I'm going to preface this story by saying: I don't necessarily believe in karma, but

I may have been walking through today with a vague sense of disbelief tainted with unkind smugness after my tiktok fyp was flooded with poor fans who tried to get presale ticket to one mr n. kahan's new tour only to find that demand was through the roof and GA pit tickets were seriously going for $300, in presale, and even the "worst" tickets in the lawn were going for $70

and while I undoubtedly think it's deeply unethical for both platforms (thanks ticketmaster) and artists to allow such dramatic ticket cost inflation, I also generally don't relate...

I (VERY LUCKILY) gravitate towards smaller acts, and the most I've paid for a ticket all year has been, like... $90 for a ticket to beyonce, which got cancelled and I was refunded lol. if I look back at all my receipts from shows this year, most have been around $50/ticket after fees, and several have been closer to $20. my favorite show I've seen all year was a $15 ticket.

it's mostly luck—I tend to like smaller acts, and I've been seeing mainly rock acts this year, and those tickets simply don't run as high as pop acts. and part of me is honestly very grateful that I haven't been swept into any of the really recent huge acts.

I think of all the people scrabbling for boygenius or taylor swift tickets and how much money they've had to shell out... how a lot of them don't even GET to see the acts they want to see because they've been priced out or tickets sold out. I can't remember the last time a show I wanted to go to sold out lol. maybe bastille in london?

and again, it's just a matter of luck that I'm not really into any of these megastars and therefore don't have to compete in the gladiator arena to try to see shows I want to see, but sometimes luck manifests as a feeling of self-satisfaction, you know? who among us hasn't experienced a little self-superiority from time to time.

look, if YOUR tiktok was flooded with people saying concerts have been awful since 2021 (including rock and metal shows), but every concert YOU'VE been to since 2021 was amazing and the crowds were really good and you always got tickets and it never broke the bank, you'd feel pretty validated in your choice of musicians and the crowds they attract too, alright?? sue me! I felt frugal AND undeservedly clever!

anyways back to karma. guess who got invited and subsequently agreed to shell out $70 to sit in a lawn and listen to mr. n. kahan sing. I'll give you a hint, her tumblr username starts with an r and ends with an s

Alien Franchise Thoughts

This weekend I happened to catch and rewatch Alien: Covenant. Right after that I caught and rewatched Aliens. This was sheerly through channel surfing luck that I watched these movies in this order. But, in doing so I connected some dots and had some realizations that gave me a new appreciation for the prequel series.

A Bit of Background

I can’t remember if I saw Alien or The Terminator first, so Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor get equal billing for being “the first” female action heroes I ever encountered. Prior to them I’d seen Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis watching action films with my dad. So seeing not Tom Skerrit’s Captain Dallas or John Hurt’s Kane but Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley take on the role of Action Hero was essential to my development as an eleven-year-old girl. I’m not even exaggerating for the sake of drama. Watching Ripley in Alien was one of the first examples I saw in media of a woman in a role I’d only seen taken on by male characters before. For this reason alone, the original Alien holds a special place in my heart.

The Original Series

I have mixed feelings about the franchise as a whole. I loved Alien and Aliens to me was just as good and is one of the few sequels that measures up to the original. It lost me at Alien 3 when they killed off Newt and Hicks in the opening crash land. Forcing Ripley into the “sole survivor” role becomes formulaic here and… honestly I’ve had no desire to rewatch Alien 3 and completely forget the entire plot other than the fact that it takes place in a prison setting and Ripley had to shave her head. And they killed off Ripley! I remember being very upset all around at Alien 3 and I think I mentally disowned it.

Alien: Resurrection brought me back around because Ripley was back! And there was Winona Ryder! However, Ripley wasn’t the same Ripley we remembered. She was some clone or hybrid or… I don’t really know what they were going for there. But, I looked at this film as a standalone almost AU installment and I’m actually very okay with it. Not my favorite by a longshot, but a slight redemption from Alien 3’s mess.

Alien vs. Predator

No. Just no. Denied. Why? What even? WHY?!

I’ve seen a few of these movies and if you’re a fan of big monsters fighting one another with a bunch of random humans caught in the middle, these movies might be your jam. If you��re a Predator or an Alien fan, though, it kind of doesn’t fit in with either in my opinion.

The Prequels

When I watched Prometheus I hadn’t done any research on it at all, so I had no idea it had anything to do with the Alien franchise. I saw a space-themed action-horror film with Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace, and Michael Fassbender involved and I was IN, man. Honorable mention to Logan Marshall-Green, who is also awesome but I didn't catch in the trailers. So he was a nice surprise.

The opening scene was unworldly and gorgeous, much like the opening of The Mists of Avalon, which is a weird comparison, I know. But I was enchanted by this opening scene much like I was as I watched Morgaine Le Fey float through the mist that served as a doorway to a magical world. We see an unknown being on an alien planet perform a mysterious ritual and then plummet into the water. The first clue was the title card, which even then I thought “Oh, cool! They did the Alien thing!” but hadn’t connected it as directly related. I’d just thought it was a subtle nod because of the Ridley Scott connection.

I loved Prometheus as a film. I had a very similar reaction to it that I had to the original Alien movie. We had an ensemble of characters, all with their own personalities and enough development to make us care. Noomi Rapace became the reluctant hero as opposed to the expected Charlize Theron, who had been in the Ripley role (“He’s not coming on my ship.”). As the Alien clues dropped, I picked them up and quickly (excitedly) realized the film was somehow connected – it had to be. For me, that was just the cherry on top of a fantastic film.

Alien: Covenant made me feel much like Alien 3 did. The ending of Prometheus had been hopeful, echoing both the endings of Alien and Aliens. Our hero Elizabeth Shaw had survived and would bring android David along to find the Engineers and get her answers. Ridley Scott himself spoke about a possible sequel involving Elizabeth and David trying to do just that.

And then we got Alien: Covenant. Elizabeth and David were nowhere to be found and instead we were (hastily) introduced to an entire new crew of characters whose development was severely lacking in the film. We don’t even know everyone’s paired up in romantic couples until people start dying. When David did finally appear to rescue everyone I was excited. Yes! Finally, a tie-in to Prometheus. And then we learn Elizabeth died suspiciously and the franchise is turned over to David. To say I was infuriated would be an understatement.

I was more excited about the project Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn spoke about at a comic-con panel that would’ve followed Alien and Aliens (and maybe retconned some stuff) than I was about whatever Ridley Scott did next (I still kind of am, if I’m honest). Why would someone take a franchise helmed by a powerhouse female action hero and then make its lead an insane android and his pet virus? Why would I want to follow this asshole instead of Shaw, Daniels, or even Vickers?

Final Analysis

Watching Aliens right on the heels of Alien: Covenant made it easier for me to make some connections and parallels. In Aliens, a group of marines attempts to travel to a space colony that lost contact to see what’s going on. Ripley is brought along (with Burke, that shit) as a consultant “just in case” (even though everyone treats her like she has a case of the vapors when she tells them about the xenomorphs). The premise makes little sense on the outset. However, when we later learn Burke’s true motivation it makes perfect sense. Burke believes Ripley, although he makes a show of the opposite. And he wants to bag an alien to bring home and sell to the highest bidder. When the soldiers start stomping carelessly around blowing holes in things with there big dumb weapons, it’s infuriating to the audience, knowing what we know. However, it’s also infuriating to Ripley and we’re reminded why she’s there. These are soldiers who, of course, have no idea what to do with an alien species and probably aren’t used to exploring alien environments.

This is very similar to what’s going on in Alien: Covenant. Not made clear in the film due to the character development scenes (such as “the last supper” prologue) being cut, this crew are explorers and colonists. They’re not astronauts or scientists. A few of the characters appear to be military escorts or officers. Of course they’re tromping around without a care in the world. They don’t know any better. Their captain, Jake Bronson, dies mid-journey and his second-in-command, Billy Crudup’s Oram, is super insecure about his new position. This is frequently shown in his interactions with Katherine Waterson’s No First Name Daniels, who was also Bronson’s wife. Daniels has a comradery and respect with the crew not present with Oram. So, when Oram has to start making decisions he’s acting more on his insecurity and his need to Do Something and be taken seriously than acting on the information and advice he’s given. Also, once we know the relationships between characters everyone’s bizarre anti-survival behavior makes a ton of sense. After a certain point in the film, everyone has lost a spouse and/or a ton of friends. Everyone is grieving, scared, and not at all trained to be doing what they’re doing, and they don’t have a Ripley on board to help guide them. “Game over, man! Game over!”

Yeah, Alien: Covenant is what happens when you make every character a Hudson.

Watching Ripley’s reaction to Bishop in Aliens reminded me how iffy Ash the A.I. was in Alien. You know, he got all murdery and everything.

Then I remembered – oh, yeah – Alien: Covenant is a prequel. This means David is an A.I. precursor of some kind to Ash… which means he’s a faulty A.I. Also, Ripley encountered creatures and situations no one had discovered before to our knowledge (due to everyone’s reaction to Ripley’s story in Aliens). This ultimately means no one can make it out of these prequels alive or it compromises Ripley’s established story.

David is a faulty A.I., which hasn’t yet been experienced by anyone living who has encountered androids in space exploration if we go by the example of Ash in Alien. Failsafes haven’t been given to androids yet to limit their emotional depths or put rules in place to prevent them from harming humans. He’s creating creatures that are new. No one knows they exist, so no one is prepared for them (just like the crew of the Nostromo wasn’t prepared for the xenomorphs in Alien). Even heavily trained soldiers, scientists, and astronauts will be encountering deadly things they don’t know are out there: a highly intelligent rogue A.I. capable of experiencing emotion and evolution, mutated weaponized creatures unlike anything they’ve ever seen before, and an alien virus that mutates its host and is undetectably ingested.

Guys, ain’t nobody emerging as the lone heroic survivor of anything in this franchise (except the fucking xenomorph).

Having digested and accepted that information, I am grimly awaiting what happens next, and I really hope with all my giddy little heart that theorized Aliens sequel Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn teased is going to happen. I’ll even take a video game version.

Hicks and Newt deserved better and I stand by that.

So I updated my summary of my Whimsica series Foibles.

It’s  still very messy and incomplete, but that will change with time as I get more ideas.

Sumi’s situation is inspired by Daughter of White, yes. Also yes, it kinda did become a fantasy version of A Dreamer’s Journey.

———

The Forest of Resonance is a tropical rainforest in the magical land of Whimsica where it is perpetually summer. The forest is inhabited by elven people, or elves. It never is cold in the forest, nor does it ever snow. Nobody who inhabits the Forest of Resonance is able leave it, or else they will begin to die slowly as long as they are outside of the boundaries. Everyone in the forest has hair/eyes that are blue, green, or somewhere in between. Even when they age, the hair never turns white. But Sumi Shizumi, an albino, was born with white hair, and is ostracized because of it. Sumi Shizumi was born on an unusually cold day for the forest. She was born with white hair and purple eyes, and everyone began to treat Sumi as a mistake and a cursed child because of it. Sumi’s single mother who was a pianist, Setsuko, passed away shortly after birthing her, leaving Sumi an orphan. Sumi’s mother cared deeply about her child. Her final wish was for Sumi to live on and have a happy life, despite her looking different. However, others would soon mistreat Sumi. Sumi had been living with an adoptive mother since then, who frequently treated Sumi as inferior. Sumi’s adoptive mother then died when Sumi was 17, leaving her to live on her own. Sumi grows up as a very lonely and apologetic person, despite having an incredibly gentle and benevolent nature. Sumi also has an adventurous spirit. She is a writer, she loves books, and had always heard stories and legends of life outside the forest. She has always longed to see all the amazing sights from beyond the boundaries. Sumi is not only ostracized for her white hair, but also her strange powers. Everyone else’s powers are related to plants and summer elements. Sumi’s powers are related to ice and are rather wintry. They are also very hard to control, and more like a curse. Before Sumi’s discovered her powers, nobody had ever heard of snow. When they first saw the snow that happened because of Sumi, they panicked. They thought that Sumi had done something bad to the usual rain. The key to Sumi controlling her powers is confidence. But since Sumi has been mistreated her whole life, finding confidence ends up being an immensely difficult quest for her. Ever since she was little, Sumi also wanted to be a singer (like her upperclassman Liu) but she’s never had the courage, not even to join the sing-along program at school. She avoided singing with the other kids in music class out of fear of being criticized, and sat alone in the corner. Sumi wanted to play the piano the way her mother did. She took a lesson at age 12, but she was clumsy at it. The pianist in her village was very harsh, also mistreated Sumi, and refused to teach Sumi any further due to being a “nuisance”. This damages Sumi’s self-esteem further. Kiri is a girl who secretly always wanted to be comfort Sumi and be her friend, except she felt like a powerless bystander. Kiri did comfort Sumi in secret by giving her uplifting notes in her locker and mailbox when nobody was around, essentially becoming Sumi’s secret friend. However, Kiri felt like she could not reveal herself, because then she’d be mistreated too. One day when she is 22, Sumi is having a particularly horrible day. That night when she sees a shooting star from her treehouse, she wishes for someone, anyone, to be her friend. Sumi’s emotional feelings that night were so strong, it caused a blizzard to plummet the forest. The crops begin to die and everyone chases Sumi out because of what she did. The elder of the forest says that Sumi won’t die when she’s away from the forest, because the forest was never where she belonged in the first place. This hurts Sumi deeply, hearing she never belonged. What hurts even more is that Sumi doesn’t seem to feel weaker once she’s away from the forest, meaning the elder was right. Sumi takes this opportunity to run away, to somewhere outside the boundaries where she’d be happier. However, word gets out, and Kiri is worried. She follows Sumi in secret, even risking her own death. Meanwhile on Earth, we have Reina Coda. Reina is a girl who finds her life boring and disappointing. She is a singer and pianist, but recently she lost her passion and reason. Reina became a nihilist who believes her life is meaningless. She desires and longs for a reason to keep living. One night, Reina goes to sleep after a long day... and mysteriously wakes up in another world. In fact, this is Whimsica. Reina wakes up in an unknown place, wanders for a while, and finds Sumi, who is running away. They have a conversation. Reina’s hair is black, which Sumi comments on. All throughout her life, she had only seen people with blue or green hair, and never a different color, such as black as the night. Sumi asks where Reina is from. Reina mentions she’s from far away, and that she’s lost. Reina is initially aloof and a bit standoffish. She isn’t good at consoling Sumi, who is so diffident. But she comments that Sumi’s hair is beautiful. This changes Sumi’s life. She had never thought of herself as anything more than worthless and ugly, and it was all because of her hair. Having it being called beautiful changes Sumi’s world. They go on a journey together. All sorts of adventures. Sumi’s journey is to find acceptance. Reina’s journey is to find a way back home. Throughout the story, many things happen. They even both gain powers to transform into magical girls and fight monsters through fulfillment (mentioned later). Sumi ends up making her previously uncontrollable ice powers useful. They become friends, though it takes them a while to get close. Sumi ends up trusting Reina, and tells her secrets and dreams. Sumi wants to be a singer and pianist. Reina, who is experienced in both, offers to teach Sumi. Eventually they discover an old house. They decide to make it their home. Coincidentally and much to their delight, the house mysteriously has a piano in it. Reina uses this to start Sumi’s piano and voice lessons. Sumi is clumsy at both at first. This discourages her immensely. Eventually, Reina unintentionally hurts Sumi’s feelings by telling her that she lacks confidence. Reina claims That Sumi won’t be making it far as a singer without such a crucial characteristic. Sumi breaks down into tears and has an emotional outburst. She runs away and hides. Reina apologizes, but Sumi still feels hurt. This stems from Sumi’s low self-esteem and past rejection. Reina eventually gets to understand Sumi’s feelings better, and realizes how her words were hurtful to Sumi. Reina finds Sumi. She then tells Sumi she understands her better and apologizes again. She tells Sumi that everyone has things they need to learn, and that it doesn’t make Sumi awful or hopeless. Sumi and Reina have a poignant moment that brings them closer together. Reina confesses to Sumi that she once was shy as well. Reina gradually opens up more throughout the story. We end up finding out why she is a nihilist and is so standoffish. Reina’s parents died, and her step-parents are always arguing and eventually divorced, leading Reina into thinking life is meaningless. Eventually during their journey, Sumi and Reina stumble upon a colorful Land of Misfits. Legend has it, to reach this land, you have to be someone running away due to being mistreated for being different. Then, if you are lucky, you will come across the Land of Misfits. A long time ago, all the people and creatures who ran away had found each other and built a safe haven where everyone is accepted. However, villains from the evil planet Monochrome want to destroy the Land of Misfits, because they don’t think that the Misfits deserve to be happy. Monochrome doesn’t believe in happiness. They also want to corrupt Whimsica to make the entire universe boring and hopeless to their liking. Monochrome villains spread despair, and have the power to harness negative feelings and turn them into monsters. These monsters hurt people physically and emotionally, and spread negative energy. Reina, along with the people in the Land of Misfits, tell Sumi that she doesn’t have to be sorry for being different. They tell her that it’s not her fault. Once Sumi hears that it isn’t her fault, and finds out there are Misfits with stories like hers, her entire world changes. For the first time, she doesn’t feel alone. Eventually, Sumi even finds out about hair dye, but she declines the opportunity to dye her white hair that she’s been ostracized for her whole life. She is pressured into doing so by the person selling it, but Sumi stands up for herself and claims there’s nothing wrong with being different in the first place. This is part of her character development. Sumi now realizes all the unfair treatment she’s been through. She wants to stand up for all misfits. Out of spite, she refuses to change. It’s a little thing, but it shows how much Sumi’s confidence had developed. When Sumi finds out about Monochrome, she is shocked and appalled that they want to destroy a land filled with all the people that are different. Though Sumi is timid, she wants to make a difference. She slowly builds her self-worth and confidence, and her magic gets stronger and more controllable as a result. Sumi and Reina also find they can cast magic with music. Sumi and Reina also end up, along with some Misfits, joining an exploration team, in order to explore Whimsica, combat Monochrome’s negativity monsters, and look for a way for Reina to return home. It gets to the Sumi eventually fulfills herself. In Whimsica, magical transformations, complete with an outfit and a special weapon, are unlocked when the user “fulfills” themself. This can be through overcoming an obstacle, or having a substantial moment of bravery. In Sumi’s home forest, fulfillment was said to only happen to the “truly worthy”. Very few people in the forest had been able to. Reina eventually fulfills herself when she gets over her feelings that life is meaningless. Being with Sumi teachers Reina that life is precious. And that’s all I have for now I guess. But they do save the Land of Misfits after an epic journey. Without Sumi’s courage and kindness, the Land of Misfits would have never been saved. Sumi goes from bein At the end of the story, Reina says something corny like “Maybe the real journey is deep inside of us all.” But it shows how much her view on life changes. Though eventually there is a sad ending where Reina has to go back to Earth and say goodbye to Sumi forever, but she’ll never forget her. But Reina is the person who changed Sumi’s life and gave her strength. Perhaps Sumi needs to find the strength to go on without Reina, yet treasure her memories. It is thought that Reina can never return to Whimsica. During the time Reina is gone home, Sumi becomes an accomplished magical girl. She also becomes a vocal coach, because she wants to help people reach their dreams the way Reina had helped her. One of her students is very shy just like her, so Sumi tells them the story of her and Reina, and how she was shy and hopeless once. Meanwhile, Reina is extremely depressed at home and wishes she could at least visit Sumi once again, who had given her life meaning. However, she is grateful. Reina will never forget how she felt when she was with Sumi. Eventually, four months later, Reina gains the ability to go back to Whimsica. She finds Sumi again, and eventually they get married.

How to Deal With Unrequited Love as an INFP

For an INFP personality type, nothing is more thrilling than the prospect of falling in love. However, INFPs often find themselves in the unfortunate situation of a love that is unreciprocated. This situation can occur not just once but a number of times. INFPs may find themselves in the ugly paradox of wanting more than ever to experience the ultimate romance but feeling unable to make the necessary move for their dream to become reality. Or when they finally summon the courage to unveil their true feelings, they experience rejection.

For the INFPs of the world who have suffered from this curse, this article is dedicated to you, offering some tricks of the trade on how to deal, and providing a cheeky spell to make it all seem worthwhile. If you’re not an INFP, fear not! This may also apply to any true romantic whose heart has been savagely broken.

Usually the tale begins like this: you’re somewhere doing something required of you, and a special someone magically catches your attention. This is a big deal because it does not occur every day. You may eagerly return to this fated place again and again on the promise of finding yourself in contact with this person. When the two of you do talk again, you experience butterflies from their subtle glances. Then you spend hours secretly analyzing your conversation, and you replay your favorite interactions—each time gaining a new delicate piece of information in the hope of unlocking their true intentions.

So you do what any person does when they’ve got a crush. Except for you, the INFP, this can easily verge on a sweet, innocent obsession. This obsession is dangerous territory. When we INFPs have crushes, we unconsciously assign so much meaning to this person, because of our dominant function, Introverted Feeling (Fi). We become too involved in all the possibilities, due to our Extroverted Intuition (Ne). We let our imaginations fill in the blanks. We can fall in love with someone we barely even know.

And how do we decide to deal with our undying l’amour for this person? Maybe we spill all the contents of our heart to them, only to receive a shaky, “No thank you.” Maybe we pine silently from afar, deciding to let destiny do all the work, only to find that your love was just not meant to be. The tale then concludes with the vicious struggle to actually get over this person. Instead of a peaceful melancholy ending, we are left at war with ourselves and what’s left of our self-confidence. We may obsess until we find a new object of infatuation.

We have the power to alleviate this cycle if we can figure out what really happened here. The “I” in INFP might as well stand for introspective, as this is the inevitable aftermath of an unrequited love. It’s so tempting to wallow on why you have been struck with such misfortune. Which is why this is where it can go horribly wrong, because this is when we can get stuck. Yes, we idealized, and yes, only afterwards did we realize this fact. Yes, maybe some self-repair is in order, but how much? While introspecting, it’s easy to become enraptured in the confusion of our idealism—how much of this was real and how much of this was made up? We relentlessly question everything about ourselves, and these questions can often be negative and purposeless. Am I destined to be alone forever? Am I too shy? Was I boring? Am I too awkward?

Without any clear reason for an actual or perceived rejection, our self-esteem plummets to the deepest lengths. Usually we try to justify the situation as a way to get over the person once and for all, which never works. Our support group of select friends and family plays a huge role in this stage, with clichéd sayings of comfort involving “more fish in the sea” and the like. These unlucky few will hear you retell and reanalyze the ordeal over and over until they can’t take it anymore. Inevitably, our negative questions reach a new low. Oh man…what is wrong with me? Why am I so obsessed with this? Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again?!

How to Prevent This From Happening Again

1. Understand the difference between a crush, limerence, and love. To put it simply: a crush is a short infatuation, while limerence is a longer, stronger state of infatuation that’s usually characterized by obsession. Love can have many interpretations, but reciprocated feelings of appreciation are an established requirement. It’s necessary to recognize the difference between these states because we often become so caught up in the excitement of romance that we quickly rush to hibernate into every fantasy our mind can create. Understandable, since it can be tough for us introverts to find someone worthy of our appreciation. But awareness is important, and a start.

2. Try to control your ability to obsess: this is a hard one, folks. Now that you’re aware that you might be crush-ing or limerence-ing someone, you can call upon the strength of self-discipline to not get super crazy obsessed. There’s no easy way to do this. Distractions help, so engage in hobbies, school, your job—anything that prevents you from daydreaming about this person all day. The easiest way to accomplish this is distance. Stay away from this person if you can, at least for a little while, preferably before you start planning your imaginary proposal.

3. Be brave. And flirt. Flirting might not be an obvious strength of ours, but we can be uniquely charming. Not communicating that you are interested is a sure fire way to end up crushed. Try to muster up the courage to do your version of flirting. Maybe smile and hold eye contact for more than a millisecond. Even better, ask them on a date. Life is short, and this will prevent you from wasting mental effort pining away for them. If you’ve flirted in the past only to end up with unrequited love, applaud yourself and never give up.

4. Believe you are worthy of being loved. Yes, it is sappy and a challenge, but self-love is critical for reciprocal love and happiness. Self-loathing is where we often end up after the dream doesn’t come true. It’s one of our biggest struggles. Everyone has flaws and imperfections, so choose not to lose faith in yourself. For every fault, find something you truly appreciate about yourself. Seek a journal, a trusted friend, or a therapist to help you with this if you find yourself continuously struggling with self-esteem.

What to Do If It Happens Again

1. Take time to heal. Sometimes we can be so disappointed that it’s almost like your whole world was obliterated. Sometimes people we confide in can make our situation out to be nothing, because to them, it resulted in nothing. Make sure that you unload to the right people, and make sure you make time for yourself to cope. Nature walks and meditation can be extremely helpful when navigating sad emotions. Sweet treats do their part too.

2. Hope is still your best friend. It’s safe to say that endless optimism is a trait of the INFP. But sometimes our hidden cynicism can win. Don’t lose faith in love. No matter how many times unrequited love may occur in your life, you will eventually find someone you love who loves you back. Be patient, and accomplish amazing things in the mean time.

3. Logic is your even better best friend. This is a prime time to learn from your situation. Though it’s not second nature, we can develop the skill of rational thinking, even when our feelings have flooded our brain. Maybe you’ll learn to not read into potential signs as much. Or how to not overanalyze. Logic can help deter you from wallowing and obsessing even more, and may also help you in getting over the person. It can be pivotal for self-improvement without blaming yourself too severely.

4. Seek to understand your relationship with vulnerability. Shame goes hand in hand when experiencing unrequited love. We can feel foolish for falling for someone who doesn’t feel the same way. Fear of rejection and of being vulnerable can often be held responsible for our struggles in communication at times. The more we aim for self-growth in this area, the more we can develop skills to properly express how we feel in order to get into a relationship and to maintain a relationship.

Lastly, here is the cheeky spell mentioned earlier:

Though we might be prone to unrequited love, take heart in knowing that you have the ability to fall so deeply in this delicious feeling. That you delight in it. It can have some unfortunate circumstances, it might not provoke the healthiest of behaviors at times, and it can lead to utter heartbreak. But there is a privilege in feeling all those addicting emotions of love. This tendency often fuels our desires and passions in life when we love other things that aren’t love itself. And even when we fall into the trap of unrequited love, it inevitably teaches us so much about ourselves—things we need to learn for success in later triumphs of romance.

“Reciprocal love, such as I envisage it, is a system of mirrors which reflects for me, under the thousand angles that the unknown can take for me, the faithful image of the one I love, always more surprising in her divining of my own desire and more gilded with life.” —André Breton, Mad Love (source)