My girlfriend and I had no idea what we were doing when we started dating. — My girlfriend and I had no idea what we were doing when we started dating. She lives in Italy and I’m in the United States. How did it work? Is it possible to have a good long-distance relationship (LDR)? If we were dating in person we’d go on a date…

Here’s what I did instead. — If I told you I was working from home, as my own boss, you’d probably think it was great. That’s the dream, isn’t it? Over and over I read about people who are desperate to leave their nine to five jobs and chase their own dreams. I enjoyed it for…

No, you don’t have to “control” what you feel. — My family labels a lot of emotions as dramatic. If you get your feelings hurt, you’re sensitive. Angry? “Calm down.” And crying means you’re too emotional, so what do I do? I express nothing. If someone throws a couple of rocks my way I let them hit me and roll…

It’s every feeling you could ever imagine. — Love doesn’t hit you all at once. The realization that you’re falling in love does. One day you’re looking your person in the eye and you think, “This is it. That feeling everyone talks about? I’m inching toward it.” You feel it like a spark in your chest, and then…

You either run away crying or you cry and do it anyway. — The way I see it, when it comes to my career, I have two options: 1. I can worry about writing and avoid it 2. I can worry about writing and write Since I’m struggling, the only thing I can produce is articles like these: words that sound like they’re…

When you know, you know. — We were sitting in bed when she asked me the question. An open jar of peanut butter sat to the side along with two spoons resting on the cap. I was playing with her fingers, safe in this bubble of ours, and felt warm between the mess of blankets. …

Your life can start with a single step. — Just put words on the page. That’s what I tell myself whenever I can’t write. Short words. Long ones. Curse words. Words that only a handful of people can understand. Any word at all. Because if you have one word, you have the beginning of a story. The. He. Yesterday. Superman…

The question is: what’s supposed to happen next? — I turn twenty-four in about a month, but this morning I woke up feeling the way I used to when I was eighteen. At eighteen, my chest felt heavy with a longing for something I couldn’t pin. It took me an hour to get out of bed. My future was…