My wife and I have been married for several years. We have a daughter who's nearly one. We come from different countries and grew up in very different families. For the first years of our relationship, I assumed the harder communication problems between us would be about language ...Read More
Five months is a long time to sit in the same chair and wonder why nothing is moving. I had everything I was supposed to have. A dedicated workspace. A routine. A desk positioned near a window, which every productivity article told me would help. I kept the surface ...Read More
There is a certain kind of aliveness that returns when you step outside your usual surroundings. You may have felt it on a holiday, but it can happen in smaller ways too. A walk through a town you don’t know. A weekend near the sea. A day trip to ...Read More
A week ago, on a Tuesday that felt heavier than usual, I deleted Instagram. Not deactivated. Actually deleted the app, which for me is the equivalent of hiding the snacks in a different room. A modest act of self-preservation I told myself I'd try for a day. By the evening, I ...Read More
When I told my mother I was considering a PhD, she didn't push me toward it. She didn't need to. She simply never held the other option in the room long enough to look at it. The alternative — not doing it, choosing something slower or less legible, following ...Read More
Scrolling through Substack last night, I came across a note by cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Julie Fratantoni that stopped me mid-scroll, which felt appropriate given what it was saying. Her point was simple: the small margins of waiting — the line, the elevator, the gap between meetings — are some ...Read More