how to expand your capacity so basic life stops feeling overwhelming
there are periods when the smallest requirements of being alive begin to feel unreasonable.
milk and cookies
i write an almost daily newsletter about intellectual curiosity, culture and the human condition
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how to organise a low-energy week
for the weeks when your to-do list has more energy than you do
can ambition and contentment coexist?
one of the unique experiences of getting something you have wanted for a long time is how quickly it becomes the furniture of your life.
the difference between rest and disengagement
some forms of “rest” leave you feeling more like yourself afterwards.
the culture of “catch-up” friendships in adulthood
adult friendships have developed an odd format:
how to find your spark again
surprisingly, losing your spark can look as normal as a regular life, where you can be moving along quite efficiently while everything inside your life feels slightly beige.
the psychology of why the kindest people self-isolate
some people become difficult to reach precisely because they care so much about how they affect other people.
things to do on a sunday instead of doomscrolling all day
sundays are surprisingly easy to lose.
the art of storytelling
good storytelling has very little to do with having the most extraordinary life in the room.
10 ways i stopped feeling overwhelmed and built a 200,000-subscriber newsletter
creative desk was built for a part of creativity where the systems beneath the finished piece, the tools that hold the mess and the small decisions that turn ideas into work people can actually read.
Can You Ever Belong to a Culture You Were Separated From? | Ela Lee
Identity, belonging, Korean history, and the lifelong search for home.
how to create a space that supports your overwhelmed mind
sometimes, an overwhelmed mind needs a room that stops asking so much of it.
how i stopped feeling overwhelmed by everything and started creating
welcome to creative desk.
read this… if your self-awareness only hurts you
self-awareness is supposed to make life easier, yet for many people it becomes another instrument of self-punishment.
how to stop letting relationships dominate your personal life
a relationship begins to dominate personal life when it becomes the place where everything important is expected to happen.
your sign to finally join milk & cookies
yesterday i turned 28, and instead of offering you a small birthday extra, i wanted to make the whole next year of milk & cookies easier to enter.
practices for becoming more self-directed
self-direction sounds like a trait some people are simply born with, usually the kind who appear to know what they want before anyone else has finished explaining the options.
how to balance life while still being human
balance is usually presented as a matter of arranging life correctly, as though the right calendar could finally persuade work, family, health and personal ambition to take turns.
creating a life that does not need escaping
the fantasy of escape usually appears long before anyone admits that daily life has become difficult to inhabit.
rebuilding life after emotional disappointment
more often, emotional disappointment accumulates through small recognitions that become impossible to ignore: the person who promised to show up keeps choosing convenience, the family member who claims to care only becomes available when they need something, the friendship that once felt mutual has slowly turned into a place where one person performs all the maintenance.
the loneliness of establishing boundaries in relationships
boundaries are often described as clean decisions made by emotionally healthy people who know exactly where they end and everyone else begins.
how to deconstruct limiting beliefs
every person has a private collection of statements that sound more official than they deserve.
the birthday depression no one talks about
my birthday is coming up this month, and i’ve been thinking a lot about the sadness birthdays can sometimes bring.