Actually Asten

Sometimes I get so caught up in day-to-day stuff — the spirals, the nostalgia dives, the Daisy chaos — that I forget to step back and ask myself what I actually want. Not what people expect from me, or what I “should” be doing at a certain age. Just… what I want. So here it…

Content note: This post discusses sexual trauma, shame, and healing. Please read with care. Sometimes, healing looks like writing the words you were too afraid to say for years. This letter is a moment of release — from pain I didn’t ask for, from shame I never deserved, and from a version of myself I’ve…

I used to wonder if there was a “right” age to get married. Was I meant to tick it off by 25? Was there a deadline I’d missed? Should I have followed the timelines everyone else seemed to be on — the school, job, marriage, kids script? But life isn’t a checklist. It’s messy, chaotic,…

I don’t write for bestseller lists.I don’t write to chase trends, algorithms, or royalties that barely cover a coffee. I write because there are stories in me that need to come out.Because sometimes my head is too loud until I let my characters speak.Because Amber, Jonas, and Daisy feel more real to me than most…

Hey everyone 💜 I know it’s been a little quiet on here lately — I just haven’t been in the right headspace for blogging. Life has been a lot recently, and while I’ve had ideas swirling around, I haven’t quite had the energy to turn them into posts. I’m still here, still writing (even if…

For most of my life, I wasn’t sure where I fit. I was the kid who didn’t thrive in mainstream school. The teenager with too many labels and too few places to safely just be. The young adult who carried grief, trauma, and diagnoses like heavy bags — sometimes visible, sometimes hidden under a forced…

There was a time I couldn’t say my own name. Not out loud. Not in writing. Not even in my head without a spike of panic. It wasn’t just “I don’t like it” — it was a full-blown phobia. Seeing it, hearing it, being it made me feel weirdly detached from myself. Like I was…

There are some people who change your life forever — even if they’re not here for as long as they should be. For me, that person was Katie. Katie wasn’t just my best friend. She was a whirlwind of warmth, laughter, chaos, and loyalty. The kind of girl who would walk into your life and…