I was reading through some Reddit threads the other day — you know the ones, where people ask “what do you wish you’d known at 25?” — and I found myself nodding along to a lot of it. There’s something oddly comforting about reading advice from people who actually lived through the decade you’re currently in. Not theorists, not podcasters, just regular folks who figured some stuff out the hard way. ...
I used to think negotiation was about persuasion. About having the right words, the right tone, the right strategy. Turns out I was missing the whole point. There’s a concept from negotiation theory called BATNA — Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. It sounds academic, but it’s actually the single most practical thing you can know before walking into any discussion where two people want different things. Your BATNA is what you’d actually do if the talks fall apart. Not what you hope for. Not what sounds good in your head. What you’d realistically do tomorrow morning when nothing has been agreed. ...
I started doing affirmations roughly two years ago, after a particularly rough patch left me convinced I was fundamentally broken. Not in the dramatic sense – just that quiet, persistent voice in the back of my head telling me I wasn’t quite enough. You know the one. The first time I tried it, I felt like an absolute idiot. Standing in front of the mirror, saying “I am worthy” out loud, while my brain screamed bullshit. I lasted about forty-five seconds before giving up. ...
I used to gossip. Not the dramatic, scheming kind — just the everyday variety. The “can you believe what so-and-so did” chatter that happens in offices, group chats, and among friends. It felt harmless enough. Social bonding, right? Then I realised something uncomfortable: the people who gossip the most are usually the same people who will gossip about you the moment you leave the room. Once I noticed that pattern, I couldn’t unsee it. And honestly, it made me tired. ...
Some things that help keep negativity at bay: Notice when you’re spiralling. Naming the pattern breaks it. Set boundaries with people who consistently drain you. Limit social media. Curate your feeds so they’re not just outrage and comparison. Take walks. Physical movement changes mental state. Keep a gratitude list. Three things a day is enough. Learn to say no without over-explaining. Don’t participate in gossip. Change the subject or leave the room. Forgive yourself for mistakes. You’ll make more of them. Get enough sleep. Everything feels worse when you’re tired. Do one thing well each day instead of doing ten things poorly. Journal when your head is noisy. Getting thoughts out of your head and onto paper helps. Surround yourself with people who challenge you constructively, not ones who just agree with everything. Accept that some things are out of your control. Focus on what you can influence. Take breaks. Regular ones, not just when you’re burning out. Declutter your workspace. Physical mess feeds mental mess.
I started keeping a list of emotions because I realised I didn’t have names for half the things I was feeling. Not clinical names — just everyday words that would let me say “I’m feeling X” instead of “I don’t know what’s wrong but something is.” It sounds simple, but most people never build that vocabulary. We grow up with maybe twenty or thirty emotion words and then we just reuse them forever. Happy, sad, angry, stressed. That’s it. When something more specific comes up — like the particular flavour of disappointment you get when someone forgets your birthday but you pretend it didn’t matter — you don’t have a word for it. So you just sit with it, unnamed, and it gets heavier. ...
I’ve tried vision boards before. Like most people, I made a nice collage, pinned it somewhere visible, and then promptly forgot it existed. The problem wasn’t the board — it was that I never actually sat down and thought about what I wanted. I just pasted random pictures of beaches and sports cars and called it a day. This time I wanted to do it properly. Not the Pinterest aesthetic kind, but the kind where you actually force yourself to decide what matters across different areas of your life. So I built a markdown template instead. It’s simpler, it lives in my notes, and it forces structure onto the chaos. ...
A vision board is a collage of images and words that represent what you want to achieve. The idea is that seeing your goals visually keeps them in focus and motivates action. You can make one physically with printed images and a pinboard, or digitally with tools like Canva or Pinterest. It works for short-term targets as well as longer aspirations. Sources: Oxford Dictionaries: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/vision_board Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/202103/what-is-vision-board-and-why-make-one
Inner child therapy works from the idea that parts of us retain the emotions, memories, and needs from childhood. If those needs went unmet, they can shape how we think and behave as adults. The therapy aims to identify those old wounds, give them space to be expressed, and respond to them with the compassion they didn’t receive originally. Techniques include guided imagery, journaling, letter writing to your younger self, and dialogue exercises. ...
Everyone tells you to go to college. It’s the default path. Finish school, get a degree, find a job. But is it actually worth it? The tuition costs are rising, graduates are struggling to find work in their field, and student debt is becoming a genuine burden. For some people, college is absolutely the right choice. The networking, the structured learning, the credential – it all adds up. For others, it’s four years and a mountain of debt for a piece of paper that doesn’t open any doors. ...
A friend mentioned recently that we’re going through too many changes. I didn’t really know what to make of it at the time, but it stuck with me. Later that day I did something daft — I reverted my Facebook profile picture to an old one. I knew it was pointless as soon as I did it. Changing a profile picture doesn’t anchor anything. But I think I was reaching for something familiar, something that hadn’t changed, even if it was just an image on a screen. ...