RaeAnna + A Nerdy Lifestyle
Alana Saab's debut novel, Please Stop Trying to Leave Me, explores a 27-year-old Norma's journey through her diagnosis of major depressive disorder, anxiety, and derealisation/depersonalization disorder along with navigating being a lesbian, being in love, being 27. Blending intense darkness with definitions, humor, a story within a story, academia, and astrology, Saab immerses the reader in a resonating narrative that is affecting and relatable in equal measure.
Oh good lord, do I want to be one of the great writers to really get it right. I probably won't be. The fact you, dear readers, know my name is quite baffling to begin with. I don't write for you. I write for me, but I also don't necessarily want to be lost in the ever gnashing maw of time. What a balance I'm striving for.
The world needs more queer literature, so I'm glad this exists and was published. Ultimately, I'm disenchanted with The Disenchantment by Celia Bell. Muddy and meandering, it leaves the reader bored and a little confused.
Being proud of other people is so easy for me, but finding an ounce of pride for, in, myself... impossibly hard. So, in the vein of loving hard things and being a better person, I decided to give myself this exercise in self-harm, I mean, self-love. I'm doing my best, I didn't say I was doing great.
I love tradition. Vehemently. Whenever something brings me joy, there's a good chance I'll turn it into a tradition. I have so many small traditions that make the drudgery of every day life less drudgy.
April of 2022, I made the decision to consistently exercise. I did, then life happened. In November, I got a bougie ass gym membership. I've been lifting with regularishness for two months, and holy wow have there been some changes. I'm getting a new body, and I'm trying to figure out if I like it. But also what everyone else says about protein... I found out they're right.