juliana ong

in the past, our social lives were primarily dictated by rules, duty, obligation, and commitment. And in the other parts of the world, it still is. That is how social living is organized. You don’t go to see your grandparents because you feel like it. You go because you have to, because it’s what you do. We have replaced commitments with feeling,... See more

I always make the distinction between love stories and life stories. There’s many more people you can love than people you can have a life with.

In Freudian language, ambivalence is the ability to hold contradictory feelings toward a person. A child loves their mother, but can also sometimes be extremely angry at her. A person holds love and hate, attraction and disgust, excitement and boredom, connection and disconnection with a person. The ability to be able to hold these contradictions... See more

But choice is not the same as freedom. Freedom is actually the ability to make a choice in the middle of restrictions.

historically, marriage was an economic arrangement between families. And now it’s an identity project — two individuals seeking self-actualization

And just as emotional language has entered the business world — where we talk about psychological safety and vulnerability — business language has seeped into romantic relationships. We want “return on investment” and to “hedge our bets” and “this is not a deal I signed up for.”

There is widespread confusion between something trending vs. a trend that is worth thinking about in a strategic context. Momentary microtrends and passing fads are not the same as trends that indicate long-term cultural shifts and changes in consumer behavior.

“Yearning has been showing up in pop culture, with the succession of films like Netflix’s One Day , Bridgerton and the recently concluded The Summer I Turned Pretty all depicting the sweet torture of pining and longing for someone. And it goes beyond the media industry to manifest in the types of content we see brewing on social—people are... See more