On Being

Virginia Woolf's stream-of-consciousness was initially dismissed as incomprehensible because it demanded readers abandon familiar frameworks. Galileo faced the Inquisition not merely for his discoveries, but for refusing to translate his findings into language that preserved existing power structures. True insight often arrives as disruption, not

showing up for yourself isn’t about discipline or hustle or even motivation. it’s about care. about choosing — in a thousand small ways — not to abandon yourself when things feel heavy.

- ways you can show up for yourself… (Substack)

I am only 23, and already I am grieving a life I’ve been disloyal to; too busy auditioning for all the ones I could have instead. I’m haunted by the time I’ve given to this never-ending feed.

- The hunger to be everything. (Substack)

You begin to understand that the fear of being misunderstood is the real prison—not the misunderstanding itself. The misunderstanding is just weather. But the fear is the cage you've been building around yourself, bar by bar, explanation by explanation.

- the quiet thrill of not being for everyone (Substack)

When you do something — say, write, work out, or study — your brain releases a small dopamine burst after completion or progress.

Over time, it starts releasing dopamine before you start — in anticipation — because it has learned:

“This leads to a good feeling later.”

That anticipatory dopamine is what we subjectively experience as wanting.

So through

I want to make mistakes that are mine and celebrate them, and fail in ways that teach me that failure is not the opposite of life but its companion.

- I Owe Myself a Good Life (Substack)

I always see failure as an obstacle to living. But it’s a part of it. A requisite, a companion. No life without it. That’s the deal.

I’ve been waiting for you to stop trying to be extraordinary, to stop trying to be ‘them’, all so I can love you as you are.

- the hunger to be everything. (Substakck)

plan for the lowest version of you.

The one who’s tired, overstimulated, and slightly dehydrated. If that version wouldn’t follow the routine, it won’t last.

- the 2am urge to reinvent yourself (Substack)

I walk through rooms that remember laughter that is no longer mine, and I see faces that once held warmth and now hold only memory. And in that absence, I feel the yearning. I feel the hunger for a life that holds me together when everything else wants to pull me apart.

- I Owe Myself a Good Life (Substack)