jessa blog
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When prayer stopped being about getting what I want
My 2025 planner’s year-in-review reminded me that I had a full year despite how mundane most days felt. And as I read or watched end-of-year summaries on social media, I kept thinking about what made 2025 truly different for me. I thought about how it wasn’t really about what I accomplished that year, but what Read more
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Breaking free from the mind control hive
I remember a friend asking our small group, as a way to challenge our ability to think deeply, “Would you follow a leader even when the leader is doing bad things?” We never really discussed how bad is bad, but I can remember how each of us had conflicting responses—about how we shouldn’t be naive Read more
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Taste as a time machine
Following the New Year celebration, we still had some guava left, and to keep them from spoiling, I decided to eat them. While sharing was an option, nobody wanted to have them, so I ended up eating them all by myself. What’s fascinating is that while I was still slicing them, I started recalling childhood Read more
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Late-night musings #32
Being away from traditional forms of employment (you can simply put, being unemployed) enabled me to spend more time with my family and my thoughts. I might be speaking from privilege, having the luxury not to participate in traditional work while still having my basic needs met. But if you have access to resources by Read more
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Sleeping early without being judged
It is strange what we are willing to sacrifice to prove our worth as working people. In the metropolis, the ability to stay awake and keep going on empty, running on too many to count cups of coffee, to grind despite of extreme exhaustion, has become a marker of productivity. But in smaller cities, sleeping Read more
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Moving out
I can still remember how I found out about the vacancy post of what eventually became our apartment unit. I was about to be married and desperate to secure a place for my husband and me to live once we did. Counting the days before we finally move in together, I saw an ad on Read more
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The stuff we collect
We packed most of the things we had accumulated over the two years of our marriage into five medium and three large boxes. While it took us two weeks to sort out what we’ll sell, give away, and bring home, it took more than that to detach myself from the stuff I’d given sentimental value. Read more
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