iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 2h

we drifted with no fight. the unexpected part was missing them most on quiet saturdays, when nothing was wrong at all. #vss365 #unexpected

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 2h

he never made the unknown smaller. he made it bearable.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 15h

In chess when the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box, regardless of status. In life its the same way, but you have one game and all that was ever yours was how you played.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 21h

the kiss only works because the two of them are wrapped in such different patterns. i think about that every time i want someone to be more like me. #artsky

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

the in-between years are not a waiting room. this is the part that counts.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

every move leaves something undefended. choose the life you want, and you give up the safety of the one you had.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

being an only child taught me how to be alone. it did not teach me how to ask people to stay.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

some summers you go somewhere to learn a language and come back still learning yourself.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

gold doesn't change what it covers. it makes what is already there look precious.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

In chess, the piece blocking you is usually your own. In life, that's an old habit, an old fear, standing exactly where you need to go.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

you cannot attack with pieces that are still at home. i think about that every time i say i'm not ready yet. Chess taught me that.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

new essay: the art of opposites. he likes plans. i sense possibilities. i wrote about the kiss and what two very different people can hold together. stillbecominglina.substack.com/p/the-art-of-opposites #artsky

stillbecominglina.substack.com

the art of opposites

what a line, a circle and the most famous kiss in art taught me about being loved

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

most of my best decisions started as moves i almost didn't make.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

loneliness is not always being alone. sometimes it's being in a room full of people who only know the agreeable version of you.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

a day of substack writer-maxxing: notes app drafts at 7:30am. posting every thought on notes. lowercase titles because capital letters feel like yelling. and posting it anyway, even to 10 people. my welcome email template is on the last slide. save it for day one. stillbecominglina.substack.com

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

a day of substack writer-maxxing: notes app drafts at 7:30am. posting every thought on notes. lowercase titles because capital letters feel like yelling. and posting it anyway, even to 10 people. which part of the day is yours? stillbecominglina.substack.com

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

my friend group was built on proximity. six years later i found out proximity was all it was.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

being an only child teaches you to be good company for yourself. it doesn't teach you how to ask someone to stay.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

people pleasing isn't kindness. it's making sure nobody ever has a reason to leave. i did it for six years. i was easy, agreeable, never a problem. we drifted anyway. and i was left with a version of me i'd built for people who weren't there anymore.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

saturday nights look different now. they're quieter, and they're mine.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

i spent years thinking that being wanted and being known were the same thing.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

i'm new here. i write about outgrowing friendships and starting over in your twenties. if you've ever drifted from a friend group with no fight and no goodbye, tell me how it happened. i read every reply.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

a question i wish someone had asked me at 22: do your friends know you, or do they know the version of you that is easy to be around? i didn't have a good answer for a long time.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

The people who benefit from you having no boundaries will always be the loudest about yours. Their discomfort isn’t your emergency. Your peace is.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I was raised to be easy to love. Agreeable. Pleasant. Never too much. Everyone got a version of me except me. My first firm boundary felt like betrayal. It wasn’t. It was the first time I chose my own peace, and the beginning of a self-respect no one could hand me.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

i was an only child who wanted a big group of friends more than anything. so when i finally got one, i did whatever it took to keep it. i agreed with things i didn't believe. i laughed at things that weren't funny. i thought that was the price of having people.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

for six years i was the friend who never said no. every dinner, every birthday, every 2 a.m. phone call. it took me a long time to see that being liked by everyone had become a full-time job, and i never got a day off.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

the summer i spent in austria, i saw the kiss at the belvedere. two people who look nothing alike, held in the same gold. #artsky

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

in chess, you can set the board again. in life, you get this one game.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

most of what we call getting ready is just being afraid with a to-do list.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

i was the friend who never said no. it took me years to see that being easy to be around is not the same as being known.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

nobody tells you that outgrowing people can happen without a single fight.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

white moves first. some people get a head start they did nothing to earn. but a head start is only one move.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

i wrote about what chess taught me about life. white moves first. the game was never fair. but a head start is only one move, and black still wins. new essay: chess, and the courage to make a move

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

i think "low maintenance" was just a nice way of saying nobody had to learn anything about me.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

i keep a list of people i could call at 2 a.m. it's shorter than my follower count and worth a lot more.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

i did everything the way i was told to. got the thing everyone said i should want. it was quiet in there.

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Lina | Between Chapters @becominglina.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

nobody tells you that outgrowing people feels less like leaving and more like being the only one who noticed the room got smaller.

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