#personal-essay

Under Pressure

No one broke under pressure during the writing of this blogpost. Some metaphors were harmed and some stories were told badly though.

The Brother Who Dreamed Beyond Silence

By Nazia Some people leave behind memories.

Life in the waiting room

If asked, most people could probably easily describe a waiting room to you.

The Christmas Tree in My Backyard

The evergreen promises of Jesus

What the Women I Admire Most Have in Common When It Comes to Clothes

An informal survey conducted over ten years without anyone’s knowledge.

I Had Promises to Keep

Three things I did after my parents died that brought me peace

Internally Inspired; Externally Tired

You know that feeling when you’ve read or watched something that has left you feeling inspired? Then, life hits that abrupt unpause moment…

The Mathematics of Being Almost Chosen

olivia rodrigo - lacy

The Very First Thing We Must Remember

There is something I always keep in mind as I go through life.

in a world of champion, who would hug the looser?

“i’ll hug you until the sun rise.”

The ‘Maybe’ Safety Pillow

“I slept for years on the softest pillow… only to realize it was slowly suffocating me.”

We Won’t Downsize Our Home

Nor our happiness

Are you overthinking things?

I did half of my living in my head , tried as much as I could to stay out of the real world , so much of my experience I would credit to my…

Smiling on Cue

When the performance becomes too perfect to feel alive.

I Was a Coward. What About You?

I spent years believing silence would keep me safe. Recent events changed me. This is why I finally chose to raise my voice, no matter the…

The Alcove

A Guide to the Misuse of Google Earth

What My Grandfather’s Closet Looked Like the Last Time I Saw It

On forty years of careful ownership, the specific things that survive decades of wearing, and the standard I have been trying to meet ever…

Where Is England in America?

Ver.36.13 : #0013

A Slice of July

Ten Questions, Ten Honest Answers

The Specific Way That Good Clothes Age and Why It Changes Everything

On patina, wear, and the things that get better with time rather than worse.

Let’s Talk About Tolkien, and the Exhausting Debate Over Middle-earth

the modern race debate in Middle-earth through book lore, production facts, and the trap of tokenism

Green Day Discography Tour

Childhood, Carried Forth Eternally

A Physician’s Difficult Choice

As I was growing up, my father often repeated this quote: “We are coming into troublous times, but let not one of the people of God, by his…

When Your Therapist Needs Help

Nothing prepared me for watching the woman who guided me through my darkest years begin to lose her memory.

Toxic Masculinity

Smell You Later

Some Wounds Arrive Carrying a Hidden Gift

Reflecting on Rumi’s words: “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

The Last Time I Didn’t Know It Was the Last Time — A Writing Challenge!

A Whisper Across 3,000 Miles

She Said Yes to Sex to Save a Man’s Life —I Enjoyed Telling Her She’d Been Played

How a lie about male biology cost one woman her virginity and her trust

Nobody Warns You About 10 AM on a Tuesday

You have spent your whole life planning two-week vacations.

The Math I Haven’t Done

The marriage my friend ended, and the one I haven’t

What Does Home Mean to You?

It is a place, it is a person, and each of them holds halves of me.

Why Should I, A Middle-Class Indian, Give a Damn About Sam Neill?

And why is everyone writing about ‘Sir Sam Neill’ but not Sam Neill?

Why I Live Where I Live, Revisited

You can’t choose your birthplace, but you can choose your home

The Autobiography of My Hands

What They Remember

Seven Things You Should NEVER Say To Someone Who Is Struggling

From the mouths of the well-meaning and clueless.

What Goes on in a Wallflower’s Mind?

Dear Friend,

Making Deeper Traveler Connections

During recent trips to Seattle and Canada, I found staying with local families to be more satisfying than hotels

Learning to Receive Help

What a broken bicycle in Albania taught me about kindness, connection, and letting people show up for me

The Play Where I Dropped the Ball, and What My Coach Said Afterward

Basketball has a way of making one second last forever

The Question I Never Thought to Ask Before Buying a Fridge

Until recently, I genuinely believed buying a refrigerator was one of the easiest household jobs.

The Day I Stopped Auditioning for My Life.

The soul sometimes has to stop auditioning before it can remember how to live.

The Winner Takes It All

Living With Football Fans During the FIFA World Cup

American Sadness

My social media algorithm was different in Italy

We’re Not Nostalgic — We’re Exhausted

Why cottages, old novels, gardens and quiet rituals feel so irresistible today

How does one get bored with being at home?

Home and Boring? Nahhh

A Man’s World: We were just living in it

Changing Standards incrementally bit by bit; A reflective essay exploring women’s underrepresentation in the travel industry, drawing on…

Name a day that didn’t kill you, but something died in you that day

8 July will never be a normal day for me.

Rüyalarımda Sakladığım Arkadaşım

Stored heart

One hundred paintings

Moving Forward Feels Heavy

Moving forward feels heavy.