ZenNesting

Stories from my 2nd life. Zen Nesting is a series of personal essays about identity shifts, living abroad, and the thoughtful work of becoming who I truly am.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

Jazz hands, a gay choir, and Irish goodbyes. I came to sing backup and accidentally got an emotional education. #Substack #ChoirStories

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I wasn’t brave.
I was patient.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

Watching without being watched teaches you things no one can explain.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

Freedom doesn’t always announce itself.
Sometimes it just lets you sit down and breathe.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I didn’t learn which battles were worth fighting.
I learned how to endure until something better showed up.
That story is here:
https://t.co/37nh46GVzU

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

Some of us survive by leaving quietly.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I wasn’t trying to become someone else.
I just needed time off from being who everyone thought I was.
I wrote about it here:
https://t.co/37nh46Htps

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

Invisibility isn’t emptiness.
Sometimes it’s relief.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I wrote about it here ↓
https://t.co/37nh46GVzU

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I didn’t skip school to rebel.
I skipped school to breathe.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I wasn’t running away.
I was holding on.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I always came back in time for rehearsal.
For dance.
For the parts of myself that still felt alive.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

In the city, I was invisible.
And for the first time, that felt like safety.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

There was a bus stop at the intersection between buildings.
If the light turned red, I could get on.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I went to a performing arts high school with free periods and just enough freedom to disappear without anyone noticing.

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I used to think a full calendar meant a full life.

Then I realized I was booked solid — and still drifting.

This week on Substack I wrote about overcommitment as identity… and what happens when joy crowds out direction.

Full Dance Card → https://t.co/HkGGEoZgrb

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

This one took more honesty than I expected.

https://t.co/QmCQKkWTZ4

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

Sometimes the most meaningful shift is simply stopping.
https://t.co/QmCQKkWTZ4

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I wrote about what happened when I stopped pushing through and let myself pause.

New essay: Permission to Pause

https://t.co/QmCQKkWTZ4

[ZenNesting @Zennesting]

I woke each morning with the sense that I wasn’t fully there. That I could move through the day without being noticed.

https://t.co/1fEpJPcCIt