Love & Relationships

The Ties That Bind or Break: Characteristics of attachments styles

by Queen D, November 17, 2017

I was lying in bed one morning, half-listening to a tech guy on the radio talking about his choice for phone app of the week, when he mentioned something interesting: Facebook automatically filters messages from people with whom you are not friends. “You may have TONS of secret messages that never ended up in your […]

Read more
Attitude & Lifestyle

Ghosts, Aliens, And Apocalyptic Destruction: Top 10 Superstitions That Refuse To Die

by Queen D, October 27, 2017

With the enduring popularity of paranormal reality show, people of the 21st century have a ceaseless inquisitiveness for anything outside the ever-stretching boundaries of “normal.” We can’t help it; we are curious creatures, drawn by the dizzying excitement of the unknown. The fear of what lay in distant waters did not deter early explorers and […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

What’s eating you? Common Emotional Eating Triggers

by Queen D, September 29, 2017

I go through a myriad of emotions on my daily (hourly?) emotional roller coaster rides, but while fear and helplessness feel the worst, boredom is the real jerk. It’s so innocent, so innocuous. In my case, however, boredom is a gateway emotion. When I’m bored, I’ll suddenly find myself walking towards my pantry and grabbing […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

Early Life Crisis? Alarming Trends in the Mental Health of Youth

by Queen D, September 22, 2017

It’s not uncommon for mental health red flags to be dismissed by parents and teachers as “normal” teenage angst—a tendency toward isolation, nervousness, lashing out, or sleeping too much. I would often stay in my room, which was dismissed as an introverted tendency, but I did so because I was actually quite depressed and was […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

Generation Perfect: The Hidden Struggle of Never Being Enough

by Queen D, September 8, 2017

You’d think that having Baby Boomers as parents—the original “Me” generation, the hippies, the counter-culturists—would mean my parents would be mellow, go-with-the-flow types. Nope. Something happened when they boxed up their bell bottoms and platform shoes, and traded their peace sign for a wagging, “you’re-in-trouble” finger. I’m a Millennial who grew up in a strict […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

Practical tips to turn pressure into peace

by Queen D, August 31, 2017

I have MAJOR pet peeves when I’m driving. Like those people who cut across three lanes at the last minute to get off at an exit. Or drivers who don’t signal their thanks when you allow them to merge ahead of you. I really, really wish driving through traffic was like the game Mario Kart, […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

Tough on the Outside, Torn Inside: Young Men’s Emotional Disconnect

by Queen D, August 24, 2017

It’s hard not to ignore the common theme of male characters in movies: The stoic silent type that doesn’t blink an eye in the face of danger, the bad boy who is always emotionally out of reach, or the gruff male character who prefers to display his feelings in actions rather than words. It seems […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

Scarred by Societal Standards: Why Young Women Still Feel Inadequate

by Queen D, August 18, 2017

I don’t jump on my soap box very often, but I can’t say enough about the importance of having strong, solid self-esteem. Self-esteem forms the basis of every decision you will make—the type of people you become friends with, your choice of career and partner, and even the way you dress. As women age, they […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

Being a perfectionist is making you depressed

by Queen D, July 28, 2017

Trying to be perfect is Sisyphus-like turmoil: No matter how hard you try, you’re going to mess up sometimes. You can certainly do something very well, even near perfect, like not breaking the yolk when you flip an egg or launching your dirty socks in the laundry basket on the first try, but at some […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

How Emotional IQ Shatters Depression’s Hold(Part 2)

by Queen D, June 30, 2017

Self-esteem is like a turtle’s shell, a knight’s armor, or, for superhero fans like me, Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. Why? Because it protects you. Criticism, rejection, and failure will barely dent your solid self-esteem armor. It’s also the one thing that every parent should nurture in their children. By all means, teach them the […]

Read more
Mental Health & Well-Being

How Emotional IQ Shatters Depression’s Hold

by Queen D, June 23, 2017

Over the many years I have been conducting research on human behavior, I’ve found some interesting links between depression and other factors, like procrastination. People often mistakenly believe that procrastinators and simple lazy, but putting things off or being unmotivated to do anything is also a facet of depression. When I was sifting through the […]

Read more
Love & Relationships

How family support affects ambition

by Queen D, May 12, 2017

I’m not one of those people who eat up celebrity gossip magazines like fries. The only time I even glance at one is when I’m waiting in line at the grocery store, and only because they’re so conveniently located near the cash register – and because the headlines honestly make me giggle. I do, however, […]

Read more