Isn’t it wild how despite working with words all day, we often to talk about or describe ourselves? I’ve had the exact same experience.

When I first moved to Mexico to teach at an American school, my workplace crush invited me to join her in some group therapy over the weekend. I said yes in hopes we could make out after, but once the group got going I abandoned all hope.

This wasn’t sitting in a circle and sharing. The people I met that day went up to a podium where, one by one, they screamed at God, sobbed out all their pain, then prayed for forgiveness.

I just sat in a folding chair, frozen by all the vulnerability and openness. At no point in my life have I been able to conjure that level of raw honesty, certainly not in a group setting.

I didn’t return and I never got a proper date with my crush. But I also stopped lusting after her — she’s on a completely different level, far above me.