Take What Works with Support
A few years ago, I started going to a support group. I was nervous about joining because I grew up in an environment with a lot of rules—the kind where stepping outside of expectations brought shame, not just on you but on your whole family and community. So when I first heard the phrases and […]
Adapt Like a Chef
The best chefs don’t just follow recipes—they understand them. They know why certain flavors work together, why some ingredients can be swapped and others can’t, and how small tweaks can take a dish from good to great. It’s not about reinventing the wheel every time—it’s about mastering the basics so they can adapt, experiment, and […]
The Rosenthal Experiment
In the 1960s, psychologist Robert Rosenthal conducted an experiment that revealed something powerful: expectations influence outcomes. In a study with elementary school students, Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson told teachers that certain students were expected to show exceptional intellectual growth based on a test. In reality, these students were chosen at random. But by the end […]
Level Up Like a Game
Some days, life feels like a series of frustrating problems, and it’s hard to know how to move forward. But what if we borrowed a mindset from games? In games, challenges are levels to beat. They’re not roadblocks—they’re opportunities to advance. When we start thinking of challenges as levels, something shifts. Instead of feeling overwhelmed […]
Turning Struggles into Strength
What makes a story inspire us? What kinds of stories motivate us to keep going? It’s not usually the ones that go, “He was handed the company by his parents” or “She stumbled into success without trying.” We’re drawn to the stories of people who struggled, adjusted, pursued, and faced rejection over and over—yet still […]
Take What You Need
This morning, I discovered someone new to me. He’s well-known for his activism and thoughts about how humans think and operate. Today was my first time hearing his words. Listening to his interviews and teachings felt inspiring. His words spoke to me, and my morning slowed down in a way that was really lovely. But […]
Coping with Setbacks
I used to hate the saying “two steps forward, one step back.” It always seemed unfair that after putting in all the effort to move ahead, I’d suddenly be dragged back again—like some invisible force kept holding me back. That one step back used to feel like failure, and it could be enough to make […]
Stop Worrying
My mind used to slip into relentless loops of repetitive thoughts—about my workload, family worries, and all the other “bla bla bla” of life. But with practice, I’ve learned that I actually have the ability to decide where my thoughts go and what I think about throughout the day. It didn’t happen overnight, though. It […]
My Obsession with Self-Help Books
Every morning, I read a few pages from a book. The book is usually about habits, behaviors, and thought patterns. I’ve been reading these kinds of books for years. For the most part, they share similar information, with new perspectives like people’s experiences, a new way to phrase something, or sometimes even new ideas for […]
Uncomfortable But Worth It
I was thinking about how to get things done. Just like everyone else, there are some things that come easy to me. We all have certain talents or aptitudes that feel natural as soon as we try them. There are also tasks and activities that become easier over time. Anything we do repeatedly becomes familiar […]
