Sometimes, while we’re waiting for a sign, life’s waiting for us to decide. — Six years ago, I was stuck. Hard. For the previous two-and-a-half years, I’d tried out some international moves, never ultimately wrangling the job prospects, visas, income, or general fulfillment I’d been aiming for. Now I was broke, in my early-30s, exhausted from all the fruitless effort — and resigned to…

The secret? It’s not actually about trusting love at all. — A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me a profound question about relationships. He’d been enamored for years of a guy who was stringing him along, playing mindgames, and just generally going out of his way to make him feel worthless… only then to make threats whenever my heartbroken friend…

My muse is a guy I slept with once, and I still don’t know how I should feel about that. — Where do you start a non-linear story? How do you set the scene for the unseen? Does it begin when you’re 23, and the “ghost” starts coming to your room, filling the space with the warm spice of his cologne, and something in your gut tells you this is actually…

On romance and reproduction in a very strange time. — When the Year That Must Not Be Named kicked off with a worldwide, public-health implosion, nothing twisted the knife so much as hearing people complain about having to spend extra time with their kids. I was 35. I was finally in a place where I had a bit of discretionary…

Insights that can help you help a friend — or yourself — to see the light — Maybe you’re trying to help someone understand they deserve better. Or maybe you’re like I was long ago: your relationship makes you feel crappy more than happy, and you can’t figure out why. As a survivor of relationship abuse and someone who formerly researched the topic, I came to learn…

Because a sizable percentage of traffickers are women — A few weeks ago, I wrote about one of my most chilling memories: the night I realized a new female “friend” might’ve been a trafficker. Luckily, I got out of that situation safely, so I may never know her intentions for sure. The essay struck a chord, though, drawing various…

A handful of ways (not) to screw it up when she’s already attracted — Ever wonder why a woman pulled back when you could’ve sworn she was interested? Well, I’m here with some answers. Let’s demystify this together. If any of the following stories sound like something you’ve done? Great!… because now that you’re aware of a bad habit, you can fix it. If…

Let me count the !*%?#!ing ways. They’re a veritable disease — not “just a headache.” — This Wednesday, I didn’t accomplish a single one of the productive or enjoyable things on my to-do list: instead, I woke up so dizzy that I had to reach out and grip random things in the kitchen for balance while I made breakfast, not long after which an excruciating pain…

It took me nearly 20 years to understand the miracle’s deeper lesson. — I was about 10 years old, sitting in class one afternoon, when I noticed a small bump that felt like a pimple on my eyelid. It didn’t feel painful, and I can’t even remember if it felt itchy. But it was tiny, it was raised, and some of the affected…