Adaptations

Tales of Transformation

What are the Best Strategies for Good Health?

Simple things like "don't thumb-wrestle!"

Suffering Can Be a Meaningful Part of Life

He is too locked by ALS to wipe his eyes. As I do it for him, I don’t feel awkward or shy; we’re in that zone people achieve as they move toward death: bare, and unafraid.

What If You Don't Do the Things that Matter Most to You?

Why do I get waylaid time after time? Knowing the benefits of doing the thing I love most, why don’t I just keep on doing it every day?

Like Flies to Heroin

I want him to be able to tell me what he’s done; Joe has enough shame to last a hundred lifetimes. He resumes his story, “I get out my rig, heat the junk."

Reframing Changes in Life

“I can’t believe I closed that door in my life,” I say, finally letting the doubt, fear, grief, and frustration pour out of me as my tears fall.

The Isolation of Catastrophic Thinking

But I am deeply rattled by the pattern of catastrophic connections my mind has been forming: the what-ifs are harder to fend off these days.

Anxiety and Loneliness After a Life of Independence

Lee wears her mind on her sleeve so that no one will have a chance to break her heart.

Choosing a Story of Love

Her voice is tense, the threatening loss of the story signifying abandonment of the baby. If she holds on to the pain, the baby won’t be gone.

Paper Napkins, Lipstick, and the Occasional Donut

I soak up the bright array of color and shape, maybe buy something small like a pack of fancy paper napkins, and then feel able to return to my cat in my husbandless apartment.

Poker and the Art of Aging

All of us will need help at some point. Eyes, bones, hearts, and oh, yes, prostates, become human vulnerabilities with age.

Goals, Girls and Gratitude

I notice the tension in the girls' body language and laughter—and feel so glad to not be in adolescence anymore.

Does a Busy Schedule Keep Anxiety and Depression at Bay?

I do what I always do when I’m adrift, anxious, and alone. I load up my schedule, because being busy keeps the blues away. Or so I think.

Drowning in Loneliness and Fear

A heightened awareness of the danger of loneliness is not an uncommon feeling for many of us.

The Potential in Frustration

It hits me: “This is origami” and I know that I am doomed. All my life I have tried to fold-and-tuck paper, and every time my brain shuts down.

How Women Talk About Their Lady-Parts

Women are no longer compelled to treat their sexuality as a taboo: with silence, raunch, or euphemism.

Why Is a Birthday So Sad?

Courage is scary, essential—and an affirmation of life.

Key Ingredients for New Habits

How clip art, laughter, and Fred Astaire help me embrace my mop.

Is It Heart Disease, or Is It Anxiety?

My husband and my father died of heart attacks. One friend needs cardiac surgery; another is pale and unsteady; a client's husband just dropped dead. Am I worried? You betcha!

Grief, Anxiety, Loneliness—and Growth

I try to embrace the tears, welcome the sadness, accept the anxiety of unresolved change in my world.

Patriotism as Political Resistance

On July 4th, I didn’t fly my flag because I am ashamed of the President’s language, behavior, and policy. And then I learned to embrace my patriotism as a political act.

The Necessity of Retreat

In three days, I have become the self I want to be: slower, relaxed, creative, open, curious, attentive.

Motivation to Change

I’m using numbers to improve my physical, emotional, cognitive, and financial health. The numbers I focus on make me feel in control of my life.

The Expert Way to Manage Anxiety

The therapist meets my eyes. “How do you feel about your experts?” The answer is immediate. The tears come again, and with them the simple truth: “I feel safe.”

Like Mother, Like Daughter

How the little girls in us fought for attention.

The Choice to Not Have Children

When you're the only woman in the room without children.

Sitting in a Hoarder's Chair

Boxes and bags appear to press toward me from all across the room. My stomach tightens, my breath gets shallow, claustrophobia threatens. I close my eyes.