I love, love the fiery, passionate, steamy kind of love. The kind that feels exciting and electric. But that type of fire almost always burns fast and fizzles even faster. That raw emotion either turns toxic or ends up being nothing more than a fun summer thing. And I’ll be […]
Life Transitions
My Most Liberating No!: How I’m Decentering Men
“Look, either come or don’t — I don’t care. This is my vacation I invited you on, not our vacation,” I said into the phone. I was over it. The cat-and-mouse game. The constant tug-of-war for attention. It was exhausting. “See, when you talk like that, it kills the mood,” […]
Dreaming in Soft Colors: Staying Grounded When Fantasy Meets Reality
My heart is a hopeless romantic — a dreamer. Almost anytime I get into a situation, I dream in soft colors and pink hues, thinking this is love and we will end up together. I love that about me. And I also love that my brain is rational — it […]
The Epitome of Loneliness :Why We Stay In Empty Relationships
Every day around 4 o’clock, there’s a couple in my complex who walk their two dogs — a pug and a corgi. They always walk closely, the husband’s arms wrapped tightly around his wife’s waist, his head resting on her shoulder, hers on his. The dogs sniff and wander all […]
The Surprise Hidden in Two Little Lines
This year hadn’t been easy for Henrietta. First, she and her forever partner broke up, and though it was a difficult decision, it had happened before her birthday. Then, on her birthday, they had a brief hookup. Since that night, there had been nothing but dead silence between them. To […]
I Stopped Therapy and Might Not Go Back
I closed the Zoom app and stared at the screen, just after finishing my latest therapy session. Over the past two years, my attendance had been sporadic. The last time my therapist saw me, I was crying into a bottle of whiskey, questioning why my life felt so terrible. Maybe […]