We Are the Unhappiest We’ve Been in 50 Years… Many of us are one wobbly-wheeled grocery cart encounter away from arm-barring someone’s maskless, selfish face. Especially here in California, where heat, wildfires, high Covid rates, and a hyper-contentious looming election add further anxiety, anarchy, and possibly more monster truck rallies into our collective future. Like […]

If you were to ask the general public what specific outbreak might wreak mayhem within our lifetimes, you’d likely hear Flu, locusts, boils, frogs, politicians or something similar from social media prophetics or the Book of Revelations. Even when news of another coronavirus hit, it was in a far away land impacting only “other peoples.” […]

Covid-19 is the newest, baddest boogeyman we’ve collectively (not) known. And this one is especially surly because it decimates 401k’s while punching grandmas in the lungs. As a professional worrier with a black-belt in anxiety, a pandemic was far down my “List of Greatest Anxieties;” falling below an incoming asteroid, Celine Dion, or a “Frozen […]

At home and on social media, you’re an extroverted badass. In public, you’ve likely become an isolationist dodging eye contact and handshakes, with a tendency towards agoraphobia and a general excitement over cancelled plans. In Australia, major grocers have restricted toilet paper to one pack per person. In Japan, rolls are chained to the wall […]

None of it is as bad as it seems. Q: What travels faster than the speed of light? A: Bad news. In a clinical study, 85% of what subjects worried about never occurred. Of the 15% that materialized, 79% of subjects discovered they could handle it well. The universe is on your side. But studies […]

In few other affairs is your life-status so publicly displayed than during the airline boarding process. This is by design. Airlines revel in publicly grading you by airport megaphone. It’s their preferred grandstand to reward or demean customers based on how much you spend with them. The stress of traveling and the battle cry for […]

How to handle an ex you want to keep in the past when they want to be in your present. As you read this, there are millions of people across the world suffering from a love-rift somewhere while sending ill-fated texts. Studies show that to the brain, quitting love and heroin are the same. Our […]

“I’m sorry I annoyed you with my unconditional love.” The early phase of a breakup is marred by feelings of inner turmoil, all-consuming grief, anxiety, low self-esteem, jealousy, lack of food or sleep and an indifference to personal hygiene, all peppered with moments of irrationality. The exhausted brain loops re-enactments of the severed bond piece-by-piece […]

I currently share the mixed blessing of being in cancer remission with my mom. It’s not genetic; I’m adopted. I’m remarkably grateful to be in remission with her; but uncertain how as a former athlete I succumbed to a smoker’s cancer diagnosis on my actual birthday. Or, far worse, how my mom was hit with […]