Imagine you’re on a long distance train. It’s hot and overcrowded, you’re in a hurry to get to an important appointment, and you’re already pushing it time-wise. The person across from you is talking loudly and obnoxiously into their phone, and a few seats down,...
In discussions of mental health and getting by in ‘unprecedented times’, we often find ourselves talking about the ‘big’ feelings: grief, depression, anxiety, despair, and so on. But one less salient feeling has been prevalent and ongoing, wearing down our resilience...
Whether it be social media, sugar, or smoking, there’s a good chance your life is affected by some kind of addiction. While we tend to associate it with substance abuse, the word itself means ‘compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences’,...
If the internet is to be believed, 83% of us have made resolutions for the new year, and most of those resolutions involve getting fitter, eating better, and improving our finances. Sounds pretty reasonable, especially given the pandemic's unwanted effects on many...
“Hi, how are you today? Can I ask you a question?” The charity collector steps in front of me and holds out his hand in an invitation to shake it, smiling widely. I ignore the hand and return his smile as I walk around him without breaking stride. “No, but good luck,...
My tenth-grade art teacher gave me a C. “Talks too much in class,” she wrote (she wasn’t the first). I concluded I was not good at art and I stopped making art after that. How many children stop drawing, stop singing, stop making music or writing poetry, because an...
Dedicated to my friend Belish, whose festive joy dissolved my Christmas crankies. I’m a bah humbugger from way back. “My dad died in December!” I declare in justification. That was 16 years ago, by the way. “I have to work over Christmas! I don’t have children so...
The last couple of years have caused mayhem and disruption in so many areas of our lives, and our ability to socialise and spend time with loved ones has not been spared. While restrictions are now lifting and our movement is somewhat more free, we may find that our...
I recently completed a full-time four-year psychology degree. “Great,” I thought, “I finally have time to get a lot of work done and top up the old study-drained bank account!” Only it hasn’t worked out that way. In fact, every day I have spent in front of my computer...
My first notable experience of the fertile void was in the Brazilian Amazon. I was spending some time on retreat there, working through some of the mental health challenges I had back then. At that time, I was engaging in a number of unhelpful behaviours: smoking...