There was once a woman travelling with her family on a long road. They were all headed towards the same destination. They walked together, talking, laughing, stopping occasionally to rest and occasionally arguing about which route to take. But the woman had a habit that nobody else seemed to have. She always looked ahead. And because she looked ahead, she noticed things before anyone else did. One day, she spotted a pothole in the distance. She immediately looked at the older people walking...

There was a girl who wanted to live a good life. So she tried to take care of everything. There was work that needed attention. There were parents she cared about. There was a body that needed sleep, good food and movement. There were friends she wanted to spend time with. There were things she wanted to learn. There were responsibilities she had promised to fulfil. And somewhere in all of this was a small but persistent wish: “I would also like some time for myself.” The problem was not that...

There was once a tall, old tree standing at the edge of a forest. It had grown slowly, year after year, through storms and summers. Its roots ran deep into the earth, its branches reached wide into the sky, and birds often rested in its shade. One summer, a young creeper appeared near its roots. The creeper was weak. Its leaves were pale, its stem barely strong enough to hold itself upright. It had tried to grow on its own, but the ground around it was dry and there was little for it to hold...