped.
Why New Year Pressure Feels So Overwhelming (And What to Do Instead)
January is loud. Everyone seems to have a plan, a vision, a glow-up timeline. Meanwhile, I’m sitting with a cup of tea, watching the trees rest, wondering why we expect ourselves to bloom on command.
This is a reflection from the space between endings and beginnings — about pressure, self-trust, and what it means to build a life without forcing clarity before it arrives.
How Writing Through Burnout Helped Me Find Myself Again
A reflective essay on how loss became a language of its own — from losing a phone in a Scottish bog to losing jobs and identities years later. A story of creative recovery, writing as an anchor, and learning to live through the in-between.
The Hardest Month: Choosing Joy Over Fear This October
October keeps pruning my life back to what's real. This year, it isn't a job, a place, or a person I need to release. It's fear — and the joy it's been quietly stealing from me.
Why Living at Home in Your 30s Is Not a Failure
By society’s standards, I’m a loser — unemployed, living at home, writing from the same bedroom I grew up in. For a long time, I carried the weight of that label like proof I’d fallen behind. But the truth? Living at home became the foundation for everything beautiful, brave, and free about my life. This Tiny Rebellion is about redefining what “making it” really means — and learning that sometimes, coming home is the most radical move of all.
How One Cruel Moment in Middle School Still Shapes My Creative Self-Worth
One cruel moment at a middle school lunch table left me afraid to be seen for twenty years. Here's what The Artist's Way helped me finally understand about creative self-worth and the fear behind the publish button.
Stop Waiting for Your Dream Life (Part 1: The Recognition)
I used to think my dream life would begin when I “made it.” But sitting here in Rockport with coffee in hand, seagulls overhead and salt air filling my lungs, I realized: this is it. The dream life isn’t pinned to a board—it’s rooted in presence, contentment, and creativity.
What Being Laid Off and Becoming a Caregiver Taught Me About Real Friendship
When my mom was diagnosed with cancer and I was laid off four months later, I learned something I didn't expect: crisis doesn't just shift your priorities — it reshapes your relationships entirely.
How Perfectionism Keeps You Waiting to Be Happy (And How to Stop)
Somewhere between 26 and 32, I started shrinking my desires, believing I was too old, too late, too much. But I’m learning that wanting isn’t dangerous—and naming what we want is its own quiet rebellion.
Being Alone vs. Being Lonely: What Introverts Need to Know
In Glasgow, I learned the difference between being alone and being lonely. Often, I am asked how I handle being alone on the road. In this post, I try to answer this question by discussing my experiences tackling these issues.