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Essays & stories.

The writing is where all of it starts — honest essays on mental health, late diagnosis, burnout, and finding your way home to yourself.

Latest essays.

Why We Only Show Up After Someone Is Gone
Essay · September 2026 · Substack

Why We Only Show Up After Someone Is Gone

On the money, the speeches, and what it would take for any of it to arrive before the crisis instead.

Stop Asking How You Can Help (Do This Instead)
Essay · August 2026 · Substack

Stop Asking How You Can Help (Do This Instead)

“Let me know if you need anything” is the least helpful thing you can say. What to do instead when someone you love is struggling.

How Getting Diagnosed Turned My Life Upside Down
Essay · July 2026 · Substack

How Getting Diagnosed Turned My Life Upside Down

I waited a decade for the diagnosis I thought would make me whole. It did the opposite, and that turned out to be the point.

When the Body Keeps the Score: The Curriculum of Grief
Essay · May 2026 · Substack

When the Body Keeps the Score: The Curriculum of Grief

When the mind lets go, so the body can heal.

The Checklist Nobody Gave Us
Essay · She Matters

The Checklist Nobody Gave Us

Written for She Matters — on the invisible expectations we inherit, and permission to set them down.

Also published

Elsewhere on the page.

What I Mean When I Say I Suffer From Depression

HuffPost

Careless Care

The McGill Daily

Why Being Active Outdoors Matters More Than Ever

MEC

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Anna Pearson
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writing a softer corner of the internet
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