I hear it all the time.
“There’s no one good out there.”
It’s the refrain of so many singles—smart, kind, emotionally aware people who genuinely want love but feel defeated by the search. They’re not wrong to feel disillusioned. But what if the problem isn’t the people out there? What if it’s t...
It starts with a kiss in the rain. Think The Notebook, Titanic, or Twilight. Hollywood has taught us that love is dramatic, all-consuming, and destined. We’re told that when it’s “real,” it defies logic, overcomes all odds, and feels like fireworks every day.
But here’s the truth: those stories ...
The Storm That Cleared My Path
About 5 years ago, I lost three things: a job I thought I’d retire from, a friendship I thought was forever, and a relationship I thought was “the one.”
I didn’t see it coming. I felt like I was being stripped bare. I kept asking, Why is everything falling apart? ...
Every day, the headlines scream. War. Division. Disaster. Another tragedy. Another scandal. Another reason to feel unsafe.
The news cycle has become a relentless reel of heartbreak — and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, hopeless, even numb. We scroll through chaos, absorbing fear like secondhand s...
The Story: When Shadow Work Became a Trend
If you’ve scrolled TikTok lately, you’ve seen it: candle-lit journal sessions, moody captions about “meeting your shadow,” and creators whispering affirmations like spells. Shadow Work is trending—but for many of us, it’s not a trend. It’s survival. It...
Healing is often framed as a personal triumph. But what happens when your growth unsettles the people around you?
It’s a question many survivors, advocates, and therapists wrestle with: Why do some people pull away when we start to thrive? Why does becoming more whole sometimes lead to relationa...
“I didn’t lose my softness. I chose to carry it through the fire.”--Leslie Noble
The Chipped Teacup
There was a woman I once worked with who kept a chipped teacup on her desk. Not tucked away—displayed. She told me it had cracked during a fight with someone she loved. She’d thrown it, then r...
During martial arts class, one of the dojo instructors paused to explain how energy—Chi—can be used to exert force, redirect momentum, and stabilize the body. He wasn’t being mystical. He was describing something real, something felt. And I realized: he was confirming what I’ve known through Reik...
It Started With a Windy Afternoon in St. Petersburg
I met my son when he was 11 months old, bundled in layers inside a quiet orphanage in St. Petersburg, Russia. He had spent the first part of his life in institutional care—no toys, no family, no wind on his face. And yet, when I brought him hom...
“You’ve gone full Rapunzel,” my friend teased, half-laughing, half-concerned. “Are you ever coming down from that tower?”
She meant it playfully, but the image stuck. A woman in a tower, wrapped in quiet, choosing solitude not as punishment—but as medicine. For me, stillness has been a way to re...
I saw a TikTok yesterday. A woman stood in front of her bathroom mirror, mascara smudged, holding a sticky note that read: “I am still worthy.” She whispered it like a secret. The caption said: “Day 37 of loving myself after betrayal.” It had 2.3 million views.
There’s a whole genre of these now...
Last night in martial arts class, the instructor said:
“Picture yourself facing you.”
Not an opponent.
Not a stranger.
You.
It was meant to help us hit harder. But it hit me differently.
Because when you’re stuck—when you freeze, flinch, or fold—it’s not the world holding you back.
It...
