Taking things personally is one of the most common emotional patterns humans experience especially during the holidays, when expectations, old stories, and family dynamics can feel louder than usual.

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling hurt, rejected, or criticized by something small, you’re not “too much.” You’re not dramatic. You’re not failing.

You’re human.

And your body is doing its best to make sense of what’s happening.

Let’s break it down gently.

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The end of the year carries its own energy with a mix of nostalgia, hope, pressure, tenderness, and sometimes stress. It’s a season when many people notice familiar patterns in relationships resurfacing, old dynamics showing up around family, or a desire to start fresh.

This is why December is the perfect time for a Relationship Reset Ritual.

This isn’t about fixing everything or diving into heavy emotional work. Instead, it’s a grounding practice that helps you reconnect with yourself or someone you love with warmth, intention, and ease.

Whether you're...

When Someone Pushes Your Buttons: How to Stay Connected to Yourself During Emotional Triggers

The holidays bring a mixture of joy, connection, nostalgia and let’s be honest - emotional complexity. Thanksgiving week especially has a way of placing us in situations where old histories, unresolved tensions, and familiar family dynamics rise to the surface.

Even with the best intentions, someone can say or do something that presses that button, and instantly your whole body reacts. Your chest tightens. Your mind races. Your stomach drops. You feel younger, smaller, or...

Why mixed emotions are normal and how to make space for what matters most

The holiday season has a way of stirring things up inside us.

For some, this time of year feels cozy and connective. For others, it brings stress, pressure, grief, or complicated family dynamics. And for many people, it’s all of the above, a full spectrum of emotions happening at the same time.

If you’re someone who feels both grateful and overwhelmed… joyful and irritated… hopeful and anxious, you’re not doing the holidays wrong. You’re having a very...

The Soul Between You

Every relationship has a pulse - a rhythm, a heartbeat, a living energy that exists between two people.

It’s more than shared routines or conversations. It’s the quiet space where your connection lives - the soul of your relationship.

When we pause long enough to notice that space, we can begin to sense its tone: Is it calm or tense? Open or guarded? Playful or heavy?

This awareness helps us tend not only to our individual needs but to the relationship itself - the “we” that holds both people’s...

Loneliness is one of those quiet experiences that doesn’t always make sense from the outside.

You can be in a relationship, surrounded by people who love you, and still feel like no one really sees you.

It’s not the same as being alone.

Loneliness is the feeling of being disconnected - from others, yes, but also from yourself.

When You Feel Lonely

For many people I see in therapy, loneliness shows up in subtle ways:

• A sense that conversations stay surface-level.

• Feeling emotionally distant from your...

I see it all the time in couples counseling - partners who love each other but are quietly struggling at night.

One person can’t fall asleep because the other snores.

Someone’s anxious, restless, or stuck in a cycle of sleepless nights.

Different bedtimes, tossing, turning - and before long, the bedroom starts to feel like another battleground.

Eventually, someone suggests sleeping apart.

And that’s when the fear sets in:

“Does this mean something’s wrong with us?”

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When things get tense in a relationship, it’s easy to slip into familiar patterns.

One partner might withdraw to calm down, while the other reaches out, hoping to talk or find reassurance.

Over time, these roles can become painful. The one who pulls away may feel misunderstood or overwhelmed. The one who reaches out may feel rejected or alone.

The truth is - both partners are trying to feel safe.

But safety can look very different for each person.

🌿 Introducing Capacity

In therapy, I often use the word capacity to...

Last week, we looked at what happens for the partner who feels blamed and pushed away when emotional shutdown takes over. If you missed it, you can read it here. This week, we’re shifting perspective to the partner who withdraws.

If you’ve ever found yourself going quiet, shutting down, or emotionally retreating when conflict arises, you’re not alone. This response is often misunderstood by partners as rejection, punishment, or indifference. But in reality, shutdown is usually a...