Jillian Aurora

What living abroad has taught me about empathy, community, and our inability to decenter ourselves Since moving to Romania, I've become frustrated by something I never noticed quite so prominently when I lived in America: how difficult it seems to be for Americans to step outside their own experiences. We talk endlessly about empathy, compassion, and understanding, yet we often show remarkably little curiosity about how other people live, what they struggle with, or how our own behavior...

I have been thinking a lot lately about reciprocity, and about how difficult it has become to create the kind of community so many of us say we are missing. This is complicated territory for me, because I was once a very dedicated self-love coach. I grew up in religious extremism, in a world where obligation and self-sacrifice were confused with righteousness, and learning that access to me was my right alone was fundamental to my recovery. I had to learn that I was not responsible for...

When I first came to Romania, I fell in love with a little kitten. He died only a month later from complications from worms, and I buried him in the forest here, in a country that was still almost entirely new to me. Around his little grave were some enormous snails, slowly moving across the moss. The image stayed with me and I later read about the symbolism of snails, who embody their homes. Over the past year, as my relationship with the idea of home has become much more complicated, I have...