What’s It Like To Have Loving Parents?
It’s strange to think that love—true, unconditional love—can be so invisible when you have it. It’s like gravity. You don’t notice it’s there until you see someone floating away without it.
The people who grow up with loving parents rarely recognize the enormity of the thing they’ve been given. As kids, they assume that all parents care, that all fathers come home from work and ask how the day went, that all mothers instinctively reach for their child’s forehead when they hear the slightest sniffle. They don’t stop to consider what life would be like without that quiet, unwavering presence in the background, like a safety net they never realized was beneath them until they saw someone else fall.
The Greatest Gift You Can Give Your Kids: Letting Them Be Who They Are Meant to Be
I want you to think back to your childhood—who was the person who made you feel seen? Really seen. Maybe it was a grandparent who lit up when you walked into the room. Maybe it was a coach who believed in you when you didn’t believe in yourself. Or maybe, just maybe, it was your parents.
If that was you, then you won the lottery.
Because at the end of the day, the greatest gift a parent can give their child is the unwavering belief that they are exactly who they are meant to be. That they are worthy, loved, and enough—without conditions, without caveats, and without having to perform for your approval.
“When I Look at My Daughter, I See Myself… And It Hurts”
I am struggling with my relationship with my 12-year-old daughter and desperately need guidance. The truth is, as much as I love her, I find it very difficult to connect with her or even enjoy being around her.
My daughter is awkward, insecure, and doesn’t seem to fit in with her peers – a carbon copy of myself at that age. When i look at my daughter, i see myself… and it hurts. Seeing those painful traits resurface in her brings back a lot of my own unresolved issues from being an awkward preteen myself. I was an ugly duckling – glasses, bad teeth, never had the right clothes or friends. Now I see my daughter struggling socially in the same ways and it triggers so much anxiety and discomfort in me.
[Read more…] about “When I Look at My Daughter, I See Myself… And It Hurts”
How Much Can You Know About Yourself If You’ve Never Been in a Fight?
We like to think we know ourselves. We take personality tests, read self-help books, and reflect on our past experiences. But there’s one truth that most people never confront: you don’t really know yourself until you’ve been tested physically.
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Nobody Knows What You’re Thinking Unless You Tell Them
How often do you find yourself frustrated because someone didn’t do what you wanted or respond the way you expected? Maybe your spouse didn’t pick up on the fact that you needed help with the dishes. Or your boss didn’t acknowledge how hard you worked on that last project. Or your friend never texted back after you shared something personal.
[Read more…] about Nobody Knows What You’re Thinking Unless You Tell Them
Linkage
A Few Useful Pieces of Advice That Will Make Your Journey Through Life Easier – Ned Hardy
How Romance Scams Start: The Subtle Hooks That Reel You In – Shield and Fortify
If you want to eliminate those nasty blind spots from your car, get these – Amazon
Police release new evidence in timeline of Hackman and his wife’s death – BBC
How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin’s Anonymity – Wired
‘Welcome to Hell’: Five Months in a Venezuelan Prison – NY Times
Meet the Retirees Who Live on Cruise Ships – Traveler
The 50 Best Movie Soundtracks of All Time – Pitchfork
24 Memes That Perfectly Capture Life with Tourette’s – Ned Hardy
These magnetic measuring spoons are really fantastic. They nest together for easy storage, feature double-ended designs for versatile scooping, and include colorful measurement markers and a leveler for precision – Amazon
The world’s 5 creepiest abandoned cities – Linkiest
U.S. astronauts finally returning to Earth after 9 months in space – Axios
A cell pulls off one of the ‘Holy Grails’ of biotechnology – NPR
BYD announces charging tech that’s twice as fast as Tesla’s – The Verge
Ranked: 2025’s Best Countries to Live and Work – Visual Capitalist
The Dumping Grounds
Hagwon, Homework, and No Way Out: Life Inside Korea’s Academic Hellscape
I wake up at 5:30 a.m., a ritual I have performed since middle school. My body moves on autopilot—shower, uniform, breakfast, shoes—each step executed with the precision of a well-trained soldier. By 6:30, I am on the bus, jostling for space with other students, all of us bound for the same destination: a day of academic warfare.
[Read more…] about Hagwon, Homework, and No Way Out: Life Inside Korea’s Academic Hellscape
“Why can’t she just fucking stop sometimes?”
We were just sitting in the car, not even arguing, just existing. And I looked over at her and in my head, I said, “Why can’t she just fucking stop sometimes?”
Stop being difficult.
Stop snapping at me and the kids over every little thing.
Stop being so damn cold all the time.
Stop acting like everything we do is a burden to her.
Just… stop.[Read more…] about “Why can’t she just fucking stop sometimes?”