Recognizing Characteristics of Toxic Systems
For much of my life and career, I found comfort in the surface narrative—moving through the motions, staying busy, and avoiding deep scrutiny. But now, as the cracks in conventional structures continue to widen, operating on autopilot and chasing distractions no...
Walking the Tightrope of Womanhood
I’ve never been one to latch onto societal labels that spark division between men and women or even among women themselves. However, I cannot deny that throughout my life as a woman in this world, I have often found myself struggling to navigate the delicate...
The Emperor Has No Clothes
In July 2020, eleven months since we first went no-contact, my father wrote me his own obituary. Entitled “Who I Am on the Way,” my father described in the third person his early profound religious experiences (“[a]s if he’d written John 21:25” himself), how for him,...
When You See the Warning Signs of Triangulation
“Mom,” Harper started, “Grandma Clare sent me a text inviting me to dinner at her house for my birthday. Is that weird that she only invited me and not all of us?” Grandma Clare, my stepmother, is a narcissist. Over the past decade, I have set boundaries and distanced...