Snuffing the Small Light — a field guide to staying lit when people try to dim you

 I’ve been thinking about joy the way you think about a match in wind. A tiny flame, imperfect and stubborn, doing its best impression of a sunrise on a stick. You cup your hand around it, lean your body to block the gust, and for a second it works. Then someone walks up—someone close, usually—and does the emotional equivalent of licking their fingers and taking a victory pinch. Sizzle.

Frustration: A Field Guide For When Your Brain Wants To Throw Furniture

 Frustration is the body’s “are you kidding me?” alarm. It’s the feeling that the world should be more bendable than it is. It’s human. It’s honest. And if we don’t steward it, it grows teeth—stress, anxiety, panic—the whole domino line. I’ve learned this the slow way. By breaking things I cared about (and a few I didn’t) and then having to clean up in the quiet afterward.