Christmas Eve often arrives carrying far more than mince pies and wrapping paper. For many people, it’s a day thick with expectation. Expectations about how we should feel, how we should behave, and how much of ourselves we should give. Old family dynamics can re-emerge quietly but powerfully, sometimes before we’ve even realised what’s happening. Roles we thought we’d outgrown…

When people find out I’m a therapist, they often imagine calm. Someone endlessly patient, grounded, and perfectly organised. I sometimes wish they could see the inside of my head instead, the lists that multiply, the tabs that stay open, the way I can forget what I walked into a room for while remembering every detail of something a client said…

Modern dating has its own dictionary now, a whole language of shorthand for feelings we can’t quite name. The ick. The spark. The slow burn. Each one is supposed to mean something clear about attraction or compatibility. But human connection is rarely that simple. I think about how much of our idea of love has been sold to us, through…