My counselors
I was a bad fit at school. Life at home wasn’t always a breeze either. So, when I was nine, I started seeing the school counselor. She was a young …
Category: Mental health
Willpower
Two people take turns trying to lift a large rock. One holds it above their head for a few moments. The other can barely get it an inch off the …
The sandcastle
I was at the park yesterday. A young boy was hard at work sculpting a sandcastle, until his mother called: “Time to go home, dear.” “No, I wanna stay longer.” …
Good and bad gatekeeping
Gatekeeping is the practice of inventing additional criteria for a label. Think “you’re not a true metalhead if you don’t like Maiden”, or “you’re not really a parent if your …
Dear straight man
Your attraction to women is a good thing. Not only is it vital to human propagation, it’s a vital part of you. Female closeness is one of your passions, and …
Solace in discontinuity
If you’ve read my post about loving fiction, you know I think a lot about our linear experience of time. The unceremonious way the future skips into the past. So …
Desire, mutated
Desire is identity. We’re composed, in no small part, of the things we wish and long for. Whether we fulfill them or not, desires are staples of a sound human …
One thing I know about kids
is that they’re very forgiving of their parents’ mistakes. They’ll let most things slide, if it means they can go back to being a happy family. If a child doesn’t …
Demystify narcissists
Narcissists are the folkloric monsters of today. They’re shrouded in mythology and hearsay – how they live to ruin the innocent, lack empathy entirely, and love themselves so smugly that …
Wisdom’s winding road
I was something of a pushover when I was younger. Other people were wiser, stronger, and more capable than me, I believed, so I obeyed and agreed with them. Those …