Lamazi Nasir

🫂Gentle on the surface, Honest underneath. I don't invent the drama , I just know how to tell it. Some stories deserve better telling. Send yours.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

Accidentally sent my roommate a screenshot of my search history instead of the grocery list.

She asked why I was googling "is it normal to talk to your plants for an hour." I panicked because I didn't want her knowing I'd been lonely since my ex moved out. Told her it was for a psychology assignment.

So she told her mom, who said she used to do the same thing and it "helps with anxiety."

Got a text from her mom's book club friend saying she read an article that backs it up.

Then my roommate's sister called to say she started talking to her succulents too and it's "life changing."

Then my landlord texted about rent being late and added "also heard you're really into the plants now, that's sweet."

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My ex's new girlfriend called to say she was dropping the kids off, and I already had my guard up, ready for whatever attitude she'd bring to my doorstep.

She pulled up twenty minutes later with a full dinner in her hands, because she'd heard from my son that I'd been at work all day.

I stood there confused, half expecting a catch, some comment about how I should be doing better.

She just said, "I figured you probably didn't feel like cooking tonight."

I reminded myself of every imaginary argument I'd built up with this woman in my head for the past year.

She smiled and said, "I'm not here to compete with you, I'm just here because I love those kids too."

What would you do if the "villain" in your head turned out to be one of the good ones?

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My business partner asked me to cover his share of our shop's rent because his account was frozen over a "temporary bank error." I paid the full rent from money I'd set aside to restock our shelves, because I trusted the shop mattered to both of us.

Six weeks later, the bank error still wasn't fixed, and he asked me to also cover the wholesaler's invoice before our next order was cancelled.

I offered to split it evenly like we normally do. He said that wasn't fair, since I "clearly had money to spare," and he needed me to pay it all.

I reminded him he still hadn't repaid the rent he owed me.

He said, "That was the business helping me, not you personally. Pay the invoice or find another partner."

What will you do?

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My coworker asked to borrow 200k because his son needed emergency dental surgery. I gave him money meant for my own hospital bill, because I trusted he'd return it fast.

Three weeks later, he asked me to cover his shift so he could go on a trip, and expected me to also lend him transport money.

I offered to cover half the shift since I still needed rest. He said that wasn't enough, I had to do the full shift or he'd report me to the supervisor for "not being a team player."

I reminded him of the 200k he still hadn't paid back.

He said, "That was a personal loan, this is work. You either cover my shift or explain yourself to management."

What will you do?

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

Before I could respond, my nephew looked at him and said:

"Maybe fewer guys would be struggling in silence if we didn't teach them that asking for help makes them weak."

The whole room fell silent.

And I say it from the bottom of my heart, I've never been prouder than I am in this moment.

Why, even now, are there still people who feel ashamed to talk about something as human as needing help?

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My uncle was always saying about therapy that it's "something for weak people," and he'd say real men don't need to talk about their feelings.

But one day, my nephew, who was 15 years old, asked me:

"What's therapy actually like? Because one of the guys on my team said he started going, and I don't want to say something stupid to him about it."

I explained to him about how therapy is just talking things through with someone trained to help, how it's for stress and grief and everyday struggles too, not only "big" problems.

Suddenly, my uncle snapped from the couch:

"Enough with this soft talk, boys don't need therapy.".....

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

Everline Mobile: since you're no longer eligible for the loyalty discount, your bill is going up to $95 a month.

Me: I've been with you for 7 years and never missed a payment. Is there really nothing you can do?

Everline Mobile: no, that's the new rate.

Me: OK, I'll port my number out then.

6 weeks later...

Everline Mobile: don't gooo, we want you back 😭

Me: no, I switched to a plan that's $40 cheaper with the same coverage. It just makes more sense for me now.

Everline Mobile: please reconsider, we'll match that price and lock it in for as long as you stay 🥺

Me: OK 🙂

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My sister-in-law was hosting her own baby shower, first grandchild, everyone flying in.

She'd planned the whole thing herself. Menu, games, the works.

Her mother-in-law showed up early with a printed schedule.

Rearranged the seating. Swapped two of the games for ones "the family always does."

Told the caterer to move dessert up an hour.

My sister-in-law walked in mid-swap.
The caterer looked at her.

Her mother-in-law looked at her.
She set her bag down and asked, "Whose shower is this?"

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

On our honeymoon, my husband started disappearing every morning around 6am. No explanation, just gone for an hour, back like nothing happened.

Day one, I let it go. Day two, I got curious. Day three, I got hurt. By day four I was convinced he regretted marrying me and needed space from his own wife five days into the marriage.

Day five, I followed him.

He was sitting on a rock overlooking the water, notebook in his lap, writing. I almost turned around, but something made me sit down next to him instead.

He didn't stop writing. He just tilted the notebook so I could read it.

It was a list. Little things. The way I laughed at my own jokes before I finished telling them. How I'd fallen asleep on the plane with my mouth open and he hadn't woken me. What the air smelled like that morning. He said he wasn't writing it for now. He was writing it for the version of us five, ten, twenty years down the road, the version that might forget how it felt to be this happy, this early, this in love.

I thought he was pulling away. He was building us an anchor.

I didn't say much. I just picked up my own notebook that night and started writing too.

We're going on six years married now. Every anniversary, we sit down, open those same notebooks, and read our honeymoon pages out loud to each other.

Turns out the thing I almost ruined our marriage over was the thing that ended up saving it.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

5. You Have Stopped Disagreeing

A dying company is often a silent one. You have stopped arguing because you have stopped believing it matters. You have stopped believing it matters because you have quietly given up on the vision. Start disagreeing again, out loud, about the things that actually matter. Demand more from each other's thinking. The breakthrough is on the other side of the hard conversation. Silence in a boardroom is not alignment. It is surrender.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

4. Growth Requires Friction

Momentum does not live in agreement. It lives in tension. You have gotten too comfortable nodding along in meetings. You have lost the productive conflict that used to sharpen your ideas. One of you needs to push harder. The other needs to hold ground instead of folding. Stop being polite and start being partners again. The friction between two strong opinions is what creates direction. Without it, you're just two people avoiding each other.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

3. You Have Become Coworkers, Not Partners

A dying company is often run by strangers who share a Slack channel. You update each other on tasks but you've stopped sharing your actual thinking. You've stopped asking what the other person is afraid of. You've stopped being curious about what they see that you don't. The first step back is to get curious again. Ask real questions. Listen without defending. When you stop knowing each other's minds, you stop trusting each other's decisions.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

2. The Ambition Has Been Relocated

Drive does not disappear. It relocates. It goes to side projects, to job interviews you haven't told anyone about, to hobbies that finally get attention again. You are still ambitious, just not for this company anymore. You are pouring your fire into everything except the thing you built together. You need to redirect it. Look at where your energy actually goes. That's where your ambition lives now. Bring it back here, or be honest that you can't.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

3. You Have Become Coworkers, Not Partners

A dying company is often run by strangers who share a Slack channel. You update each other on tasks but you've stopped sharing your actual thinking. You've stopped asking what the other person is afraid of. You've stopped being curious about what they see that you don't. The first step back is to get curious again. Ask real questions. Listen without defending. When you stop knowing each other's minds, you stop trusting each other's decisions.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

Two co-founders asked a startup advisor:

"Our company is dying. Revenue is flat, the team is checked out, and we barely speak unless something's on fire. How do we get our spark back?"

The advisor leaned back and said:

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

I Was at my cousin's engagement dinner and watched her fiancé handle the most brutal question I've ever seen someone get asked at a table full of relatives.

Her uncle, three drinks in, goes "so what do you actually do for a living, because nobody here seems to know."

The whole table goes quiet.

Without hesitating the guy goes.

"Depends who's asking. For you specifically, I do very well."

My aunt nearly choked on her wine laughing. The uncle's face went completely flat.

My cousin goes "okay I'm marrying him for real now" and raised her glass.

By the end of the night the uncle was the one refilling his drink and telling people he liked him.

Huge lesson in this.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

I brought my car in for a routine oil change before a road trip. Expected the usual, a wait, a receipt, nothing more.

The mechanic listened to the engine for a second longer than normal, then said, "Give me twenty minutes. I want to check something while it's up on the lift anyway."

He came back and said a belt was about to go, the kind that strands you on the highway with no warning. He'd already replaced it.

I asked how much.

He shook his head. "Didn't charge for it. Would've felt wrong sending you off on a trip with that thing about to snap."

I thanked him and left, figuring I'd found my new shop.

A few months later I brought in an older truck I'd just bought, wanting a full paint job and some rust patched over before I resold it.

He walked around it slowly, then said, "I wouldn't put paint on this."

I asked why not.

He knelt down and pointed under the frame. "This rust isn't surface level. It's eaten into the frame itself. Paint would just hide a truck that isn't safe to drive, and whoever buys it from you wouldn't know that."

I asked if he was sure.

He tapped the metal and it crumbled slightly under his finger. "Positive."

I asked what I should do.

"Sell it for parts, tell the buyer exactly what it is. Don't dress it up."

I left without paying for the paint job I came in for.

I never got what I hoped to get for that truck. But every car I've owned since, it goes straight to him. I stopped asking anyone else for a quote.

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My brother-in-law asked me to cosign his car loan because his credit was wrecked and he needed reliable transport to keep his new job. I did it without hesitation, family is family.

Four months in, he missed two payments and the bank called me instead of him.

I called him asking him to at least cover this month so my credit wouldn't take the hit. He said, "I never asked you to worry about my payments, that's between me and the bank. You just signed a paper."

What would you do?

[Lamazi Nasir @Missleo_A]

My ex texted me after eleven years. "Is this still your number?"

I almost didn't reply. Then I did.

"Yeah. Who's this?"

"Sarah. From the apartment on 5th street."

I remembered instantly. I just didn't say that part.

We started texting. Nothing deep at first. Just catching up. Jobs, moves, the usual small talk two people use to test if it's safe to keep going.

Then she told me something I wasn't expecting: she'd gotten married two years after we split. And divorced last spring.

I told her I never married at all.

She asked why. I didn't answer for three days.

Here's the kicker: when I finally did answer, all I wrote was "You know why." She didn't reply for three days either.

Then she sent a photo. My old jacket. Still in her closet, eleven years later, still folded the exact same way I used to fold it.

"I tried giving it away twice," she wrote. "Couldn't do it either time."

We met at the diner we used to go to after work. It wasn't a diner anymore. It was a nail salon. We stood outside it laughing about that for way too long.

Then we walked two blocks and found another one instead.

She still orders her coffee black, no sugar. I still remember she hates ketchup on fries. Some things just don't leave you, apparently.

A few months later, she moved back to the city. She said it was for a job. I didn't push it.

Last week she left that jacket at my place. On purpose this time.

I haven't given it back. I don't think she wants me to.