I’m a people pleaser: I seek external approval. It’s a natural thing for me to do. I’m not going to spend time finding the culprit of this pattern, it’s something I have in me, and many other people do too.

For the past three years, I’ve developed a proper addiction to Instagram — the perfect place for people-pleasing and validation addicts like me.

In the beginning, it felt good. I was high on the likes, the comments; heck, I was an influencer! …

“I love you”, he said.

For the first time, I couldn’t say it back.

One thought repeated on a loop as I remained in an awkward silence: what does it mean, “I love you?”

What did you mean with this sentence? You said it at the end of a conversation that felt like a goodbye, like closing a long trailing relationship that ended in tears and hurt a few months ago — at least on my side.

You said it at the end of a call that felt like yet another reminder of our utter incompatibility; that showed me just…

It’s the day before Christmas eve, and I can feel the holidays all around me in the air.

All I want to do is to cozy-up and watch a movie or go on a walk in the forest, or paint, write (ahem, what I’m doing now), but I have to work. I’m not on leave, and there’s this blog I need to finish for Monday.

I sit at my desk. I’ve done everything I could to procrastinate — made coffee, watered the plants, got up again to get some water, went to the garbage bin to throw a pen and…

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year, which means it was the longest night too. And what a dark night.

2020 has been for me, and I’m sure for many, a year of darkness. In my experience, it’s been a year of spending time alone, even if it’s something I abhor. But it’s what I needed, so I did it.

So when December 21st came around, I knew I had to celebrate it. The winter solstice this year felt like Christmas for me.

I know this is quite an uncommon statement. All around me, I heard the opposite: many…

Today is December, 1st. Despite this being my birthday week, it’s also the start of what I consider proper winter. Brrrrrr.

I’m currently in Berlin and damn do I feel it’s winter.

I wake-up most days feeling low energy. Being human, I suffer from seasonal depression or SAD (seasonal affective disorder). After all, this is my first winter since 2014 and it is happening in Berlin.

Anyway, I am not writing this post to whine over my winter blues. If you know something about me you know I have a discipline of accepting things as they are, and if winter…

Without the entertainment offered by the system, what remains?

why do we feel depressed without our team sports, concerts, cinema, travelling, clubbing, restaurants and bars? Why does it leave us feeling so… empty?

that's because we built our whole functioning and wellbeing on fake things. we say we have a full life but it’s full of distractions.

I've been feeling depressed and down for the past months. every week it's the same merry go round — there’s a moment of the day, usually around 3 pm, where i feel totally empty. i lose interest in everything and i just feel…

When things become uncomfortable. When my inner critic wakes up. When I compare myself to another woman. When I think of her with him. When the voice of trauma in me says “he chose her and not you” and “nobody wants you” and “you don’t know how to keep a man” and also “you’re not a real woman.”

When I feel lost. When I feel lonely. When I feel left-out and rejected.
When I feel disempowered. When my signals get scrambled. When I am thrown-off the seat at the centre of myself.
When I see myself as an imposter and a failure.
When…

In a world of hyperactivity, clutter and noise, I find the most valuable thing to be clarity.

Clarity, this feeling of knowing who you are, what your likes and dislikes are, and what you want. A peaceful way of moving through life.

When was the last time you experienced this? I can tell you about my last time: seated on a branch in the middle of a Portuguese forest.

Like many of you, I live an urban life. …