Last week, I downloaded an app that promised to help me cope with life’s increasing weirdness. The app’s initiation ceremony involved a series of questions, presumably so it could evaluate just how messed-up I am. “What’s your relationship like with yourself?” (On/off, I’d say). “How are you with being calm?”…

I don’t know whether this is to do with being self-employed, but I’m getting more assertive as the years roll by. I’m beginning to stand up for the things I like and want, not thinking so much about what other people will make of them. Example: I’ve finally become a…

“Of course you’ll find a boyfriend. When you grow up, you’ll get married and have lots of babies. It’ll feel like a dream come true.” (My nan) “I think if you’re like us, in your thirties with no kids, then you’ve got a lot of excess energy. You just have…

“None of us are immune to saying wrong, hurtful, or insensitive things. It is inevitable that other people will at times feel angry, upset, uncomfortable, or trapped by things we say and do.” (Vanessa Bohns, You Have More Influence Than You Think) The number of times I’ve said something thoughtless…

I left Facebook this month. As I pressed the big red (metaphorical) button, I expected to feel sad. I set up my Facebook page back in 2009, so over a quarter of my life is documented there. Not just any old quarter, either. A quarter in which I got divorced…

Does it really matter, as long as you’re enjoying the process of creation? What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to write story-books. Oscar Wilde and Enid Blyton were my childhood heroes, because they’d created beautiful, magical worlds that meant I could escape the weirdness…

I don’t know about you, but when Facebook Messenger shows me a ‘Message Request’ (sent from a person who is not among your approved list of Facebook ‘friends’), I expect spam. It usually is, to be fair. But this particular message request, received post-lunch on a gloomy Wednesday, was different:

“The (phone) camera has replaced actual looking and turned life into evidence. It drives me crazy.” (David Sedaris, A Carnival of Snackery) For me, social media sometimes feels like I’m in a relationship with an abusive partner. Someone who constantly goads, grumbles and gaslights; who’s constantly on hand with a…

Why do some people decide not to become parents? Many do their research carefully. For example, they will seek out, and actually read, messy first-hand accounts of life on the other side of wanting a child. (Parents often write articles along the lines of, “why didn’t anybody TELL me life…