Many people have trouble deciding when or whether to retire. After years of working as a psychotherapist where I helped many people with issues around finding or losing work, I know how important a person’s work is and how big a decision to stop working can be. Working is such…

Yes, it’s usually me — Yes, I know. I have much to be grateful for. I complain more than I ought. Just because my beloved dances around the house pumping his arms back and forth across his chest like some demented wind-up toy. Or gives away everything he gets. Or requests NO gifts for Christmas…

When running away is not an option — I suppose I could don a disguise and run off to the nearest wine-bar and sip cocktails while my husband tried to find me to make dinner. But then I’d likely overdo it and end up being driven home by a well-meaning stranger who would need to be fed, too…

As a child, I loved this holiday, almost as much as Christmas, but not quite, and not as much as my birthday, either. But it was important. The food was important, the gathering of family was important and so was the meaning of the word, the purposive efforts to be…

The reason is that you can — Many people are unsure about happiness. I know this from my experience with clients, friends, and family. So much of what I read or hear in conversation is frightening or depressing. In the dark hours of the night, my thoughts, swinging like a relentless pendulum, often argue against feeling cheery…

A story and a poem — This story is about me, my sister, and my brother. Now that I am in my seventies, I have found that my connection with them is more important than I ever imagined. I don’t know why it took me so long to get it, but now that my parents have…

You don’t have time to write three novels that teach you how to write. You don’t have time for your pet idea to become popular. You don’t have much patience with building a following; following leads to make connections that may or may not be helpful to become known. You…

Crows Feet Prompt When I think about how we used to eat, there are different lifetimes to consider. When I was a child, our family had little money. We ate a lot of mashed potatoes and cheap cuts of meat (gristly pork butt, my personal nemesis) and canned vegetables. There…

Plenty of free advice just sitting here untouched — In the past six years, I have written 284 stories on Medium. Some of my best writing sits unseen year after year. In this article, I collect five of my favorite stories about therapy topics in case anyone is in need of the information they provide. Unfortunately, not many people…