juliana ong

There’s a real tension in love — at the beginning of love, particularly — between the desire to be honest about who one is and the desire to win the affection of another person. Of course, ideally, we can both be honest and loved for being honest. That’s the dream.

I know that limerence can be misleading. It can be the beginning of a good relationship, or a complete disaster. If someone feels like the answer to the question of your life, you might want to address the fundamental sense of lack that they are triggering.

the only thing sadder than not being a rich kid is being a Disney adult

My advice for travel is the same as it is for most things in life: question accepted wisdom and authority. Be open to disaster and strangers. Occasionally let your aloneness devour you. Shred the itinerary. You have to do interesting things to have interesting thoughts. Stop being so fucking safe.

In both myth and theory, Eros is the same force: the spark that brings aliveness out of inertia. To live erotically is to stay attuned to that rhythm, to let the energy that animates the world also animate you. But that kind of vitality resists management, which is precisely why the modern world fears it.

It reveals that as a woman in the world, if you don’t decide your needs, they will be decided for you. That without a value system, you can be convinced of anything. That you can get engaged before you’re ready, married before you’ve settled on a world-view. That there is a series of misleading narratives and patriarchal pressures that can, if... See more