Jasmine Irven

@jasmineirven

All cardsCollections

There is no grand reinvention here—only the patient work of showing up, again and again, nudging myself millimeter by millimeter toward the person I’m becoming.

Suleika Jaouad • Against resolutions

The personal essay shines brightest when you zoom in on small details. It’s not enough to tell the reader that you had a difficult breakup show it through the little moments: the silence on the phone, the feeling of an empty bed, the specific words that were said. It’s the power of these tiny, personal details that makes a story feel universal.

Deta... See more

The open Letters • The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Personal Essays

writing

The other day, I asked a friend what she wanted to let go of from this year. “Everything,” she said. “Complete self-erasure.” We laughed—at the absurdity of it, and at the thin, uncomfortable filament of truth running through the joke. How often we look back on a year with a prosecutorial eye, tallying what we didn’t finish, the habits we couldn’t... See more

Against resolutions

new year

On new years resolutions and lack of self-compassion

A great personal essay doesn’t just tell a story it explores the deeper meaning behind the story. Why did that event matter? What did you learn from it? How did it change you, even in small ways?

It’s the reflections that make your story resonate with readers. Your essay is not only about what happened , but also about why it matters and what it... See more

The open Letters • The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Personal Essays

writing

Eventually, I stopped making resolutions altogether. Not because I stopped wanting change—but because I stopped trying to become someone else. The desire to work on myself never went away. It simply lost its appetite for spectacle. And so, in place of resolutions, I turned toward ritual.

Rituals are gentler than resolutions. Where resolutions chase... See more

Suleika Jaouad • Against resolutions

January arrives with its familiar inventory—resolutions, anxieties, the mild panic of self-improvement. And with it, a flood of questions.

The New Year’s 30-Day Journaling Project

writing

Love this concept of taking inventory of a month, season, etc.; something that doesn’t traditionally have “inventory” but using this as an alternative for everything the season holds or has to offer or comes with.

when i was younger, growing up seemed like hitting the jackpot. i could go wherever i wanted, whenever i wanted, and eat ice cream for breakfast. there would never be rules, and i’d answer to no one but myself. as the one that’s grown up, though, those things all turned on me rather quickly. i can go where i want when i want to, so long as i want... See more

A Requiem For Adolescence

writing and growing up

write about the opposite of this hopelessness; the counter part that you can absolutely allow yourself to do these things and indulge in the luxury of doing nothing or eating ice cream for breakfast, because in all reality you’ll not want ice cream the second day and you’ll want to clean up your recycling on a day when you have more energy because you allowed yourself to rest and rot the day prior…