Aleynah

Our breakup was so protracted, in part, because our story was so, so good, and I wanted so badly for the story of our relationship to be the story of my life — doing the dishes in the nighttime, his hands over my eyes when we watched horror movies, the love songs I wrote him on our anniversary. A math prodigy and a writer. Our children would have m... See more

I used to confuse “rational rumination” with intuition. I used to think a lot— a lot —about other people and their motivations, the many problems of the world, and myself and what kind of person I want to be. I thought I was being productive by thinking through these things with the clinical seriousness of a chemist. The reality is that I was worki... See more

That person who was once your soulmate, may not be your person forever. That doesn’t make your relationship any less special, because ‘the one’ is made. We build it together.

I wish someone had said, go play. Trek a mountain just because you can. Prioritise your platonic relationships, go an extra mile for a friend. There is no finding time, only making it. In an era of self-created pressure of making all the right decisions, make the wrong ones. Navigate uncertainty without taking it personally.

Have a clear point, and make it succinctly. That is, if you have one. You probably don’t know anything about what you’re doing when you’re first starting out, and fake confidence is glaringly obvious to those who have experience. Some people should have imposter syndrome. Please know that a lot of your colleagues are just humoring you while you lea... See more

Eliminate the bad. In other words, don’t suck. The most basic thing you need to do at any job is simply be competent. This isn’t very hard to achieve, because it’s based on not under-achieving. To get where you’re going, you need to start the car in park, not in reverse. Your boss mostly wants to know that when they tell you to do something, you do... See more