We often have qualms about the people closest to us: our romantic partners, our best friends, our parents. We expect more from these people than we expect of others. We expect them to understand us, to tend to at least some of our needs, to absorb our flares of frustration. We hold them to a…
I have an irresistibly fluffy, but threateningly grumpy, roommate. She goes by Zora. On the outside, she appears to be an adorable kitty. But make no mistake. On the inside, she is a brusque elderly woman with no fucks left to give. She will use you for pets on her own terms, and make it…
There is a song by SVMP, Zebatin, and Fallen Oceans called “where do we go when we fall in love”. It is as pure a love song as one gets. Three verses, zero conflicts. It’s lovely. But that kind of love-song romance is not what I’m interested in unraveling here. I’m more interested in the…
downer drugs, upper drugs, alcohol porn, social media, online shopping excoriation disorder (a.k.a. skin-picking), eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder These are but a few of the ways we humans can (and do) compulsively and excessively consume substances or engage in behaviours to alleviate emotional pain for a blissful blink of an eye. I am human, and…
What if most of our lived experience was empty space? What if, in between the flashes and floods, the surges and sparks, of euphoria, of heartbreak, of rage, of terror, and of everything connecting those extremes, there was only stillness? What if we reserved that space to bring ourselves back home? Not to do, or…
Dear Body, I am writing to you to apologize. We’ve been colleagues for some time now, but I can’t say that I ever tried to get to know you, to accept you as you are, to listen to what you have to say, or to grant you the appreciation you deserve for all you’ve done…
I have been in a jail of my own making for over about 15 years now When you hit your upteenth rock bottom When the last thread of control you had wrapped around your performance unravels When you have solved and figured out all there is to understand about your brain, your unhelpful habits, your…
she woke up one day, and shucked her armor of pride and map of false promises. she took hold of the hands that waited so patiently. and started to climb out of the hell she had called home quiet resolve, Aoife Henry Towards the end of February 2024, with the unquestioning support of my father,…
The original version of this article was a letter sent to a friend in November 2022. This came up as a prompt in my planner this week and it caught my imagination. In no particular order of importance: Sex Education – What clear, enthusiastic consent is in a sexual context and why it…
I have a bone to pick with self-optimization culture. Biohacking, perfect mourning/evening routines macro-counting, optimized sleep/diet/exercise/workflows. Athletic f**king Greens. Podcasts on how to fine-tune this, that, and the other to the point at which it is infeasible to stuff all of the recommended good habits into a single 24 cycle. This article is a diatribe…