Where Life Meets Art

The Knots of Relationships A reflective personal essay about family, memory, and the emotional knots we inherit—and pass on. A story of how relationships can drain us—and still guide us back to ourselves. Relationships grow like knots. At first, they are thin and seem easy to untie. But as life goes on, they become thicker, tighter, and harder to loosen. We tell ourselves we should untangle them. Then we postpone it. We look away. And one day, we feel the urge to cut them instead. This is how relationships change—quietly, in the hands of time. The most complicated knots in my life are tied to four women. Whether we are together or apart, our lives are deeply entangled. My mother. My daughter. My mother-in-law. My sister-in-law. And me. Just naming them makes a quiet ache rise somewhere inside my chest. Children look for someone to blame, and most often that so...

What if My Effort is a Cutting-Edge App, but My Mind is Still “Windows 95”? 1. A Chance Encounter with a Book This story doesn’t begin with some grand realization. In fact, I still find myself asking the same question over and over: Why is it that despite all my efforts, my life doesn’t seem to change much? There are times when I feel like I’m living diligently, yet always stuck in the negatives— a kind of exhaustion, like running endlessly on a hamster wheel. Perhaps I’ve been looking for the cause in the wrong place. A while ago, while browsing a thrift store, a book caught my eye. It was The Secret . It was a book that once spread like a cultural phenomenon, but somehow I had never gotten around to reading it. I bought it without much expectation and slowly began turning the pages. Yet instead of the book’s content itself, one question lingered in my mind: If my life were a business enterprise, have I been running it in an outdated, overly narrow way? 2. I’m Putti...

Alone Feels Lonely, Together Feels Exhausting A personal reflection on loving people while needing solitude — with an INFJ lens on emotional exhaustion and healthier ways to balance connection and space. I Am a Person Who Loves People Lately, MBTI has become a popular way to talk about personality, especially in Korea. At first, I watched the trend from a distance. Reducing people to four letters felt too simple. But one day, I wondered: What if this language could explain the quiet contradiction I live with every day? I have friends. I love my husband. I care deeply about my family and value my church community. I am not someone who avoids relationships. And yet, after spending just an hour with friends, I often feel mentally drained — not physically tired, but emotionally and cognitively exhausted. Even after a pleasant conversation, I return home need...