What is your relationship with pleasure?
5 Ways I Curated my relationship with Pleasure I remember waking up at 5am, rushing to work, staying late– it sometimes felt like a competition for who stayed latest. The prize? Bragging rights. But getting home at 8:30pm everyday of the week was not just physically taxing, it was emotionally depleting. I began to resent…
Following the Sun: 6 States in 6 Months
Following the Sun: 6 States in 6 Months The Audacity to Backpack the U.S. I packed up my apartment, ended the lease, returned my leased Lexus, and took the leap. In October 2020, I had the radical idea to go to a spring/summer writing or arts residency for three months. In December I applied for a promotion at…
Glamping Experience at the Getaway House
Glamping Experience at the Getaway House “I’m not an outdoor person, so I don’t think that camping stuff is for me.” Y’all — me either! I told the life coach that I’m starting with, “I’ve gotten myself as far as I can go, I need a team for the life I am on the brink of.” So, I’ve…
I Used to Lie to My Therapist
I Used to Lie to My Therapist I don’t want him to know how bad the depression got this time. I don’t want him to think I’m not growing. I don’t want him to see how badly I sometimes talk to myself. I want him to like me. I want him to see me as “good.”…
Releasing & Healing: I Dated a Woman for 5 Years
Releasing & Healing: I Dated a Woman for 5 Years It’s national coming out day, but I believe it’s a day to call others in… into a world that may be different from the one in which they live. I met a woman over seven years ago and we dated for about 5. When she approached me,…
Unlearning What My Bullies Told Me
Unlearning What My Bullies Told Me What were you teased for as a kid? What else was happening in your life that the people who teased you knew nothing about? Starting at age ten, I was being teased for being dark skinned, having parents who had an addiction disorder, and for being poor. The teasing mostly came from…
Curate the Home Experience and Energy you WANT: 5 Tips
Curate the Home Experience and Energy you WANT: 5 Tips If you know anything about me, I have intentionally decided to curate a life I love. I grew up in Chicago. On the south side. We lived in three different sets of projects, (Robert Taylors, Washington Park, and Altgeld Gardens) each of which I resented more than…
I’m Finally Ready to Talk About Why I Quit My Solo Trip
I’m Finally Ready to Talk About Why I Quit My Solo Trip How A 1 Year Trip turned into 3 months By Mia Dunlap 5. Survivor’s Guilt: my grandma’s last words to me before I left were, “how you got money to travel but not to send your damn family?” Yeah, that’s right, how could I? I…
What I’ve Learned After Leaving The Church
What I’ve Learned After Leaving The Church By Mia Dunlap My parents didn’t go to church. I started going on my own with my best friend and her family when I was 10. I loved it because I was away from home for hours and hours! Every Tuesday for choir rehearsal, Wednesday night for bible study, and…
5 Consequences of Being an Adult Child of Addicts
5 Consequences of Being an Adult Child of Addicts By Mia Dunlap It would be easier not to write about it. Easier not to share. Easier to pretend like it didn’t have an impact. But why do easy when I can be do vulnerability? Why do easy when I can choose to expose and remind someone that…
