Always Forward

It may sound weird for a Canadian to say, but one of the things I have learned this year is not to apologize. I’m not going to apologize for my emotions. If I burst into tears seemingly at random, trust me it is not random. I’m not going to apologize for bypassing the socially acceptable […]

Happier Times

I caught myself, for just a second, wishing for “happier times.” Happier times, when I wasn’t broken. Happier times, when he was by my side. Happier times, when… when… Stop. It’s true, I have never felt more pain, more brokenness, more utter sadness, than in this aftermath of the story I wish I never had […]

A girl’s story

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” -Maya Angelou Once upon a time, there was a girl who was given a heart to call her own. It was the prettiest thing she had ever seen: large and bright and made of something like glass. She was very happy and she […]

Pause For Adventure

I’ve been on pause for a few months now. And by “pause” I mean a rather long break, and by “I” I mean this blog. After my last post on the last day of November, in which I successfully blogged every single day (cue applause track), I fell off the blogging bandwagon hard – or maybe […]

Walking With Intention…To The Dungeon

Today I’m excited to share with you a guest post I wrote for Sreejit Poole’s November series: Walking With Intention. It’s part of the reason most of my posts this week have been fairly lackadaisical, as I’ve been focusing my writing energies on this: Walking With Intention: The Seductiveness of “Next Time.” I hope you’ll […]

Half Chance

Tonight I played a couple rounds of Settlers of Catan. There is definitely a degree of skill and strategy to the game, but a large part of it comes down to chance as well. In the first round, I was well on my way to dominance through a sheep monopoly. As luck would have it, […]

Stay The Course or Abort Mission?

There were tears, whispered conversations, coin-flipping, bribery-fuelled negotiations, even a few break-ups. Nothing could spark drama among my friends and coworkers during my time in Japan like this one word: Recontracting. Once a year, in the darkest, coldest and most depressing time of year, I had to sign my name on one of two lines: “I […]

The Day I Left

There is a small speck of dust in the pit of my stomach when I wake up. It grows quickly as I go through the motions I planned out so carefully the day before. Get dressed, throw nightclothes into bag. The dust becomes the size of a mustard seed. Fold bedding, place neatly in the corner. Now it’s becoming […]

Global Community, or Global Catfight?

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” ― Ian Maclaren #quotes pic.twitter.com/rEegDx6JZd — Marek Kośniowski (@MarekKosniowski) November 10, 2015 The optimist in me wants to continue believing the Internet is a wonderful place, where people from different cultures, backgrounds, religions, and worldviews all over the world can come together […]

Why I Shouldn’t Do National Blog Posting Month

Everyone makes poor life decisions. I may have made one yesterday when I committed myself to post each day in the month of November as part of “National Blog Posting Month,” or “NaBloPoMo,” or the much-easier to pronounce “NanoPoblano.” Long story short, I let a dinosaur talk me into it, against my better judgment, although […]