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Father’s Day. It’s a day when millions, literally millions, of people are celebrating the fathers in their lives. Whether that’s their partners, friends, family, or their own dads. For many, it’s a day of joy and appreciation. But for others, it can be a somber or uneasy reminder of the father they no longer have in their lives.

There are plenty of people who’ve lost their dads. There are also many who never had a relationship with their father, or whose fathers were absent during their childhood and teenage years. Some people find themselves in a different place, aiming to build a connection with their father as an adult.

But I fall into another category, one that feels strange and complicated. I’m one of the people whose father was incredibly present growing up. He was once my favorite person on the planet as a child. And yet, at thirty years old, I made the decision to cut ties and sever all communication with him.

It’s a weird feeling to be at peace, even happy, with that decision when for a long time, my guilt stemmed from not grieving or mourning it the way I thought I would.

As with many of my blog posts, I want to offer an unconventional perspective, to give space and language to nuanced and complicated feelings. So, I’m dedicating this one to the former daddy’s girls who, like me, find themselves with complicated emotions around this global day of celebration.

When I turned 30, I made a promise to myself: this decade would be about doing the things I had always “what if’ed” about. This was the year I would chase my dreams, curiosities, and passions like never before. But I didn’t want the leap to stop at creative work. I wanted to take a bold step I’d been considering for years….establishing a life in another country.

So, I did. I secured my residency in Mexico and set up a base in Mexico City.

This month, I was honored with the Master of Storytelling award at the 5th annual Druk International Film Festival. Each year, this award is given to filmmakers who have made significant contributions to independent cinema.

I’m thrilled to share my first blogging partnership with TAIMI - an LGBTQIA+ Dating App.

Taimi has an incredible blog of resources from activists and educators across the globe. This year for Valentines’ Day, I wrote a piece on asexual intimacy for their blog.

We rarely talk about the relentless pressure goal-setting brings—or how it can wreak havoc on your emotions and mental health when you fall short.

So, for this month’s blog post, I want to explore New Year’s resolutions and how to make goal-setting pressureless.

That decision gave me the space to reimagine the holidays on my own terms. I’ve since started my own traditions and found joy in celebrating the season in ways that feel authentic and nourishing to me.

If the holidays feel more stressful than magical for you, I hope this post encourages you to lean into the untraditional and reclaim this time of year in a way that works for you. Here are a few things I’ve done to fall in love with the holidays again:

In honor of Asexual Awareness Week, I want to take a moment to share my journey of realizing I’m asexual—a journey that took over two decades to fully understand. It has been treacherous at times, even funny in moments, but above all, it’s a journey I can now reflect on with gratitude.

My life at 30 looks nothing like I imagined, and that’s because it’s been shaped by deep unlearning, relentless questioning, and a series of unapologetic 'fuck yous' to anything that stood between me and my own happiness. It’s also been defined by the kind of vulnerability and transparency I didn’t know I was capable of, by finding my voice, and by embracing love in every form it came to me.

Here’s 3 lessons I’ve learned along the way.