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I do not like labels.They feel too small to hold something as vast and complicated as a human being. At first glance, labels might seem harmless. Humans created them to make sense of the world. Labels help us organize, categorize, and simplify what we see. In theory, they make things easier. But over time, these…
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A reflection on why we crave it, fear it, fight for it, and sometimes lose ourselves in it. Love. It’s such a small word for something that carries so much weight. We fall into it. We search for it. We grieve when it leaves. We shape entire lives around it. But for something so common,…
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I used to be sick all the time. Every year, without fail, pneumonia would visit me at least twice, followed by endless rounds of colds and the flu. I remember the exhaustion, the constant coughing, the way my body always felt like it was fighting something. I was so weak that my mom would carry…
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I hadn’t thought much about my age until I noticed a few fine lines forming around my eyes—hello, little wrinkles! Thirty years under the sun… it’s not a lifetime, but it’s not nothing either. Maybe I’ll start by sharing a bit about where I come from. I was born and raised in Hanoi, the charming…
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Growing up, I was obsessed with being “perfect.” That word lit up my world. When my parents praised my grades and called them perfect, I felt proud. When teachers complimented my homework using the same word, I felt accomplished. When friends admired my outfits and called them perfect, I felt seen. I worked hard to…
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Last night, just as I was about to fall asleep, the heat became unbearable. Half-asleep, I reached for a nearby piece of paper to fan myself. The room was silent and dark, and the only sound was the soft flutter of paper cutting through the air. That simple sound brought me back, all the way…
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It’s getting hotter now that June is here. I’ve been away from Vietnam for 15 years, and I’m not sure how things are now, but back then, summertime often meant flooding. When the rain came, especially in the summer months, the water would rise fast. The roads in our neighborhood weren’t even, so our house…
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A year and a half.Some might call it short, just a blink. But time isn’t measured in numbers. It’s measured in changes, in the way we grow, stretch, fall, and rise again. In a year and a half, a baby learns to walk, talk, and recognize love in a familiar voice.A business is born from…