How nostalgia makes us yearn for our own memories. Time moves forward whether we follow it or not. Nostalgia, however, waits.It lingers in old songs, in familiar streets, in the scent of a season or a person we thought we had forgotten. And when it finally returns, it pulls us gently, and sometimes painfully, back into a moment we can no longer touch.

There are two types of winter coats. One is light on the pocket but good for a fast-fashion spin. Then there’s the down-filled workhorse, puffed with promise and designed to last year after year. Standing in the ‘Winter Essentials’ aisle, I stared at both and bought neither. I wasn’t sure I was staying long enough to need either kind of warmth. 

It turns out ignorance really can feel like bliss, though I'm still deciding whether that makes me carefree or careless.  I’m Jessy, and five years ago I left my job and moved from London to Amsterdam. As a health and wellness writer with a background in broadcast journalism, I hadn’t realised how constant my exposure to news had become until I changed cities and, unintentionally, stepped away from the relentless churn of headlines.

For Indian women, many expectations are placed upon us. Her hair, vaal , must be long and lustrous. She must have fair skin. Most importantly, she must bear children. The Omnipresent Evil Eye Infertility in South Asian families is considered a curse, that an evil eye  is cast upon the family. Evil eye, otherwise known as nazar , holds significant cultural and spiritual importance in South Asian culture. It stems from the idea that jealousy, envy, and negative thoughts can cau

My journey and why video games help My name is Michael. I am no stranger to adversity in life, as I suffer from mental illness. I have almost died from mental illness and addiction. Depression, anxiety, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder have occupied big parts of my life for decades now. There are many ways, both good and bad, that I have found to cope with my illness. After decades of struggle and through trial and error, I am continuing to seek new ways to cope with depres

Why Functioning Labels Are Harmful The discourse around autism tends to be typified by extremes. On one end is a child with severe social difficulties, sensory processing issues, and intellectual disability. On the other end of the spectrum is the popular conception of the eccentric savant. The person who —while odd, off-putting, and often seen as less than worthy— makes up for these perceived negative traits by being so good at one particular thing that their genius is seen

I am 17. My alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m., and I dread the next hour of my life. While most of my classmates are still asleep, I sit cross-legged in front of my full-length bedroom mirror and begin the painstaking process of covering the skin I had picked, squeezed, and cut into with cheap drugstore makeup. It’s a tedious process — camouflaging my skin so that I can hide in the hallways of my high school. I want to be invisible.

Grief, Guilt, and the Aftermath of Suicide Trigger Warning: The following article discusses suicide, which readers may find distressing. For over a decade I lived and worked across Europe in the travel industry, from summer campsites to snowy ski resorts. I took on many different roles from tour guide to resort manager, met people from all over the world and absorbed the richness of different cultures. Those years shaped who I am and gave me a love of people’s stories, which

A year ago, my world stopped. At my 12-week scan, I was told there was no heartbeat. What should’ve been the first time seeing my baby move was instead the day I learned I’d lost them weeks earlier. I remember the quiet in the ultrasound room, the cold gel on my stomach, the way the sonographer’s expression shifted before the words came. Even now, I can still feel the shock in my chest — that hollow, slow-motion moment when time folds in on itself.