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I don’t remember exactly when the feeling started, but I know what it feels like now. Heavy. Constant. Like something sitting on my chest that I can’t shake off. At 31, I thought my life would look different. I thought I would feel more certain, more accomplished, more… settled. Instead, I feel like I’m standing…
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HONEST REFLECTIONS · THE LONG ROAD Today I found out I didn’t get into Fuqua. I’m on the waitlist at Haas. And I got into an online program I wasn’t sure I even wanted. I cried my eyes out. This is me being honest about all of it. I want to write this while it…
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The hardest thing love has ever asked of me wasn’t to be there for someone else. It was to finally be honest about who I was showing up as. There is a particular kind of ache that comes with loving someone deeply and knowing, somewhere in the quiet parts of yourself, that you are not…
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I’m at a bit of a crossroads and feeling pretty overwhelmed. I’m starting my MBA this fall in the U.S., and my post-MBA goal has been MBB consulting. I’ve been working toward that path for a while. But recently things have gotten complicated. My family in Vietnam runs a real estate development business. My sister…
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Right now I’m in a strange in-between moment. I applied to three MBA programs: one full-time program in another state, one part-time program right next to my house, and one online MBA. Recently I received my first decision—I was accepted to the online program. I’m still waiting to hear back from the other two. Objectively,…
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I just came back from a three-week trip to Vietnam, and I’m still processing how much the experience meant to me. The best part of the trip was seeing my family again. I spent time with my sister, my brother-in-law, my nieces and nephews, and many of my cousins, uncles, and aunties. Being surrounded by…
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I recently read Love and Other Words, and there is one passage that hasn’t left me since: When I read that, something inside me cracked open. I realized I don’t love for the safe part. I love for the scary part. Safe is appealing. Safe is stable. Safe is rational. Safe makes sense on paper. Safe…
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What was supposed to be a long but straightforward flight from SFO to Vietnam turned into one of the most intense travel experiences I’ve ever had. We were scheduled to transit through Hong Kong, but mid-flight, a medical emergency changed everything. The plane diverted for an emergency landing in Naha, Japan, then rerouted through Taipei,…
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It’s the Cost of Living in an Extremely Competitive World We often talk about modern dating as if it is a moral failure. Men are emotionally unavailable. Women are asking for too much. People are afraid of commitment. No one wants to try anymore. But the more I reflect on my own experiences and the…
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Today, I took my son to get a haircut. The salon we usually go to was closed, and his hair was getting way too long to wait, so I decided to try a random hair salon near our house. Simple errand. Or so I thought. While one of the stylists was cutting hair, she looked…