I'm sure you don't have very much experience with pussies.

It is strange to say that God loves you for who you are and accepts you and wants you to be happy and ALSO DON’T YOU DARE DO THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY OR GOD WILL CRY. If there is a God, these morality clauses for his/her acceptance did not come from him/her. My mom is pretty invested in her faith (Catholicism) and…

LORDE, NOOOOOOO.

TOUCH OF ASIAN BEAUTY IN THE FACE

My parents were super protective and my mom was molested by an uncle as a kid, so my sisters and I got some horrendous messaging. Every boy/man, even family members, were molesters waiting for the right opportunity. We couldn’t even play hide and seek with our male cousins because of what might happen. Even though I…

Assuming your situation is similar to hers and you do meet women, it just doesn’t go very well:

I am in a very similar position. Just change the artistic ventures and add one more kid plus an unhappy marriage.

perhaps you might consider the possibility that you, too, are perfect just as you are?

Consider checking in every Saturday. A few people on here have a regular date about something. Every week they check in to tell us how something is going - quitting the job they hate, finding a job they like, finding a job after the economy hits the skids, leaving a partner who treats them poorly, getting healthy…

I have a girlfriend whose 20's were set on fire by an abusive childhood followed by alcoholism and severe depression. She is doing way better now — sober, largely undepressed, good teaching job with prospects, good friends, money in the bank — but she still feels that she is not good enough, accomplished enough,…

Pick up Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird. It’s her guide to writing and just wonderful because she talks openly about battling through the voices that make it their mission to cut you down. I love her discussion on shitty first drafts (that’s what she calls them)—how, after first drafting a novel she’s paranoid that she’s…

Whoa! It’s amazing you have come through on the other end, it can’t be easy - but you got there! Who knows what’s next, have you had any ‘outside the box jobs’? I started volunteering helping with a charity’s social media with no experience, and now I have work as a contractor for small businesses (it’s still a modest…

Please know that “this too shall pass.” I had a shock today. I consider myself resilient and successful at midle age. I’ve had 3 careers, raised a marvelous teen mini-Maracuja and traveled the world. I have incredible male and female friends. I divorced 5 years ago. Three years ago fell in love with a separated man…

My experiences parallel yours to a frightening degree. Moving out of NYC was, for me, a really therapeutic step. Having a family, and killing the immature (childish isn’t too strong a word, perhaps) impulses that were bogging me down have made me realize that being a grown-up is actually really awesome. Stepping into…

Raising your daughter to be an awesome human is definitely content.

None of those things are games for the young and childless per se, though being not-young and not-childless does make things a bit more challenging. :)

I have been unemployed twice and it super-duper sucks. You are entitled to all the feels.

30 is when I decided to pack up my savings accounts and wave goodbye to my well-paying-but-go-nowhere job and move thousands of miles away. And while it’s been really rough, financially and professionally, I’ve grown my job skills and learned so many life lessons and met so many great friends along the way that…

How is everyone tonight? I’m feeling super accomplished and adult-y. I’m starting my new job on Monday, so I spent all day prepping meals and they smell delicious and I want to eat them all.