A little while ago, a friend asked for help in a way that really impressed me. She reached out to me and another friend, explaining a difficult situation she was dealing with and simply asking whether we wouldn’t mind checking in on her from time to time in the coming weeks. It was proactive, straightforward, and it put me and our mutual friend in the happy position of being able to do something small and supportive. It’s been my overall experience that people…

I didn’t use to be much of a procrastinator, but unfortunately it’s a tendency that seems to creep up on me more and more with each passing year. It’s probably a good thing in some ways: back when I was doing my post-bacc, I was so overcommitted in so many directions that I actually couldn’t afford to delay doing anything. And while that wasn’t true for all of grad school, it was true a lot of the time. My schedule nowadays is more…

Along with so many others around the world, I had Australia, its people, and its wild animals in my heart this week. At first, when I’d only heard of the fires and seen a few headlines, I thought to myself how frightening it must be. It was only as I saw images—images of fire burning, of smoke, of wounded animals—that I started to understand what was happening. Having seen those images, I was afraid to see more. This was especially true of any…

We’re less than a week into the new year, but five days is usually enough for me to have at least an inkling about how my intentions are panning out. So far, my actions feel mostly aligned with the intentions I’ve had for 2020. Those are: To take more responsibility for my happiness (less blaming, less ruminating, more proactivity, and more willingness to see events in my life as opportunities) To say what I mean (rather than what I think I ought to…