Relationships
When disappointment keeps repeating, look at the pattern
A disappointment hurts. When the same kind keeps returning, I want to look at the pattern too. What am I expecting? What am I overlooking? What…
VALON ASANI / ENGLISH
Writing on love, lived values and Albanian life
Love well. Live your values. Carry our roots forward. Those are the three questions behind my writing, whether a piece begins with a relationship, a company or a moment between Kosovo and Switzerland.
Choose a subject below. The short video notes preserve the original moment; longer essays explore what it means and what we can do. These are personal experiences and opinions, with sources for factual claims.
Personal growth
Trusting the next step when you cannot see the whole path
I do not see the whole path. I can still take care with the next step. That is what trust means to me while life is…
Relationships
Do not regret the love you gave
I do not want to regret the love I gave just because a relationship ended. It was real for me. I can value that and still…
Personal growth
Changing direction at 35, 40 or 55
35. 40. 55. Which number did you decide was too late? Changing direction does not erase what you have learned. You bring that experience with you.
Personal growth
My evening routine is a personal boundary, not a universal clock
Bed by 22:00. Up around 05:00–06:00. No food after 18:30. Those were the boundaries I set out for my evenings. The times are personal; the question…
Business & technology
Why a dating app charges for premium
A one-star review asked why dua was not completely free. My answer began with the people behind the screen. A team builds and maintains this service.…
Personal growth
The past is fixed. Your next choice is not.
Yesterday happened. I cannot rewrite it. But the apology, the decision or the promise still in front of me deserves my attention today.
Personal growth
Who you become while the days pass
The first day of the year becomes a week. Then months. While I am counting what I want to achieve, another question keeps me honest: who…
Personal growth
A quieter definition of a successful year
A successful year does not have to be loud. I want more privacy, less drama, work I take seriously, time to move and people I can…
Personal growth
The kind of luxury I want more of
Peace. Health. People I love. Time I can call my own. When I think about luxury, those are the things I want more of.
Relationships
Looking back at 2025 through the relationships behind dua
At the end of 2025, I wanted to celebrate the couples, engagements, marriages and families connected through dua. Behind the product work were people beginning something…
Life between cultures
The idea behind our original dua.com television advert
Prishtina and Tirana. Kosovo and the diaspora. One neighbourhood and the next. Our original dua television advert from 2020 started with a simple wish: give people…