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 got the thing. And then nothing landed the way you thought it would. Here's what the arrival fallacy actually explains about why achieving goals doesn't make you happy and the one question that finally breaks the cycle.
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.
How to Live Your Dream Life Now: The Enough Audit
Miss Rumphius scattered her seeds in an ordinary life. Not someday. Not once everything was perfect. Right where she was. Here's how to do the same
I Was Living My Dream Life and Still Burned Out: What Miss Rumphius Taught Me About What Was Actually Missing
Miss Rumphius had three dreams. I'd spent years chasing the first two — the travel, the coast. A someday life. It took burnout, a layoff, and rereading a childhood picture book to realize the third.
Field Notes: 12 Experiments in Building Joy After Burnout
What happens when you stop postponing life for "someday"? I'm spending my 33rd year running 12 experiments to answer one question: How do you build a state of joy that coexists with the uncertainty of life? This is autoethnographic research—documenting real-time experiments in creative expression, intentional living, and deprogramming from hustle culture. No guru shit, just messy truth from the wilderness.
The Perfectionism Trap: Why 'Good Enough' Changed My Life
Perfectionism doesn't make you better—it just keeps you stuck. Here's how the 80% rule helped me overcome my creative block and start creating after 10 years of waiting to be "ready."
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.
Creative Burnout Recovery: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life (Without Burning Out Again)
After my layoff swept my table of proof clean, I had to rebuild my creative life from scratch. Here are three practices helping me create without equating my worth with output—lessons about capacity, imperfection, and learning to trust my seasons.
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.
In Praise of Boring Days: Why Slowness is Sacred
What if boring wasn’t a sign you’re doing life wrong — but proof you’re finally coming home to yourself? A personal essay on romanticizing the mundane, reclaiming rest, and honoring the quieter seasons of becoming.
Stop Shoulding All Over Yourself
We’re told intentional living starts at 5am with a perfect routine — but maybe it starts here: in one honest moment, where you choose what you actually need. A gentle reminder to drop the “shoulds” and come back to yourself.
When Slowing Down Turns Into Getting Stuck
It’s been 57 days since I was laid off, and instead of sprinting toward the next chapter, I’ve been sitting in the quiet unknown. This post isn’t a list of takeaways or a tidy success story. It’s a reflection on what happens when life slows down without your permission—and the uncomfortable, beautiful lessons that surface when you finally stop trying to fix it all.
How to Rebuild Your Life After Burnout (Without the Hustle)
Burnout doesn't always announce itself. It just quietly hollows you out until you've forgotten what full feels like. Here's what rebuilding actually looked like for me and the tiny rebellions that changed everything.