Tag: self-expression
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On the Men Who Make Women Louder, Not Quieter
The Benefits of a Healthy Dynamic Between Men & Women Because of my feminist writing, some people might assume that I hate men. I don’t. I love and respect men. I adore the dynamic between men and women when it is healthy- and that is why I get so offended when it is not. So… Read more
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When I see Myself Through His Eyes…
When I See Myself Through His Eyes… I always get less than I deserve. I am a thing, not a person. I am a side character. I exist for others, not myself. My value is in my appearance, yet somehow I am overworked. I am depleted. When I See Myself Through My Eyes… I am worthy… Read more
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He Called it Love
Why Did My Strength Make Me More Vulnerable? He called me a hard worker, he meant it as a compliment, but I have come to loathe this praise. It started as a virtue of mine, but has turned into a trap. I am exhausted and depleted. What has my hard work accomplished except to empty… Read more
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What Self-Expression Looks Like After Survival
I’m a Wannabe Maximalist & Minimalist For a long time, I made clothing, hairstyle, and makeup choices to please others. Or, more accurately: I made these choices not to upset them. And now I am trying to find myself again. Yet, I have recently mentioned my burgeoning desire to become more environmentally friendly. Because that,… Read more
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Staying Quiet & Having Nothing to Say Are Two Different Things
Follow Your Voice I started 2025 very nervous to express myself. I believed I had nothing of value to say. So filling any sort of space with my thoughts felt daunting. But by the end of the year, I had written over 125,000 words across 150+ blog posts. It turns out I had a lot… Read more
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I Had a Great Year, So Why Am I Sad?
When I look back on 2025, so many wonderful things happened. I met someone special, went on exciting adventures, began to express myself, and enjoyed other people expressing themselves too. I should feel great about it. But instead, I am trapped in a feeling of tension and misplacement- like I am not actually able to… Read more
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The Word I’d Be Most Honoured to Receive
The Different Types of Gift-Giver I recently read Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, just in time for the holidays. It gave me a lot to think about regarding my own shopping habits. In the book, there are the typical holiday archetypes: the shopaholic, the regifter, the “just buy me my usual aftershave” type, and the eco-conscious. I… Read more
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Book #51- Reflections on “Christmas Shopaholic”
Book #51 Christmas Shopaholic By Sophie Kinsella After I finished this book, I realized that it is part of a series. Damn. I feel like I missed an opportunity for some backstory and character development; but the book still worked well on its own. I have a lot of respect for Kinsella’s ability to do… Read more
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Book #37- Reflections on “By Chance Alone”
Book #37 By Chance Alone By Max Eisen One Book to Represent Them All I have now read my 37th book of my 52-Book Reading Challenge: By Chance Alone by Max Eisen. So far, this challenge has contained books of all different genres: fantasy, memoir, self-help, socio-political, and more. And two themes have come up again and again,… Read more
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How To Grow Your Original Voice in 5 Steps
The Evolution of My Writing & Creativity At the beginning of my Reading & Blogging Challenge, I lamented how clunky my thoughts and words were. They felt like hardened toothpaste struggling to leave the tube. Recently, I posted my 118th blog post of the year. This one was about the book Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People by Lindsay… Read more
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Who Has the Right to Tell a Story?
The Ethics of Telling Your Story Online I recently told my sister about my blog. She had been mildly curious over what I was doing each day when I went to the library to read or write blog posts; so I told her about it. It was a bit awkward since some of the things… Read more
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How To Kill Someone Without Ever Killing Them
The Importance of Personal Narrative The English language needs to invent a new word for the act of killing someone without ever killing them. While I was reading the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman, there is a panel where his father admits to having thrown out Art’s late mother’s journals from the time she… Read more
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Human Artist vs. Machine Artist
How to Define “Art” in the 21st Century What defines art? How will we define it in this new phase of humanity? Is art created using artificial intelligence considered “art”? Can a photograph generated using AI be compared to a photograph taken by a human? What is the distinction? I am trying to sort out… Read more
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Rediscovering My Voice: How Blogging Revived My Writing
Until I began this blog, I hadn’t realized the writing skills that I had let wane over the years. I don’t mean writing for the sake of a report for school or work, ie. writing that strips any personality out of my thoughts. That’s the sort of writing that includes a lot of “as per… Read more
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Authentic Self-Expression
Thoughts in Progress I don’t want to get ahead of myself with this post, but I do want to get my thoughts down. All three of the books I have read so far have inspired what I am going to say: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, The House of My Mother by Shari Franke,… Read more