I've always thought of myself as an independent person. And I think it goes back to my childhood,

you know, growing up an only child with parents that worked. I spent a lot of my childhood alone

by myself at home, keeping myself busy. And that experience, undeniably, created a sense

of independence in me that I've carried with me for the rest of my life. I haven't really questioned it much,

right? It became a part of my identity in such a big way at such a young age. I've carried

this sense of independence with unwavering confidence ever since I was a child. But recently,

something happened that shook me to my core. Okay.

I had an epiphany. I had an epiphany about my independence that scared the fucking shit out of me.

Okay. I recently did a road trip to visit my dad. It was a seven hour road trip. And you want to know what I did for the entire car ride.

I talked to my parents on the phone the entire time. Okay. They like took shifts. And you want to

know why I forced them to talk to me for three and a half hours each because I couldn't handle the

silence. It's just I wasn't in a place to handle it.

I had too much on my mind. Everything was swirling around and I couldn't handle it.

And so instead of listening to music and reflecting, instead of listening to nothing and

reflecting, instead of listening to a podcast and saying like, fuck it, let me just dig into

the, I couldn't handle it. And I called my parents and I did not have one moment alone the entire car ride.

I arrived to my dad's house and had this uncomfortable epiphany that maybe I'm not as independent

as I thought I was. Because from there, I reflected on weeks that I've spent alone at my house.

Because I spent a lot of time alone at my house.

And I thought about how I used my time.

I realized that I'm not alone as much as I think I am.

I talk to a lot of people on the phone.

...