It Never Hurts to Ask

shiny new (used) cowboy boots
The Boots

While shopping at a trendy second-hand store last month I spied a nifty pair of burgundy cowboy boots that looked about my size.

I wasn’t in the market for boots that day, but these were pretty and I couldn’t resist trying them on.

They fit perfectly!

There was a price tag inside each boot. It was a little yellow one like you might see at a grocery store. Or maybe the Salvation Army? It said $25. Read More

Take Charge of Your Life

The problem is that we started out as children.

Overcoming that fact can take a lifetime.

Programmed for Powerlessness

Children have no power.

If you had a normal childhood, you didn’t get to choose how or where you spent your time.

You didn’t decide when to go to bed or even what to wear when you got there.

You were told to brush your teeth, eat your vegetables (or face the intolerable prospect of no dessert), and go to school. Read More

How to Deal With a Persnickety Friend

Do you have a friend who’s got you walking on eggshells — someone who makes you feel like you’re not a good person, let alone a good friend?

Friendship on Probation

I have a friend like this. Everything I do feels like it’s never quite right, or quite enough.

Each piece of positive feedback, every supportive email, all the small accommodations I cheerfully make around  her personal preferences — it’s like these are thrown down a well. Read More

“I don’t want to be mean”

Picture the scene: I’m in the grocery store (yes, again) and I’ve just gone through the self-checkout. I’m on foot; no car or bike waits for me outside. It’s pouring rain, I’m a good 25 minutes from home and my purchases don’t seem to fit in my waterproof backpack.

Because of the city’s ban on plastic bags, it’s either the backpack or a paper bag that will disintegrate before I’m halfway home.

I’m feeling uncomfortably warm, grumpy and in a hurry to get outside into the refreshing chill of the rainy day. Read More