Author: Helena Lynch

We use certain phrases so often that we rarely give them special meaning, but in fact they can mean almost everything at once. “Not here” is one of those. It could be a rejection: “I’m not here for you.” It could be a diagnosis: “I’m physically present, but my thoughts are somewhere else.” Or it…

Being “too much” can be exhausting. Too loud, too jealous, too emotional, too noticeable-the list of other people’s grievances is longer than the coffee line in Los Angeles. But Piper Connolly seems to have decided to no longer cut herself down to a comfortable size. And rightly so: who even needs another perfectly edited person…

“You know, none of us really figured out how to live this life,” an exhausted movie hero will drop somewhere on screen one day, and we’ll just quietly nod along in the dark of the theater. Every other podcast teaches you to be productive 24/7, and social media pushes a cult of self-improvement – admitting…

You often truly see a person not in moments of intimacy, but in a moment of disappointment. Familiar words seem rehearsed, gestures look like part of a role, and the relationship – like a set. At first, it feels like a blow to the gut. Then – like anger. And then, if you are lucky,…

Loneliness is a tricky thing, but it reaches its peak when the calendar seems to order everyone to hug and celebrate. Outside the window, everyone is raising their glasses together – and at that moment your personal silence starts to sound deafening. This intonation, familiar to many, was captured by hitmaker Toby Gad and British-Nigerian…

Raskolnikov once convinced himself that some people are allowed more than others – that they have the right to step over other lives in the name of their own truth. Dostoevsky wrote an entire novel to show the cost of that kind of self-belief: it’s the soul itself. A century and a half later, I…