There’s a particular ache that comes from holding back a desire so long you start to call it a flaw. We learn to tuck our longing behind our teeth, to dress it in discipline and drape it in gratitude. But desire is not a weakness—it’s a flame, a compass, a heartbeat. Wanting more doesn’t make you selfish. It makes you alive…

You call it preparation. Readiness. A safeguard. You believe if you run the numbers enough times, if you account for every possibility, you can stay ahead of loss, of failure, of regret. Yet worry is not a fortress; it is a cage…