Cynthia B.

A lot of women say they’re looking for love, but what they’re really doing is looking for a man. And I don’t say that with judgment. Most of us were never taught to separate the two. Having a man was presented as the evidence. The proof. The thing that meant we were chosen, safe, settled, and on track. Love was assumed to come with it. So it makes sense that many women don’t question it. If a man is present, consistent enough, and claims you, it’s easy to call that love without ever pausing...

I have been thinking a lot about self-love lately, mostly because there is no shortage of content about it online. Everywhere you look, there are reminders to take yourself on dates, book the spa day, buy the thing, romanticize your life. And I’m not knocking any of that. Those things can be enjoyable and regulating. They can even be part of taking care of yourself. They just are not the definition of self-love for me. Because self-love is not only what you do on the surface. Sometimes the...

Growing up in a family shaped by addiction is an experience that never fully leaves your body. My mother and most of her siblings struggled with substance use throughout my childhood. Thankfully, they are clean now, deep into their sixties, talking about faith, gratitude, and recovery. And while I’m grateful they’ve found clarity, there is an entire chapter of the story they rarely acknowledge, and when they do, it is limited. They rarely talk about the damage that was done, the instability...