My mom always said, “Look before you leap.” I didn’t think much about it until we were racing through the Dallas airport on a college visit trip, trying to make a tight connection. Our next flight was in a completely different terminal, the airport was massive, and everything felt urgent. When we reached the sky train, the doors were already open, and I slipped in without hesitation, assuming my mom was right behind me.

My mom always said, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” It usually came out when I was full steam ahead on a terrible idea. Like the time I decided I needed a belly button piercing. My friend had one and it looked good on her, so naturally I wanted one too. I brought it up to my mom, and instead of fighting me on it, she just said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Which, let’s be honest, made me want it even more.

As a kid, I was a minimalist before I even knew what that word meant. I liked my space clean, simple, and free of anything that felt “extra.” One day I decided my room needed a full reset, not a deep clean, but a purge. I started small: a stack of old clothes, a blanket I never used, a few knick knacks I was suddenly over. It felt good, lighter. So naturally, I took it a step further… and set my sights on my couch.

My mom has a saying for everything, and one of her favorites is: “Haste makes waste.” Growing up, we’d hear it whenever someone rushed through their homework, tried to cook without reading the recipe, or basically did anything too fast without thinking it through. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, just another mom phrase. But on a ski trip to Mammoth one year, that saying hit a little too close to home.