How it started

In 2023, I was living as an expat in Milan and kept noticing the same quiet struggle: loneliness. A particular isolation that comes from building a life in an unfamiliar place—being out of sync with people you left behind, becoming someone they don’t quite recognize, struggling to find new ones.

I started writing a monthly letter about it. I organized small gatherings—fifteen in person, dozens online—where expats could sit with others who felt that specific loneliness. To be seen in it. To know they weren’t alone in feeling alone. That’s why there is “Cafe” in the name.

But as I listened to people’s stories, something became clear. That loneliness wasn’t unique to expats. Everyone carries it in some form. Everyone leaves a version of themselves behind. Everyone knows what it’s like to be out of sync with people you once knew, or to arrive somewhere new and not yet belong.

The scope widened. The questions I was asking—about loneliness, displacement, time, belonging—were bigger than geography. They were about how we experience being alive.

What it is now

Then I started my Bachelor degree in Psychology and Philosophy. I wanted to understand why we feel the way we do, and what role our environment plays in how identity and belonging form and shift.

Now I write about this intersection. How our minds and bodies process the world. I draw on psychology and philosophy, but not academically. It’s more like thinking alongside you.

Letters arrive when they’re ready. I write them because paying attention to how we feel matters, and because maybe you’re thinking about these things too.

You’re welcome here if you want company while you think. If you’re trying to make sense of a life that doesn’t fit. If you notice things—small, tender, unsettling things—and want language for them.

I’m glad you’re here.

Copyright Essentials

All content, both visual and written, is the property of the author, Natasha Nedelkovska and Eirene Cafe, unless otherwise stated.