Kim Quindlen

It’s time that you stopped listening to the people who know the least, but yell the loudest.

Weird questions will start popping up in your brain. Questions like “how many calories can I burn by breathing?” or “when was the last time I spoke out loud?”

Sometimes it happens for no reason and sometimes it happens because there are a million things piling up on you all at once. You open your eyes and you feel like you’ve already lost.

When you remember that Avril Lavigne married the guy from Nickleback.

Take a large, ladylike swig of wine and go back to searching for the Halloween costume that’s going to solve your problems, pay all of your debt, find you a boyfriend, and get you a new job.

The problem is that we are being conditioned to think that getting married is no longer about searching for the person you want to spend your life with. Instead, it’s about finding the person you want to throw a wedding with.

You want less because you have less.

That’s kind of what it’s like to be in your twenties. You’re told one thing but you’re expected to do another. No one cares how uncomfortable you are. You don’t know whether to listen to yourself or to the 50 different people shouting in your ear about “what’s best for you.” You often feel powerless. So you metaphorically pee your pants and stare defiantly at your classmates while they watch pee run down your leg.

Your daily conversations are probably more gendered than you realize.

Women always whisper the word “fat.”