I had the supreme pleasure last weekend of watching one of the most depressing movies of all time—Train Dreams—it was melancholic and beautiful and devastating and heart wrenching and aren’t you just dying to watch it now? (Do watch it though; just as we love listening to sad songs, we do like tales of grief...

Getting old isn't as fun as everyone promised me it would be. Sometimes when I'm bored, like when I’m in the waiting room before a colonoscopy, I like to play a little game (in my head, don’t worry) called All the Ways My Battle Worn Body is Falling Apart with Age—starting from my head (oh,...

I'm going to tell you a real-life story, so top off your wine glass (or cold-pressed juice if that's more your style) and pull up a chair. The Husband and I were at a wine class last week (wine tasting = guaranteed date night success). The night got even better when the guy who was...

The bad news: The research seems fairly conclusive—100 percent of us will die. The good news: "Though the fact, the physicality, of death destroys us, the idea of death may save us." –Irvin Yalom How, exactly, can the idea of the Grim Reaper save us? Let's take a little road trip to a Buddhist kingdom...

Which phrase have you been guilty of uttering (and you need to be honest here, okay)? A) “Your trauma is your superpower.” B) “I’m not a racist, but… (insert something borderline racist)” C) “Talk to the hand.” D) “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” If you answered A: barf; B: uh oh—you’re totally a racist!; C:...

There is a well-studied psychology intervention called “Best Possible Self,” and as you can imagine, it’s downright dreamy. You sit down with your beverage of choice (MAKE MINE A DOUBLE), and you follow these instructions: ‘‘Think about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have...

Look at you over there, with your tips and tricks and little life hacks, finding ways to work around the foibles and cock ups and indignities of life... finding ways to make your 4,000 Mondays on the planet more enjoyable amidst the hilarious lunacy known as Being Alive. I guess I just don't know why...

As much as I'd like to warm you up—offer you a drink, maybe a canapé (probably just some microwave popcorn), I'm just going to dive right in. Life's too short to mess around with a hefty preamble when I have a question that will reach deep into your soul and either enrich it or eviscerate...

Welcome to today's Mortality Lesson... Jurassic Park Edition.   Non-avian dinosaurs went kaput about 66 million years ago. Sorry— that's 3,443,785,714.3 Mondays ago. Dino extinction isn't news to anyone here, unless you are a child, in which case you shouldn't be reading this blog because the f-word comes up from time to time. (For example: all...

I grew up with a bipolar mom. (I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to word that differently now, something like, “a mom who experienced bipolar symptoms,” but her bipolarness was fully baked into her identity—the way I knew her and feared her and loved her—so I shall continue to conflate my mom with her illness and...

Here is where I will confess three things that will make me lose 63% of my reader base (and friends—most of them, too): I don’t like musicals I don’t like dogs I don’t like nature So you will never catch me walking a puppy in the park while humming Popular (from the Wicked soundtrack—a reference...

When I tell you we just hit the 100-day mark of 2026 (April 10th), what thought comes to mind? A) Where is the manager? Who can I talk to about a refund for Q1? B) I guess I earned an "I stayed alive” ribbon. C) I’ve been intoxicated with aliveness for 100 days, baby! D)...