https://maotaw.com/en/Clear essays on introversion, people, money, independent thinking and everyday life.enhttps://maotaw.com/en/introvert-depression-and-other-peoples-opinions/https://maotaw.com/en/introvert-depression-and-other-peoples-opinions/A personal introvert perspective on bullying, weight criticism, self-worth and resilience—and why depression is more complicated than simply caring what people think.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:00 GMThttps://maotaw.com/en/why-gaming-and-phone-time-can-help-you-calm-down/https://maotaw.com/en/why-gaming-and-phone-time-can-help-you-calm-down/Sometimes I come home and I do not want a conversation, advice, another decision or a productive hobby. I want ten minutes where nothing needs an explanation.https://maotaw.com/en/why-people-give-advice-they-would-never-follow/https://maotaw.com/en/why-people-give-advice-they-would-never-follow/Someone tells you to quit your job, move to another country, leave a relationship, forgive somebody, take a loan, have children, buy a house, start a…https://maotaw.com/en/why-people-copy-others/https://maotaw.com/en/why-people-copy-others/I notice how often people borrow a direction before they borrow an object. One person starts dressing a certain way, then three people around them slowly…https://maotaw.com/en/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-introverts/https://maotaw.com/en/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-introverts/I think “introvert” is one of those words people recognize too quickly. Quiet person? Introvert. Someone leaves a party early? Introvert.https://maotaw.com/en/salary-identity/https://maotaw.com/en/salary-identity/A higher salary can fix many practical problems very quickly. It can make rent easier, repairs less frightening and ordinary purchases less annoying.https://maotaw.com/en/boundary-guilt/https://maotaw.com/en/boundary-guilt/A boundary can feel cruel when your old definition of kindness was 'I will be uncomfortable so you do not have to be.' Change that rule and suddenly ordinary…https://maotaw.com/en/regret/https://maotaw.com/en/regret/Regret cheats by comparing the life you have with an imaginary alternative that contains the benefits of the other choice but very few of its problems.https://maotaw.com/en/text-tone/https://maotaw.com/en/text-tone/A two-word reply can become a forensic investigation. 'Okay sure.' Was that cold? Is the period aggressive? Did they normally use an emoji?https://maotaw.com/en/loneliness/https://maotaw.com/en/loneliness/Being alone and feeling unwanted can happen in the same room, but they are not the same experience. I can spend an entire day by myself and feel fine.https://maotaw.com/en/embarrassment/https://maotaw.com/en/embarrassment/You walk into a restaurant alone and ask for a table for one. Someone glances over for two seconds. For some people, that is enough to change the entire meal.https://maotaw.com/en/money-freedom/https://maotaw.com/en/money-freedom/I do not dream about money mainly as a way to look rich. The attractive part is much quieter. Being able to say no. Being able to leave.https://maotaw.com/en/apologizing/https://maotaw.com/en/apologizing/Some people apologize before they have even done anything. Sorry to ask. Sorry to sit here. Sorry, can I just—. The apology becomes punctuation.https://maotaw.com/en/seen-failing/https://maotaw.com/en/seen-failing/Failure in private is often much easier to imagine than failure with witnesses. The mistake is the same, but now there is an audience in the story.https://maotaw.com/en/money-possibility/https://maotaw.com/en/money-possibility/I notice money most when it changes the list of things I am allowed to consider. Not luxury. Options. A repair can happen this week instead of next month.https://maotaw.com/en/money-family-boundaries/https://maotaw.com/en/money-family-boundaries/Money becomes emotionally complicated the moment help stops sounding optional. 'Can you help?' and 'You should help' can be separated by one tone of voice…https://maotaw.com/en/no-reply/https://maotaw.com/en/no-reply/No reply is one of the most efficient blank spaces the mind can use. It can contain annoyance, rejection, busyness, sleep, a dead battery, a family problem…https://maotaw.com/en/parents-aging/https://maotaw.com/en/parents-aging/One day a parent does something ordinary a little more slowly and the room feels different. Nothing dramatic has happened.https://maotaw.com/en/insult/https://maotaw.com/en/insult/An insult is short. The replay can be very long. Someone says something rude in ten seconds and later your brain is still editing possible replies in the…https://maotaw.com/en/work-correction/https://maotaw.com/en/work-correction/A manager says, 'Change this part next time,' and the task is over in twenty seconds. Then your head upgrades it into: I am bad at this job, they regret…https://maotaw.com/en/overplanning/https://maotaw.com/en/overplanning/Planning looks responsible, which makes it an excellent hiding place for fear. You can make another spreadsheet, another scenario, another backup plan and…https://maotaw.com/en/late-anger/https://maotaw.com/en/late-anger/Some anger arrives late because understanding everyone else came first. They were stressed. They did not mean it. Maybe I misunderstood.https://maotaw.com/en/rejection/https://maotaw.com/en/rejection/Rejection happens once. Then the mind often rejects you a second time by explaining what the first rejection supposedly proves about you.https://maotaw.com/en/resentment/https://maotaw.com/en/resentment/Resentment often begins with a yes nobody forced out of you. You agree, smile, make it easy, then later become angry that the other person accepted the offer.https://maotaw.com/en/saving-fear/https://maotaw.com/en/saving-fear/Saving money feels good until touching the savings starts to feel wrong. Then the emergency fund stops being a tool and becomes something closer to a museum…https://maotaw.com/en/ignored/https://maotaw.com/en/ignored/Silence from one person can fill an entire day because the mind hates empty space. No reply becomes anger, rejection, punishment, loss of interest, or some…https://maotaw.com/en/silence/https://maotaw.com/en/silence/Two people can sit quietly for ten seconds and one of them suddenly starts searching for emergency conversation material. Weather. Traffic.https://maotaw.com/en/friendship-fading/https://maotaw.com/en/friendship-fading/Some friendships do not end with an argument. They become three-week reply times, plans that never get rescheduled and updates you hear through someone else.https://maotaw.com/en/money-comparison/https://maotaw.com/en/money-comparison/You can be perfectly satisfied with your car until someone parks a newer one next to it. The old car did not get slower.https://maotaw.com/en/mood/https://maotaw.com/en/mood/Someone can say one sentence at 9:10 in the morning and still be sitting in your head at 4:30 in the afternoon.https://maotaw.com/en/people-pleasing/https://maotaw.com/en/people-pleasing/Being easy to be around can become a full-time job nobody officially hired you for. You agree, adjust, make things convenient, say you do not mind, then go…https://maotaw.com/en/envy/https://maotaw.com/en/envy/Envy is uncomfortable partly because it says something we would rather hide. Someone else gets a life detail and suddenly you know exactly which part of your…https://maotaw.com/en/replay/https://maotaw.com/en/replay/The argument ended yesterday, but in your head it has already had three rematches. In version two you said the perfect sentence.https://maotaw.com/en/ordinary/https://maotaw.com/en/ordinary/The fear of being ordinary is strange because most ordinary lives are full of things that matter intensely to the person living them.https://maotaw.com/en/money-scarcity/https://maotaw.com/en/money-scarcity/When money is tight, even cheap things become mentally expensive. You can stand in a supermarket comparing two versions of the same product for three minutes…https://maotaw.com/en/quiet-confidence/https://maotaw.com/en/quiet-confidence/The person trying hardest to look confident is often the easiest one to notice. Volume, stories, name-dropping, the small performance of never being…https://maotaw.com/en/prove-them-wrong/https://maotaw.com/en/prove-them-wrong/The desire to prove someone wrong can produce a lot of energy. It can also give them a strange amount of control.https://maotaw.com/en/money-score/https://maotaw.com/en/money-score/Banking apps make money look like a score. Open app. See number. Feel slightly better or slightly worse. Close app.https://maotaw.com/en/time-leaving/https://maotaw.com/en/time-leaving/Time rarely leaves dramatically. It leaves while you are buying groceries, waiting for a download, driving the same route and saying you will do something…https://maotaw.com/en/misunderstood/https://maotaw.com/en/misunderstood/Being misunderstood can create a ridiculous urge to chase every version of yourself around correcting it. No, that is not what I meant. No, I am not angry.https://maotaw.com/en/reaction/https://maotaw.com/en/reaction/Some arguments have a very obvious second participant: the reaction being requested from you.https://maotaw.com/en/never-enough/https://maotaw.com/en/never-enough/People who have watched money disappear quickly often stop trusting the word enough. €1,000 feels small because one repair can take it.https://maotaw.com/en/compliments/https://maotaw.com/en/compliments/Criticism gives the mind a job: inspect, defend, improve. A compliment can be more awkward because there is nothing obvious to do except accept it.https://maotaw.com/en/strangers/https://maotaw.com/en/strangers/A stranger can dislike my jacket. This creates almost no administrative work for me. We now know one thing about each other: he dislikes my jacket, and I…https://maotaw.com/en/saying-no/https://maotaw.com/en/saying-no/'No' is one syllable, but people can spend fifteen sentences preparing it. First an apology. Then context. Then evidence that they are still a good person.https://maotaw.com/en/spending-relief/https://maotaw.com/en/spending-relief/There is a specific kind of relief in buying something after a bad day. For a few minutes the decision is simple: click, pay, receive confirmation.https://maotaw.com/en/disappear/https://maotaw.com/en/disappear/Sometimes 'I want to disappear' does not mean wanting to die or abandon everyone. It can mean wanting a day where nobody asks anything, expects anything,…https://maotaw.com/en/behind/https://maotaw.com/en/behind/Someone announces a promotion, engagement, house or trip and your own life can suddenly look late.https://maotaw.com/en/miss-someone/https://maotaw.com/en/miss-someone/Missing someone is not the same as wanting the relationship back. Memory is selective. It can replay the warmth without replaying the reason you left.https://maotaw.com/en/social-exhaustion/https://maotaw.com/en/social-exhaustion/I can enjoy an evening and still want everyone to stop talking afterward. Those two facts do not cancel each other.https://maotaw.com/en/explain-choice/https://maotaw.com/en/explain-choice/You tell someone why you are doing something. They disagree. So you explain it better.https://maotaw.com/en/self-watching/https://maotaw.com/en/self-watching/There is a strange moment when you enter a room and stop simply being in it. You start watching yourself from somewhere near the ceiling. Where are my hands?https://maotaw.com/en/watched/https://maotaw.com/en/watched/Feeling watched often means I am the one doing most of the watching. I notice how I am walking, where I put my hands, whether my face looks normal, then…https://maotaw.com/en/anticipated-conflict/https://maotaw.com/en/anticipated-conflict/Before a difficult conversation, I can have the entire argument without the other person. I know what they might say, what I might answer and which part…https://maotaw.com/en/success/https://maotaw.com/en/success/You can want something for years, reach it, and then feel surprisingly normal the next morning. The email arrived. The number changed. The goal is complete.