[Disclaimer: The author is not a mental health professional. Article contents are for information purposes only and are not meant to diagnose or treat. See your doctor if you think you need help.]

A friend recently told a story about being worried about her taxi driver and the effort she went to to placate him so that he wouldn’t flake out on her. Now lots of women have experienced this sort of thing, and appeasement is a behavior most of us adopt at some point in our lives. …

Homemade skincare items are having a moment right now, brought on by concerns over some of the many chemical ingredients in most department store products and the continuation of quarantine restrictions.

While it may seem daunting, making your own scrubs, creams, and sprays can actually be fun, allowing you to custom make the scents and textures you like while eliminating the irritants and allergens you don’t. How-tos are beyond the scope of this article; there is lots of info available on the internet.

Here are five wonderful plants that contribute scent and soothing properties to your own products.

Listen, talking to women isn’t all that hard — I know because I am one. When it comes to meeting women in bars or any other place, there are some simple rules to keep in mind. Don’t be a creep and the rest is easy.

Here are five things you should never say to a woman in a bar.

1. “I’ve got a face if you need a place to sit.” Hopefully, I don’t have to explain why you should never say this — or anything like it — to a woman. Any woman, no matter where she is. It’s vulgar in the extreme and is guaranteed to turn-off any woman who hears it. You are trying to make a good first impression here. …

These herbs add much-needed flavor to low-salt recipes.

Whether your doctor has ordered a low-salt diet for you, or you’re trying to offset the salt we all consume in preserved foods, these five herbs are a great place to start when seeking salt substitutes.

Gardening, particularly growing edibles, intimidates a lot of beginner gardeners. While it’s true that some veggies are tricky to grow well (looking at you, cucumber), others will literally grow from an errant seed dropped into a sidewalk crack (hello, tomato.)

Still, there are choices to be made when it comes to which food plants are the easiest for beginners, and herbs have to be at the top of that list. Mainly used as seasonings, many herbs originated in Mediterranean climates and bring their survivalist genes to the garden.

Here are five of the easiest, tastiest herbs for a beginner to grow for cooking. …

Here are some tips I’ve discovered.

ADHD/ADD can be a real drag: forgetting where we put things, losing track of time, being easily distracted. All of these problems and more can make us want to throw up our hands and give up…or, if you’re like me, maybe pound your head on the wall until the endless clamor in the brain stops. No? Just me?

The thing is, there are a number of ways that those of us who suffer from this brain variation can cope with its less desirable aspects. I’ve written elsewhere about what it’s like to have ADD as an adult. …

I should be thrilled. I’ve been writing on Medium for over a year now and I finally had an article go viral. Mind you, it went viral on Newsbreak, not on Medium. Still, the numbers are crazy high (43,000-plus reads and climbing!) and I’ve tripled my follower numbers. Awesome, right?

Not so much. See, the problem is that I wrote the piece as an experiment — a joke, actually — just to see what would happen on the new platform. It’s not the kind of thing I ever write, nor would I necessarily want to continue writing pieces like it.

I write research-based articles mostly; stuff with scientific backing and well-supported opinions from experts. …

Early in his presidency, Trump’s staff and various Cabinet appointees began to realize that their boss was not the man he’d presented himself to be during his campaign run. The dominoes began falling fast and furious, from White House Press Secretaries to high-ranking staffers; none were safe from the flaming haywagon that was the Trump administration.

And the dissenters weren’t subtle in their disdain: Former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was famously quoted as referring to Trump as “a moron” shortly before the president fired him. Former US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, a one-time staunch supporter, tweeted a photo of himself wearing socks with Trump’s face on them — not something one would do to show respect. …