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My sister recently returned to school after the holidays. This is the first time in many years that I’ve been able to spend a significant amount of time with her since moving across the province. Every time I visit her, we usually end up at the gym together. I help her refine her workouts, explain movements, and answer questions. This year, while I was getting settled into my new home, we were chatting and she said something that has stayed with me. She told me she wanted to

A few weeks ago, I found myself hovering over the purchase button for a new planner. You know the feeling. That small rush of anticipation. The promise that this year, with the right system, everything might finally click. This one was digital, beautifully designed, full of hyperlinks and colour-coded sections. I could already imagine myself drawing in it with my Apple Pencil, perfectly curated pages, aesthetic routines, a life that looked as calm and intentional as the templ

The months before Latvia were quieter than anything I had known in a long time. Not empty, not stagnant, but spacious. My life had slowed enough that there were no immediate fires to put out, no major decisions to make. For the first time in years, I wasn’t bracing for the next disruption. I had space to breathe, to move my body without proving anything, to let my nervous system settle instead of staying on high alert. Last week, I wrote about what it felt like to blow my lif

I used to think happiness lived at the end of a checklist: Find your soulmate. Build a respectable career. Buy the house. Have the kids. Do the grown-up things in the right order. Prove you made it out okay. Those expectations didn’t come from nowhere. Photo by Muneeb Babar I grew up in a home that was chaotic and unpredictable. From a young age, I learned that stability wasn’t guaranteed and that keeping things quiet, private, and controlled felt safer than telling the truth

A friend of mine recently shared something that’s been on her mind since moving across the world. She told me about the expectations she carried, how she imagined her time abroad as this life-altering experience. But the more she tried to make the experience profound, the less she actually felt it. She told me about a passage from Zhuangzi, the story of an archer who, when shooting for nothing, has all his skill. But the moment a prize is introduced (a copper coin, or worse,

I was recently listening to Soul Gum one morning (a podcast by Victoria Hutchins that explores creativity and growth). A line she said stopped me in my tracks: ❝ “Your new life will cost you your hollow sense of balance.” Victoria Hutchins, Soul Gum Podcast ❞ Her words landed like a quiet challenge. They made me question how often I treat balance like an accomplishment, something to check off once I’ve achieved the perfect ratio of rest, productivity, and peace. Even within

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