She The Shepherd
A writing project uncovering the story in each ordinary moment
The most used app on my phone is, without question, the Notes app.
Over hundreds of entries, I started to accumulate short writings about specific moments in time I’d witnessed or experienced. Most lasted mere minutes, yet something about those short minutes left an imprint. Each encounter called for me to pause, resist the pull into the next scene, and step into the story unfolding in front of me. These moments would linger, then resurface days, weeks, sometimes years later.
In an effort to organize my notes (and my brain), I turned them into a writing project so there’s a dedicated space to bookkeep these ordinary yet luminous moments.
The project is called She The Shepherd, and here are a few of my favorites:
An elderly woman agonizes over buying eggs during the bird flu
A crying toddler repeatedly told to stop
Accidentally becoming a third wheel
An unexpected run-in with an old friend
None of these moments are any more extraordinary than the next. In fact, they’re just a tiny sliver of the innumerable interactions that occur every day. Each one simply tells a story about our humanity.
The Name
Inspired by The Alchemist—one of my favorite books—the name is borrowed from Santiago the boy, the shepherd who traverses strange lands with his eyes and heart open, learning to heed omens and see what other travelers hurry past. She The Shepherd is my way of trying on his shoes, to notice, receive, and revel in the awe all around us.
The logo is an alpaca, modeled after a real-life alpaca I befriended at a night market in my hometown in China. She carries the same spirit: unbothered, a bit absurd, and observing and welcoming every passerby.
The Writing Philosophy
The guideline I set for myself is simple: don’t over-explain. Narrate the moment, then leave the rest to the reader. This has been harder than it sounds because there is always the temptation to drive the narrative and make a point. But what I love most about these anecdotes is precisely that many feel open-ended and incomplete—and what a great mirror of life. Many things don’t resolve, and that teaches us to relinquish our need for closure and find beauty and meaning in the unfinished.
The Delicate Act of Noticing
One afternoon I went out specifically looking for “moments” to write about. I strolled all around town, my eyes peeled and my ears perked. As you can guess, I retrieved nothing. I laughed at my own ironic attempt. Like many things, when you look too hard, they’re nowhere to be found. These moments cannot be pursued because they’re already here.
Yet, we miss a lot of the here and now. Oftentimes we’re planning for the future, striving for the next milestone and chasing the next accolade to add to our LinkedIn headlines. It takes diligence to achieve an ambitious goal, but it takes just as much discipline to slow down. In a culture that optimizes for speed and productivity, it’s the practice of pausing and noticing that unlocks creativity and expands empathy. It’s what gets us unstuck.
So, next time you’re on a walk, look up. Tuck your phone away and slow your pace. Notice the birds, the smell of the lavender, the stranger beside you inviting you into a glimpse of their world. There is a story in every moment, if you pay attention.