2025 was the year of the snake. The year of shedding and the year of snaking around. I, too, shed multiple times this year like a snake that usually sheds four to twelve times a year. I shed friendships with low attunement towards my needs, remnant habits from my past versions, scrambling around like a…

Virginia Woolf said famously in her book A Room of One’s Own, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” I have a copy of this book, a one-bedroom condo of my own, but sometimes the fiction doesn’t flow as well. Perhaps what’s missing is the…

Imagine a long, lustrous river that skirts along a valley. Perhaps, the river of life. Lots of trees, shrubs, and massive stones on its banks. When it rains or the winds take all control, these riverbank dwellers are thrown into the river, blocking the river’s flow. The river stays stuck for some time based on…

Do you remember the first time you asked for one of your needs to be met? You might think you do this on the daily, but I’d encourage you to think more, think deeper. I grew up with preoccupied parents; most of us do. I was rarely asked what I wanted or needed, although I…

I moved to the US for my MBA at 27. It was dark, gray, and it rained all the time, like it was typical for Oregon. But I bought a red raincoat and gray rainboots, not wanting the rain to interrupt the life I was trying to build there. When I graduated and started working…

Whenever I see a happy wedding on TV, I grieve the wedding I never had because my first and only wedding (so far) was not raucously happy. There was no dancing, no elaborate toasts or customized vows, and only 24 guests. I didn’t even get to invite my boss, whose home we had both visited…

Whenever I see a beautiful image of the night sky and the Milky Way, I remember that night in Utah with my ex, how we craned our necks up in the stillness of the rental car and took in all of the night sky for almost 30 minutes. At first, we tried to take some…

A few years back, on a first date, one of my exes complained about his previous relationship. “She always compared me to other guys who made more money or drove better cars.” “So, why didn’t you leave?” I asked. He had no response except for a nonchalant shrug. Recently, I read a brown woman’s therapy…

I used to have a habit of jumping into friendships without examining if there was an actual alignment of values. I mean, until about five years back, I was barely able to articulate my own values with certainty. Looking for values alignment before that was like looking for a city on the map without knowing…