In his song, “Old AF,” Alex Aiono says it’s difficult to feel young when you’re burdened by responsibilities.

“Being young is pretty easy to forget, when you’re 16; paying mom and dad’s rent.”

I remember when I was 9 or 10 years old, a charity volunteer who visited my village was amazed when she learned that I hand-washed my clothes and did the all-around chores at home.

She said I was so grown up and independent. She said she wished her kids could be as responsible as I was. …

I have a friend who I’ve been close to since high school. When I broke up with my long-term girlfriend, this friend became the closest person to me. But we don’t speak now.

It’s not like we had a fight or anything. We simply don’t go out anymore.

5 years ago, when I still believed in “fighting” to keep the people I cared about, I would’ve brought pizza and ice cream to her place and badgered her to open up.

But now, there’s a part in me that says, “Hollywood-like gestures might bring the relationship back. …

She asked for a last date. I agreed. She had three requests.

“Can we have our last date for an entire day?” She asked.

I said we could. We’ll spend the day together, present in the moment.

“Can we act like we’re still together?” It was her second request. I agreed. I said I’d treat her the way I did back in college. Back when we were in-love beyond humanly possible and we believed we’ll make it through a lifetime, together.

“Thank you.”

“What’s the last request?”

She hesitated. “I’ll tell you during our date.”

It was a quiet July…

She sat on the hotel bed where I made out with a different girl just a few hours ago. She was frozen. I tried to hold her and, for the first time, she pushed me away. The feeling that I made a terrible mistake crept on me like water slowly filling a tank.

“I knew this was coming eventually,” she whispered, tears forming on the sides of her eyes. “But I didn’t expect it would be this… real.”

During our earlier dates, I confessed to her that I might be polyamorous; It felt more natural for me to love and…

I watched Sofia Coppola’s On The Rocks last night. The film is about a wife who suspects her husband is cheating. We see the wife struggling to trust her husband and rejecting her playboy father’s advice, like investigating her husband’s hotel stays and private messages.

It’s a nice movie, but I can’t help see their marriage problems — the central plot of the movie — and think that those won’t even be problems at all had they been non-monogamous.

Even if they’re monogamous, the movie could’ve ended in 15 minutes if the characters knew to be self-aware and communicate openly…

My bi-curious partner was swiping through a dating app the other day when she matched with a certain girl. (We’re polyamorous). My partner knew this girl romantically reached out to me in the past. Without thinking, she got my laptop (I lent it to her for work) and opened my Facebook to see whether this girl and I have recently exchanged messages.

My partner has never done that before. She respects privacy and boundaries and I understand it’s one of those “amygdala hijacking” moments. She messaged me immediately to apologize. And we met later to talk about it.

During our…

I think living in the present is a habit: We know we should be doing them, yet we rarely seem to do enough. It’s easy to be preoccupied with an email, a plan, or an article idea while doing something also important, like conversing with a friend or enjoying a great movie.

I recently started meditating with the Waking Up app and mindfulness helps me catch myself when I’m living in the future. But running forces me into the present. It drags me back into the now. By running consistently, I practice the habit of being “awake.” How is that?

…

When my partner told her recent date she’s poly, the date asked her, “So what am I? Your entertainment?”

Quick backstory: She’s dated this guy a couple of times now. And the talk of her having a current partner (me) never quite came up.

We’re still figuring out how to approach a date with transparency without dominating the conversation about our poly relationships. Polyamory is a relatively new concept to many people in our city and country. And in my experience, the poly topic ends up dominating a conversation when you go on a first date and the first thing…