U.: “We’ve talked about the impossible standards placed on women before. It’s absolutely insane how normalized we’ve made it where sacrifices are just expected of women, and the selflessness that is required should somehow be limitless, and any kind of questioning of that labels you terribly selfish and horrible....

Dad: “I was pulled over for drinking and driving. It’s only a 24-hour prohibition. Don’t tell your mom.” I thought he’d grown out of it. I thought I’d grown out of feeling anything for this.

Mom: “You’ve lost too much weight.” No, Mom, I’ve always been this thin. You’re only just now seeing me.

Talking to people, friends and strangers alike, has always been its own kind of nightmare. My heart races if I even think about having to talk to someone. I lose courage before I’ve even started. Wait, is it possible to lose something you’ve never had? My best friend once told me it felt like talking to a wall when...

Talking to people, friends and strangers alike, has always been its own kind of nightmare. My heart races if I even think about having to talk to someone. I lose confidence before I’ve even started. Wait, is it possible to lose something you’ve never had? My best friend once told me it felt like talking to a wall...

I looked at the words I’d spent a year exsanguinating. There were rivulets of loathing—a rainbow of rust—but there was a smattering of red and yellow and green, too. I thought the capillaries would become rich with prismatic brilliance now that the murk had been drawn out. Now’s your chance, I thought. Now you can...

Driving has always been a study in contradictions. It’s liberation and confinement. Capability and diffidence. Exhilaration and terror. More terror than exhilaration, sometimes. My dad scared me silly when I first learned how to drive, so now all I hear is his shouting when I sit behind the wheel. I’ve been...

Driving has always been a study in contradictions. It’s liberation and confinement. Capability and diffidence. Exhilaration and terror. More terror than exhilaration, sometimes. My dad scared me silly when I first learned how to drive, so now all I hear is his shouting when I sit behind the wheel. I’ve been...

I understand and don’t understand my brain. I had lunch with C., and I was happy the entire time. I really, really missed her. At the end of it, she asked if we could do this again soon. My mouth formed around yes, even as my brain actively sought to dismantle that plan step by step. We discussed possible dates...

I understand and don’t understand my brain. I had lunch with C., and I was happy the entire time. I really, really missed her. At the end of it, she asked if we could do this again soon. My mouth formed around yes, even as my brain actively sought to dismantle that plan step by step. We discussed possible dates...

C. asked if I wanted to go for lunch this Sunday. My immediate reaction was to say no, to find an excuse to bow out. Not because I don’t want to see her (I miss her dearly), but because I’ve somehow become afraid of stepping away to have fun. What if something goes wrong while I’m away? Instead of ruminating and...

C. asked if I wanted to go for lunch this Sunday. My immediate reaction was to say no, to find an excuse to bow out. Not because I don’t want to see her (I miss her dearly), but because I’ve somehow become afraid of stepping away to have fun. What if something goes wrong while I’m away? Instead of ruminating and...