I hated her with every fiber of my being. In the beginning, she was merely a symbol, a wrecking ball that invaded our family and smashed it apart. I didn’t ask her name for a long time. If I knew her name that would make her a real person who…

My personal path to self-discovery — To be completely honest, I never expected any of this to happen. Five years ago, I hated myself and was full of resentment at the man who destroyed my life. He had recently died and, instead of feeling sad, the event lit a fiery anger inside me. …

The reason I retired at the age of eight. — I never talk about my modeling days. Ever. When my mother was alive, she couldn’t stop talking about it, even when I was 45 years old. She’d tell everyone either of us knew that I used to be a model. I cringed every single time. I didn’t think it was…

How to spot it, deal with it and fight back. — The word “hoovering” originated from the Hoover vacuum cleaner because a narcissist will do just about everything to suck their partner back into the relationship if they leave or threaten to leave. There’s nothing about it that is loving. Instead, they use extreme forms of manipulation and lies because there…

I tried a new technique this time. — If you suffer from any kind of mental illness, I really feel for you. It can be the hardest thing to deal with in the world. However, I would bet that you’re much stronger than the average person. It takes a ton of strength to battle your mind every single…

Sometimes it’s as easy as skiing while doing your taxes. — Three weeks ago, I was on top of the world. My brain was full of writing topics, and I was publishing one story a day on average. Reading and interacting with other writers made me feel happy and included. It was a great time to be alive. Today, thanks to…

People are shooting first and asking questions later. Let’s talk about 16-year-old Ralph Yarl for a minute. A few days ago, he went looking for his siblings to bring them home and ended up at the wrong house (because he mixed up Street and Terrace for the address). He rang…

Managing the most useless emotion in the world. — I could always tell when my first husband had a crush on somebody during our marriage. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was terrible at concealing his excitement. Whether it was a celebrity or a real person, he’d gush about her to me while I rolled my eyes. …

I was young and heartbroken About six weeks before I lost my virginity to Jimmy, we broke up. Actually, he broke up with me. I wasn’t surprised. He’d been acting like he did every time we broke up, ignoring me and not calling for days. …