Tisha B’Av
Recently I dealt with a difficult situation and tried to stay detached and unemotional about it to help me cope. That worked for a time, but then something else happened on top of everything else, and that’s when I started to cry.
Survivor’s Guilt
A newly married friend shared that it took about a month for her to get used to being engaged. I had said, “It must be an amazing experience to be a 30-year-old kallah” (for context – we were talking about the benefits of getting married “older” and how we are just calmer and more grounded in general). She replied that …
Manifesting
I had a thoughtful and interesting conversation with a friend on the subject of manifesting, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts. The concept of manifestation has become really popular in the frum world in the past several years (I’m not quite sure when this began?). The idea is that by following a series of steps (usually a variation …
Six Word Memoirs
Have you ever tried this fun writing exercise? A six word memoir tells a story or expresses an idea in exactly six words. It’s so satisfying — the constraints really stimulate your creativity. Recently, I used this prompt in a writing group, and I’m thinking of some of my own. Here are a few:
Mental Math
A friend and I were talking about a struggle we grappled with when our younger sisters got engaged. The brain is a pattern-finding machine. It always wants to find a reason for why things happen. So when you fully expected to be the one to get engaged first, your brain wants to know why you weren’t. And it starts to …
Not Okay
I hadn’t been following the Mishpacha serial Stand By, but this Shabbos I picked up a back-issue Family First and read Miriam Pascal Cohen’s follow-up piece, about the way our community views single women. Did you read it? I find it sooo satisfying and validating when women share their experiences without mincing words. Some of the issues pointedly addressed in …
Dinner Parties
One of the things I miss most about living in my apartment is making and hosting Shabbos meals. I daydream about getting my own place — I’ve put out feelers but a comfortable and affordable rental is hard to find! I love to plan the gatherings I’d host (will host!) in an apartment of my own. I like the idea …
I Don’t Love To Travel
I read this great article in The New Yorker about travel and I kept thinking, yes! I totally agree! I had actually just been thinking about travel. I’m 31, and planning my third trip to Europe. I went to Italy at 22 (so yooooung), Spain at 25, and now be”H Austria at 31. Meanwhile many people my age have been …
A Little Boost
Hello, all. I’d love if you could share some of your favorite posts with a friend or three. I so enjoy writing and pushing out lots of hopefully good, helpful stuff into the world, but it would mean a lot to me if it reached more people. If you can take the time to share links with your friend groups …
On Heartbreak and Post-Traumatic Growth
This post has been in the works forever. I’ve written about other hard stuff — rejection, loneliness, and ambiguous loss — but not enough about heartbreak. I have to admit that before I experienced heartbreak, it seemed mysterious and romantic to me: imagine having had a relationship that was “real” enough to matter when it ended.