Page Turner's Blog, page 84

Beware of People Who Date Like Irresponsible Pet Owners

One of the hardest lessons I ever had to learn was that there are people out there who don’t treat other people like they’re people. Instead, they treat them like pets.

And not the way that a responsible pet owner would.

Instead, they’re more like those people who get a pet thinking it’ll be fun to have something cute live with them.  » Read more

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You Can Judge Your Life By How Much You Look Forward to (or Dread) Your Dreams

There was a time in my life when I couldn’t wait to be asleep. For a number of reasons, really.

I never got enough sleep of course. But even more than that, I longed for escape. From the stresses of my life, sure, and also from the blandness. The sameness. The isolation I often felt.  » Read more

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The More Opinionated Person Needs to Be Part of the Decision-Making Process

In my first marriage, I was always the one coming up with the ideas for where we were going for dinner. Which was curious because I didn’t really care.

But my ex-husband did. He was the kind of person that had a fairly broad range of things that he would eat in general,  » Read more

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False Memories Are Very Common — and Can Even Be Collective

One of the most exciting takeaways from empirical psychological research has been the study of memory. In particular, the study of false memories.

The body of work on this area is huge, and many researchers have taken a stab or two. But most notably, Elizabeth Loftus pioneered a series of studies into memory beginning in 1974 that completely revolutionized our collective understanding of memory and how accurate —  » Read more

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We’ll Always Have Heroes Because Even Monkeys Have Celebrities

If there’s one thing I want you to keep in mind today, it’s this: Just because someone is famous, just because someone has a lot of admirers, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t fallible in one way or another.

It’s far too easy to pedestal our leaders. Or to decide that just because someone’s famous that they are in a class all of their own.  » Read more

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Even the Robots Know I Miss You

Earlier this year, I spent a few months living apart from my domestic partner. We’d been apart many times before, as he’s always traveled quite a bit for work. A week here, a week there.

Occasionally a month. Like the time he went to South Africa, challenging because of the difference in time zones.  » Read more

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How Mindfulness Changed My Writing Life

It took me a while to climb aboard the mindfulness train. I viewed mindfulness  with suspicion.

It seemed like a flimsy buzzword, something that I had seen pedaled by privileged elite who seemed like they were trying to work backwards and find a reason for their success (as opposed to an accident of birth,  » Read more

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“Welcome Home. Now Fall Apart.”

As I write this post, I’ve just taken my second dose of Sudafed for the day. I’m sucking on a mentholated cough drop.

I’m about to go down for a nap of indeterminate length.

Because apparently putting away the clean dishes and loading up the dishwasher with the few dirties kicking around in the sink was a Herculean feat.  » Read more

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How to Tell a Good Relationship and a Bad One Apart

There’s been a trend that’s been all the rage lately in self-help circles. One that advocates for cleaning house. Severing all your toxic social connections and being able to move forward unfettered, unencumbered.

Living your best life.

Do they bring you joy? Keep them. Do they cause you grief? Chuck them.  » Read more

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Are You Superstitious? Are You Scared to Talk About Certain Things? Do You Believe It Always Risks Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

It was a common occurrence at the office I worked at to not talk about difficult things.

If there was an elephant in the room, you were just supposed to let the damn thing be.

If the emperor walked in naked, no way were you supposed to let anyone know.

Just act natural.  » Read more

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