Every time I start talking about poop, I freak people out. Especially if it’s a man who fancies me. And especially because I make it sound like it’s all a completely normal thing to talk about.

Because it should be. Each of us does our business every day, and yet we all pretend that it’s not actually happening.

Well, I used to clean rich people’s toilets for a year, and let me tell you something — more glamour definitely doesn’t buy you a ticket out of the human body. …

For the first time in my life, I’m in a healthy stable relationship. And it’s hard. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

I grew up in a chaotic, violent household followed by some painful unsuccessful relationships, which has always made me crave stability and safety more than anything — when I see a man, the most important qualities I look for are kindness, calmness and maturity.

And yet once I have that long-term, I can’t help but miss the chaos. “Am I simply addicted to bad chaotic relationships although they’re the one thing that repels me the most?”…

What do you imagine when you think of “the sublime”?

Nowadays, most of us would say it could be a synonym for “beautiful” or “breath-taking”. However, Dr. Siobhan Lyons doesn’t think that’s the case. I read his article on this topic in Philosophy Now (Issue 132, June/July 2019) some time ago, and I still sometimes find myself wondering about his explanation of the phenomenon.

He writes that the sublime “refers to an experience of magnificence that nearly, but not quite, invokes fear.” …

“I’m only doing it because I want the best for you,” my dad used to say each time he did the complete opposite of what would make me happy. “My intentions are good.”

I don’t care about your intentions, I thought. I care that you can’t see I’m a completely different person than you are.

Every day, people all around the world act according to the Golden Rule and think their actions are righteous and kind — after all, they treat others how they themselves would like to be treated. That’s good, right?

No. Actually, it’s a pretty crap piece…

Readers please note: this story discusses physical and emotional abuse. If you need help, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

When I was twelve, I wrote my parents a letter.

“I hate coming home every day. It doesn’t feel like a home here because there’s so much conflict. You always fight. Please, stop fighting or divorce each other.”

I was sweating as I gave my mum the two-page letter, nervous that they’ll punish me for being so bold, scared that I’m telling them the raw painful truth.

As my mum was reading through it, she cried. She showed it to…

I’m so lonely, I’m so lonely, I repeated in my head as I was crying my heart out in the middle of the night. I wish I could hold someone.

Lockdown isolation has affected many people all across the globe — in fact, according to a BBC article from 18 November 2020, over 4.2 million people in the UK have admitted to being “always or often lonely.”

My own lockdown has been a wild ride — I spent the whole period from March till September shut indoors 24/7 with my partner, after which we started a long-distance relationship as we…

I used to be miserable.

Just two years ago, I spent all my time working a job I hated just so I had enough money to pay rent in a city I had wished to live in for 6 years. I always wanted to move to a foreign country, study at a prestigious university and work any job that would enable me to live this dream — yet when I finally reached that final destination after years of dreaming, it wasn’t enough.

My dream crumbled underneath me. I got everything I wanted, and I still wasn’t satisfied.

Fast-forward to now…

It’s not easy.

Handling my moods, making sure the plants don’t die, playing the waiting game amidst a global pandemic, standing on a planet that spins and spins, and you’re so small you can’t even feel it.

It’s not easy, being me. Being you. Living a life as a human, caring for others, doing your best and somehow still failing in small incomplete ways.

Sometimes your life is a never-ending cycle of washing the dishes, chewing food, waking up with tired eyes, boiling your coffee as if it could save you.

The world is throwing responsibilities at you while letting…