Lisa Marie Basile

The older we get, the harder it is to make close friends.

How much energy does it take to be jealous? Hint: Way too much.

My happiness is what undid me, ironically. I worried so much about being OK with the happiness that I fell apart.

I grew up knowing my family always had its very own black cloud. Like a backyard pet that comes and goes when it pleases, a room locked but filled with things we weren’t allowed to look at or set free. And it was all passed down to me like some broken heirloom — my ancestor’s weaknesses and fears, swirled into DNA’s mad ritual. Does the body sometimes take into itself — take from its creators — what it cannot heal from? Sometimes, yes.

It can really take a toll on you when you have to parent a parent.

The sum of a city isn’t always made up of its parts.

Some grief is inert. Some grief is an engine. Sometimes actively participating in grief, I’ve learned, is one small way we can learn to escape its riptide.

When you hear about a person with a chronic illness working or not working or considering quitting a job, these decisions were not made lightly.

If you’re an empath, you probably easily absorb the emotions of others and need time alone to decompress. If you're like me you're one exhausted empath!