👾 You don't know me as well as you think.

I'm used to internet trolls. After enough years of posting my life online, I've gotten pretty good at ignoring them.

What I didn't expect was to get it from a friend.

Last week, a friend told me my newsletter isn't the authentic me. He'd been such a good friend that he even made this month's page of the 2026 calendar I gave my parents last Christmas (I make them one every year). What incredible timing.

I told him maybe he doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does. He agreed.

That got me thinking. It's probably true of a lot of people we think we know. There's always so much more behind the scenes.

I'm a pretty open person overall, but there are still a bunch of things a lot of people don't know about me. Here are 10 of them.

1. I don't think I ever thought about what I "wanted" to do with my life. I only ever thought about what made sense. I still have a hard time differentiating between what I enjoy and what simply makes sense.

2. Even after traveling full time for 12 years, I don't sleep well the night before a flight or a big move.

3. I cry EXTREMELY easily.

4. My parents met at a sushi bar, and I went to one for the first time when I was 22 days old. I love sushi and always wanted to be just the smallest bit Japanese (when my dad and I smile, it could almost be convincing). I was disappointed, though not surprised, when my ancestry test came back 100% European.

5. When I make a mistake, I beat myself up over it and feel like I ruin everything almost every time. I know I'm too hard on myself. I'm much better at cutting other people slack when they make mistakes, but I don't know how to give myself the same grace.

6. After getting my pilot's license, I developed a slight fear of flying commercially (though I still do it all the time).

7. I'd never heard the term "11s" before, but the second I did, I knew exactly what it meant: the lines between your eyebrows. I've been self-conscious about mine ever since. And yup, I get Botox there, even though I try not to be obsessed with appearances.

8. I get frustrated easily (some would call it my Italian side), and I really want to get it more under control. The people closest to me see this side most often, and it doesn't make me proud of myself.

9. Last week, I found out I have lower-than-normal ovarian reserve for a woman who's 34.

10. If my partner, Kevin, and I are able to have kids, we plan to have them in Argentina or Brazil so they're born with four passports.

A day or two after that conversation, a friend posted this on Instagram:

It really hit home. I've been trying not to be too bummed out about how my friend treated me, while also holding onto the fact that I deserve better than that.

— Caroline

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