I don’t do much travel near the Mackinac area during the winter months. I thought everything up there died after Labor Day weekend. Any jobs I ever saw posted up there were for summer help only. When my mom called me to ask me to come with her, I got curious. She wanted to see the blue ice formations there.

Until recently, I’d never heard of the blue ice in Mackinaw City. People started talking about it a few years ago, and pictures began flooding my Facebook page. …

Six months ago, I thought I had hay fever. I couldn’t stop sneezing, I blew my nose all the time, and I had a low-grade fever. One day, I had an intense, pounding headache that left me in bed. Hay fever runs in my family, so I didn’t think anything of it. But I kept a mask on to avoid other people’s glares if I went out in public.

Then, while out of town, my partner found out his grandma tested positive for COVID-19. My partner and I saw her before she got tested, so I had a feeling. I…

I don’t go on Instagram a lot. But when I do, I like looking at the pictures. I tend to follow travel accounts and photography accounts. The occasional funny meme shows up, too.

Some days, I’ll see ads for companies looking for brand ambassadors. I’d always been curious, but I never tried. The people these brands pick do fantastic things. I don’t think I do anything interesting.

At least I thought I didn’t do anything interesting on Instagram

One night, I went through my DMs. I often get random older men messaging me on my page, so I delete them once a month. I noticed a message from a different account…

It sucks working on an article and getting rejected. You spent all that time on a piece of writing for nothing. It’s worse when the editor gives you feedback you don’t understand.

I often get told I need more depth in my writing. I used to feel insulted when I read that message. Are they calling me stupid? I’d think. Do they think I’m a shallow writer? My confidence crumbled, and I questioned if I’m too vapid for writing.

But here’s the thing about dwelling. …

One of the reasons so few people in my circle travel and live abroad is because they’re uncomfortable with the thought of learning another language. Some people will proudly state they’re not interested in seeing other countries, especially where they can’t speak the language.

Then there are the few brave people who don’t see language as a reason for not exploring the world. They take the time to research the culture and look up basic phrases so they can survive.

I knew Chinese when I lived in China. I’d been studying the language since I was nineteen. But ex-pats like…

January turned into a letdown of a month. The world didn’t get any calmer after the new year. January felt like it turned into the thirteenth month of 2020.

Even my dreams got freaky. Every morning, I’d go on Dream Moods to figure out what my dreams were trying to tell me. I don’t understand Mercury Retrograde enough to buy into it.

And I shut down. When I’m not writing, I’m sitting in front of the TV, drowning the craziness and South Park and The Office reruns.

On the plus side, the TV turned into background noise. I wrote more…

We all have that one person in our dating history who wouldn’t shut up about their exes. Every conversation you have with them, they find a way to weasel in their lost love. At first, it doesn’t bug you. And then you start noticing how often they bring up their ex.

You stay quiet about it for a while. And then your passive-aggressive comments about the ex started. And then there are arguments, then fights, until you finally break it off, accusing them of being too hung up on their ex to commit to you.

You look more closely at…