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It’s been years since I first picked up the book that would change my life, but its themes still stick with me. “The Sea Wolf” by Jack London is a 1904 ocean adventure and psychological coming-of-age story. The protagonist is a literary critic and scholar named Humphrey Van Weyden, who finds himself rescued from drowning by the fearsome Captain Wolf Larsen, a seal hunter/trader and the antagonist. Larsen has Van Weyden work on the ship rather than return him home, and Van Weyden is helpless but to face the horrific brutality of nature and the hardship of the working class as he grows as a man....

But for many people, a lack of human connection isn’t new, and they feel the effects of this no matter what is happening in the world. The drastically reduced access to casual and peripheral relationships with co-workers, neighbors, and the people we see day to day in the world has been strange, unsettling, and alienating in the last two years, giving us insight into what isoltion feels like for people....

Why do we do that? RELATED: 3 ‘Love Language’ Communication Skills That Will Make Your Relationship Last Forever It’s because most of what we know comes to us from outside influences, like fairy tales, love-at-first-sight-happily-ever-after-with-no-problems-EVER movies and novels, lame advice from friends, and inane articles in most women’s magazines. And there are no tools to know how to do it any different. You keep meeting the same guy, just in different men....

But there’s a specific type of relationship dynamic that you may not be aware of that you and your spouse might well be guilty of, known as the “distancer-pursuer” relationship pattern. This pattern, also referred to as the “demand-withdraw” pattern, is a common issue that occurs when there’s a breakdown in how you and your spouse communicate with each other. Essentially, in a pursuer-distancer relationship, one of you wants to settle disagreements or arguments by handling the situation right away, while the other pulls back and goes into “hiding” in an attempt to get their thoughts and feelings together....

But maybe adults need French kissing more than they think they do. After all, there are a lot of grown adults who don’t know how to French kiss well. But they need to learn. Because French kissing can be awesome — it’s slow, sensual, intimate. We forget that the mouth is actually one of the body’s erogenous zones, and it can actually feel really, really good to just spend some significant time having a deep, passionate kiss with your partner....

You watch as they sulk around the house because there’s no one to hang out with, confide in, share their secrets, or laugh with. Watching your teen stay on the outside of the social bubble, trailing behind other kids during social gatherings, can be utterly heartbreaking. Friendships are critical to a person’s mental health. In addition to companionship and entertainment, healthy friendships are the foundation for building independence. Around puberty, some kids develop social anxiety disorder — excessive worrying about what other people think of them....

Unfortunately, many men struggle to come up with ideas for cute things they can say or do when they want to make a girl smile. What words impress a beautiful girl? The obvious answer: I love you. But if you want something more unique, you need to figure out what vibe your girlfriend is and cater to that. If she’s big into social media, write an appreciation post on Instagram....

To make a girl fall deeply in love with you, you have to be willing to be vulnerable, act as her equal, let her in emotionally and physically, learn her love languages, and never stop trying to be romantic. True, getting a girl to fall in love with you may take a little effort on your part, but it’s got to be easier than slaying dragons or selling your soul to the devil as you might be required to if you were hoping to be granted an actual magic potion....

But I especially talk about death more than most because I want to learn how to live a long healthy life and find out how to not die. Interestingly, it’s difficult not to talk about weight loss when it comes to increasing longevity. My grandmother died from Alzheimer’s disease, but her twin sister is still alive and now over 90 years old. When my own sister got cancer, she was fortunate to go into remission, and her lifestyle choices have changed dramatically as a result....

To them, he is still the same friend he has always been. To me, he is the ex-boyfriend I am trying my hardest to move on from. It is not unusual to date someone from your social group, or for a couple’s social groups to merge if they have been together for some time. But what happens when you break up? Welcome to the ultimate torture: being in the same friend group as your ex....

This small community west of San Antonio will be forever marked by this unspeakable event: parents, siblings, friends, extended family members, coworkers, and neighbors whose lives will never be the same. My thoughts, my heart, and my grief are with the people of Uvalde. This tragedy has also undoubtedly reminded thousands of people who lost loved ones to similar atrocities: Parkland High School, Sandy Hook, Columbine High School, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Charleston, the list goes on and on....

It had been six months since I had split from my ex-boyfriend. After months of grieving and reanalyzing the breakup, I finally received closure from my ex after a well-needed conversation and some rekindled sex. I was now fine. I was only focused on my career as a journalist in New York and a man was not a part of the plan, at least I thought. RELATED: If He Sends These 20 Mixed Signals, He’s Not Relationship Material And that is when I spotted him on a Friday night at the Delancey....

You were so good. You were a saint. At first, I got a rush off it. I was proud: the sweetest person in the world, and he picked me to date. I was the chosen one, the special one. I stood in your glow. I must be good and kind, so good and kind to date you, people thought. At least, I imagined them thinking. RELATED: The Psychological Mindf*** Of Leaving Someone You Still Love We met in class....

Until the moment that she was born, I never once thought I’d have the baby in the car. I didn’t even think, in the car, I am having this baby. I thought, “I’ve got this,” because it was our second. But it was still labor; the labor was consuming. There was no time to look ahead. When we left the house, I somehow thought I would get in the car and labor would slow down....

In 1984, we moved to a new town in a new state and joined a synagogue. As December rolled around, there was no tree, just a menorah in the kitchen and a pile of Hanukkah presents in the corner of the living room. Don’t get me wrong: The latkes were tasty, the gifts were just as good, but I missed believing in Santa Claus. Had he and Rudolph abandoned me forever?...

“I’m thinking about having a baby and being a mom on my own,” I told her somewhat sheepishly. It was an idea I’d been tossing around as I started approaching 40 and there was no life partner in sight. I was still uncertain whether becoming a single mom on purpose was something I felt 100 percent ready to pursue, but I began mentioning the idea to some close friends to get their perspectives and to hear myself talk about it as a way to gain more clarity about how I truly felt....

He should’ve called when he said he would. She shouldn’t have partied in Las Vegas with her girlfriends, then come home too tired to go to the wedding she said she’d attend with me. He should’ve followed through and picked up the kids at the appointed time. She shouldn’t be drinking anymore. And the beat goes on. When we’re in a relationship with a difficult or toxic person, we’re perpetually disappointed when they let us down because their behavior is disappointing....

Instead of opting for the leading theory, plastic surgery, which all the fans treat as a fact despite all of the Kardashian-Jenner’s attempts to dispute the claims, one fan believes that the truth goes much deeper than a little nip and tuck and lip filling. A fan theory claims Kylie Jenner died in 2013. On May 14, 2017, a Twitter user that goes by Luc posted her theory that Jenner, then 19 years old, had died and was replaced and that’s why her appearance has changed so much ever since her family became famous....

However, some of those dangers are not even things parents could anticipate or prepare for. One such thing happened recently at an Iowa hospital where a man allegedly posed as a father to go visit a newborn that wasn’t his own child. An Iowa man was arrested for trespassing in a hospital and feeding a stranger’s baby. According to Des Moines police, Adam Wedig snuck into the MercyOne neo-natal intensive care unit by claiming to be the child’s father....

When the seven members, RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook sat down to celebrate their 9-year anniversary, they mentioned the word “hiatus” and though fans were devastated, they also recognized that the group could be more deserving of a rest. Though it has been clarified that this is not quite a hiatus, but more of a change in directions to focus on their solo careers, BTS fans — aka ARMY — have still been speculating what might be going on behind the scenes....