Studies tell us that social media has a negative impact on our mental health, and yet we just can’t quit.

I’m at a weird age — the sort of age where I wistfully recall the innocent time before social media existed.

It was glorious.

But yet, if it weren’t for social media, I wouldn’t have been able to build my copywriting career or connect with friends and strangers around the world.

In other words — I love and hate social media.

Love it for all the good it has given the world, and hate it for the negative effects it…

This is a story about the glory days of Main Street businesses and how poverty & big box retail mostly put an end to Mom & Pop stores.

This is my grandmother.

Her name was Nan.

Well, that was the “dignified” name she chose.

Her birth name was Nettie Mae, and the only time I heard anyone call her that was when she was dying in the hospital.

She was born Nettie Mae and she died Nettie Mae, but in between she was Nan — a glamorous and strong-willed small business owner from New York.

Why the hell did my…

But if you want to learn how to create a stable & successful career path in marketing, you’ve come to the right place.

I made the mistake of clicking on a “How to Make $10,000 a Month Through These Online Revenue Streams” article on Medium and now my feed is a never-ending rotation of get-rich-quick articles from 22-year-old content creators.

As a geriatric millennial, I have complicated feelings on these types of posts.

First, let me grab my cane and shake it in the air: I recall the days when one would write online for — dare I say, fun…

When I was a kid, Mr. T was just the fun guy on TV. Little did I know he was giving us an important message.

As a child of the 80s, there are certain images from the TV that made an indelible mark — the California Raisins strumming their instruments on a stage, Pee-Wee Herman showing the Word of the Day to the camera, The Noid running around doing whatever The Noid did, Punky Brewster perching her chin in her hands, and Mr. T. standing with his hands on his hips — a serious look on his face.

While I…

No matter what life throws at you — keep your eye on the prize. Oh, and put down the bottle of cheap vodka.

Recently I came across a Facebook thread where a young woman asked an older woman what advice she would give to her younger self. I found her answers to be so thought-provoking that I decided to explore this concept with my myself in the form of a Medium post.

Now that I’m well into my 30s, I’ve come to realize what a wholly different person I am compared to the naive, oftentimes insecure 23-year-old woman who left…

Do you actually have solid WiFi on that beach?

Dear Digital Nomads,

I hope this letter finds you well.

It looks like you’re at the beach.

Again.

You know how I know?

Because about once a week you post a photo of yourself in a hammock, your hair sun-kissed and your laptop framed by a beautiful blue ocean, with the caption “You should be doing this too.”

My hammock is a couch from Costco, my hair looks like it was spun in a cotton candy machine, and the closest I’ve been to an ocean in the past five years is…

Is doing yoga on top of your van a prerequisite?

Dear #VanLife folks,

How are you doing?

How’s the road treating you?

I’m worried about your colon.

I just got back from a 3,000-mile-road trip in my van and I gotta tell you — my colon is f’ing angry.

Are you getting enough fiber and physical activity on the road?

I ask out of concern, because like 90% of rural America has a McDonalds for the their sole eatery.

I’m not knocking McDonald’s.

It’s just — the body can only take so many Nuggies, ya know?

And what happens when…

Yup, you read that correctly.

I’m a child of the 80s, but The Karate Kid managed to slip by me.

I was a smiley, toothless, gassy ball o’ baby when the first movie came out, and a smiley, less gassy ball o’ toddler with some teeth when the second movie came out. In other words: The zeitgeist had escaped me.

By the time I started watching grown-up movies, I figured I wouldn’t be interested in a movie about a boy learning karate. …