I believe that this passage speaks to the moment of the article. The author asserts that "stillness is the new hustle." This suggests the author's belief that as a society, we are striving for peace in our lives. For most, the idea of stability includes a long-term partner. This article was published in 2022. In the year prior, the world was opening back up from COVID isolation. I believe this context explains both the frustration with dating and the yearning for "stillness." When everything opened back up, dating became more feasible and popular. Presumptively, the pressure to find a partner rose alongside it. It is also plausible that the goal of stability is a reaction to the instability of the pandemic- a symptom of the need to move on.

I enjoyed this statement. In the context of the piece, the author's desire to share her story was the motivation for writing it, and her "instinct for self preservation" manifested as the fear and hesitation she felt while facing the vulnerability of publishing it. Hagman learned a lesson that was likely bolstered each time she shared; both feelings are natural, and what one does with those feelings are up to the individual. However, she has found that there is community and necessity in the stories that are most difficult to tell. I find personal essays challenging, because I question whether or not divulging difficult moments is "trauma dumping", or cheapening my experiences by showing them to an audience. The idea that it is part of the human experience to share our stories is a comforting one to me.

The author's reaction here resonated with me. It's probable that the strength of her writing is directly correlated to the emotion it invokes within her and/or her audience. In this instance, she produced a work that was good enough to be published, at the expense of sharing something deeply personal and internally complex. The juxtaposition between the validation of getting published and the mortification of being so publicly vulnerable effectively poses the question "How much is too much to share?"