If you’ve ever felt disconnected from yourself or reality, you might have wondered: Am I dissociating? Is this depersonalization or derealization (DP/DR)? While these terms are related, they aren’t interchangeable. Dissociation is a broad category that includes many ways the mind disconnects—from memory gaps to emotional numbing—while DP/DR specifically refers to the eerie sensation of feeling unreal or detached from your own body or surroundings.

What makes it even trickier? If your sense of self has always felt fractured, you might not even realize it until you learn what a cohesive self is supposed to feel like. It’s like trying to understand water while you’re swimming in it—you don’t see it until something forces you to step back and question it. This post breaks down the differences between dissociation and DP/DR, helping you recognize what’s happening and why awareness is the first step toward grounding yourself again.

We’ve all heard it—those tired phrases that try to turn awareness into a curse. “Sadness is caused by intelligence.” “Ignorance is bliss.” These ideas sound profound until you actually think about them. They paint knowledge as a burden and avoidance as a form of happiness, conveniently skipping over the fact that ignorance has consequences and understanding can lead to more than just despair.

This post is a pushback against that kind of defeatist thinking. Intelligence doesn’t inherently lead to sadness—it’s how we engage with what we know that matters. Awareness doesn’t have to be a weight; it can be fuel. Let’s stop romanticizing avoidance and start talking about what we do with what we understand.

Emotions are a profound paradox—predictable in their triggers yet deeply mysterious in their essence. Discover how core emotions like joy and sadness function as signals, guides, and the texture of our human experience. Explore the patterns and complexities that make emotions both universal and uniquely ours.

Pixar's Inside Out offers a colorful take on our emotional lives, blending entertainment with insights into human psychology. But how close is it to reality? Dive into the science behind core emotions, memory, and identity to explore what the movie gets right—and where it simplifies our complexity.

Navigating the modern world after exiting a rigid belief system is messy but liberating. From understanding technology and capitalism to building relationships and unlearning biases, this guide is your crash course in making sense of today’s chaotic yet exhilarating existence.

Navigating responsibility as a white person means confronting systemic inequality, unpacking ingrained biases, and embracing a lifelong commitment to equity. It’s not about guilt—it’s about action, accountability, and fostering justice. From self-education to amplifying marginalized voices, here’s a guide to meaningful engagement.

Navigating responsibility as a white person means confronting systemic inequality, unpacking ingrained biases, and embracing a lifelong commitment to equity. It’s not about guilt—it’s about action, accountability, and fostering justice. From self-education to amplifying marginalized voices, here’s a guide to meaningful engagement.

Late-stage capitalism highlights the glaring inequalities, excesses, and contradictions of advanced capitalist systems. From extreme wealth concentration to the commodification of basic needs, it’s a term that captures societal trends that feel unsustainable and unjust. But what does it really mean, and how does it manifest in our lives?

Sometimes I despair at how often I fall asleep to life, losing time to thought loops. Yet, I’m realizing that this messy process of waking up and falling back asleep is all part of being human. Life’s absurdity is precious, and maybe, just maybe, I’m holding it more than I thought.

In the midst of depersonalization and existential terror, I’m finding myself wrestling with questions of faith, doubt, and the sheer absurdity of being alive. What does it mean to exist without gods but with wonder? And can we live fully while constantly waking up to our fleeting existence?