In a world of 7 billion people, I believe that no one should have to suffer from loneliness. Especially given that loneliness has been shown to increase your risk of death by 26% — My hands are sweaty. It feels like my heart is a spool of wire, being pulled tighter and tighter until it’s ready to snap. Can they smell me? Did I remember to put on deodorant? Just act normal. Why can’t you just be normal? What’s wrong with me? Where will…

Yesterday I had my first ever in-person event for Don’t Be Strangers and my stomach was twisting knots and butterflies. Flashback to 2015, I’m a student teacher again, executing lesson plans and having to improvise on the spot as activities always took longer than prescribed. Fast-foward to a few…

💔 “I view you as my close friend,” my roommate confided in me in my college dorm room, a smile spread across her face as she leaned in towards me to emphasize her sincerity. I blinked, confused. While I deeply appreciated our friendship, her feelings towards me was not…

The truth is — photography is my form of gratitude. Every capture is a split second celebration. — “I noticed you take a lot of photos,” his smile reassured me that he made this observation without any judgement as he waited for me, once again, to snap a picture with my phone. …

just a small little reminder that your existence is important and an inspiration (Jun 30, 2021) — ☄️ dearest reader, Your existence is important. By being simply who you are without any further explanation or expectation, you validate someone else’s life. This idea came to me when I saw a friend write about her personal dissatisfaction with her work. When compared to others, she didn’t feel…

an unlikely love story of an aromantic deeply in love — May 31, 2021 🌻 to the sun of my life & dragon to my moon, It will forever confound me how you could confess to an aromatic alien like myself — to love me so purely and unconditionally even when you knew that I could never return your love…

📭 a love letter to a fellow creative chimera — May 27, 2021 @abhasmisraraj 🪐 Dearest Abhas, I am so excited to have met you right at the crux of the conclusion of another of your orbits around the sun! I love endings as much as I love beginnings because, in part, they are one and the same… And I…

Why? Growing up at the intersection of Asian perfectionism and American Hustle Culture, my obsession with productivity felt so natural that I believed it was something encoded in my DNA. Instead of celebrating our wins, we were taught to set new goals. We prided…

(Dallas🤠, San Francisco🌁, & Cusco 🦙 in 3 weeks) — It’s been three weeks since I fled the comforts of Dallas, Texas; I won’t be returning for another 12 weeks. This would be, by far, my longest nomadic escapade. I wasn’t born with wanderlust. It was actually a friend of mine from college…

remembering the ultimate joy of play at the dusk of 26 orbits around the sun — Jun 17, 2021 ⚡️ dearest elusive & illustrious #bigkidenergy, Two summers ago I met my twin flame & gemini brother. ❤️‍🔥 He lived so effortlessly outside the rules of society (e.g. foregoing a career as a graphic designer to pursue alternative possibilities for living), the inner rebel in me…

Monday Aug 26, my lovely friend Jada (@fujijada) reached out to me asking to feature me on @thepowerthread. After years of struggling to explain who I was or what I did as a multimedia artist who preferred both art direction and getting their hands dirty with experimentation, I especially spiraled…

dearest friend + changing weather season, 🍂 I wanted to write to apologize for any confusion I’ve caused by my recent name change from @piquetures/Nomi to @xinyixan/XinYi… ☕️ I first adopted my alias Nomi at quite a young age when I was just being introduced to the internet. Although it…

Recently I had the pleasure of listening to your podcast interview and was so delighted & moved by the wisdom and ideas you shared — girl, you are so wise beyond your years!! 🌾 The first topic you discussed that caught my fancy was that mantra your mum taught you…

at once both stationed almost perfectly still (with the exception of the swaying induced by the wheels beneath us tumbling across sturdy…

003 how a 5 week in stay in Chi town made me fall in love with life again — Rather listen than read? Listen on Spotify or any other platform!1 🌬 dearest windy city, Today I depart from Chicago after 5 weeks of a whirlwind of 10k+ steps/days, trudging through every imaginable spectrum of bone-chilling rainstorms to sweltering hot summers, fanatic sprinting to catch trains and buses, arranging hangouts…