Latest news with #selfdiscovery
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Daughters Take Bikini Photos of Their Single Mom, 61, Looking to Online-Date 10 Years After Divorce (Exclusive)
Los Angeles mom of three Heidi opens up to PEOPLE about finding the courage to date in her golden yearsNEED TO KNOW Heidi, a 61-year-old divorcée, says she "lost sense of self" after separating from her husband after 23 years of marriage Her youngest daughter Luna posted a viral TikTok of her posing for swimsuit photos to use for her online dating profile The mother-daughter duo open up to PEOPLE about navigating Heidi's new dating journey togetherHeidi, 61, is looking for love. Over a decade ago, the Los Angeles resident split with her husband after 23 years of marriage, which she tells PEOPLE was "incredible and absolutely amazing" at first — "until it was not anymore." Throughout the relationship, Heidi managed to balance the ups and downs, all while raising three children. "I lost sense of self," she says. "I didn't know who I was. I had to find that again, and it took years." Hopping from one romantic commitment to the next couldn't be far from what newly single Heidi was looking for. "I just felt like I had so much to work on. The last thing I wanted to do was to bring that into another relationship." And while the early stages were rocky at first ("I was very busy in survival mode," she says), bouncing back from divorce wasn't impossible. "Just working on me and my strength, coming up to today, I know who I am and have such a rich, fantastic life in every aspect," she says with a newfound confidence that nudged her to do something completely out of her comfort zone — partaking in a swimsuit photo shoot for an online matchmaking site. In early July, Heidi's youngest daughter Luna, a ballerina and social media influencer, posted a TikTok video showing her mom posing in a bikini against a gorgeous beach backdrop in Portugal. Luna, 24, posted the video with the caption "After being divorced for over 10 years we are helping our mom take her new cover photo" along with, "Anybody have a tall hot dad for her?!" "You have no idea how far away that is from my personality," jokes Heidi, who had a little push from Luna and her other daughter Zoe, 30, to own the moment. "Me and my sister were taking bikini photos and then my mom, she was just looking so cute and we're like, 'Why don't you just get in here?' The photos looked amazing, and me and my sister were like, 'This could be the cover.' It was almost like a joke at the time," says Luna, who describes her mom as a "six-foot unicorn" with a majestic aura that people notice wherever they go. "It's hard to see you not be happy with yourself," she says to her mom. "So especially in moments like that where I know my mom's maybe feeling insecure about her body, I'm like, oh my God, I want her to feel like how we see her." Luna was young when her parents divorced, so she always saw her mother as an independent woman. But over the years, she's been hoping that Heidi would find a solid partner in her golden years that could be a support system and her "best friend," especially since her dad has "moved on" since the separation. She even once signed Heidi up for the Golden Bachelor franchise ("Oh my God, we love to watch it," shares Heidi). Heidi admits that, for a while, she was "petrified of losing" herself in another relationship, but now she's ready to dip her toes back into the dating world. She's not looking for a man with a flashy lifestyle, but someone who understands her on a deeper emotional level. "That person has to add value [to her life]." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The two have yet to start up Heidi's account but are "going to work on it for sure." They are, however, preparing to navigate the dating-site tropes, like clocking the stereotypical photos they come across of men holding up fish. In the meantime, Luna can offer sound advice to her mom. "I'd say just stay open-minded. Even if it's a bad date, you're still learning. Putting yourself out there will up your confidence no matter what." Read the original article on People
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Daughters Take Bikini Photos of Their Single Mom, 61, Looking to Online-Date 10 Years After Divorce (Exclusive)
Los Angeles mom of three Heidi opens up to PEOPLE about finding the courage to date in her golden yearsNEED TO KNOW Heidi, a 61-year-old divorcée, says she "lost sense of self" after separating from her husband after 23 years of marriage Her youngest daughter Luna posted a viral TikTok of her posing for swimsuit photos to use for her online dating profile The mother-daughter duo open up to PEOPLE about navigating Heidi's new dating journey togetherHeidi, 61, is looking for love. Over a decade ago, the Los Angeles resident split with her husband after 23 years of marriage, which she tells PEOPLE was "incredible and absolutely amazing" at first — "until it was not anymore." Throughout the relationship, Heidi managed to balance the ups and downs, all while raising three children. "I lost sense of self," she says. "I didn't know who I was. I had to find that again, and it took years." Hopping from one romantic commitment to the next couldn't be far from what newly single Heidi was looking for. "I just felt like I had so much to work on. The last thing I wanted to do was to bring that into another relationship." And while the early stages were rocky at first ("I was very busy in survival mode," she says), bouncing back from divorce wasn't impossible. "Just working on me and my strength, coming up to today, I know who I am and have such a rich, fantastic life in every aspect," she says with a newfound confidence that nudged her to do something completely out of her comfort zone — partaking in a swimsuit photo shoot for an online matchmaking site. In early July, Heidi's youngest daughter Luna, a ballerina and social media influencer, posted a TikTok video showing her mom posing in a bikini against a gorgeous beach backdrop in Portugal. Luna, 24, posted the video with the caption "After being divorced for over 10 years we are helping our mom take her new cover photo" along with, "Anybody have a tall hot dad for her?!" "You have no idea how far away that is from my personality," jokes Heidi, who had a little push from Luna and her other daughter Zoe, 30, to own the moment. "Me and my sister were taking bikini photos and then my mom, she was just looking so cute and we're like, 'Why don't you just get in here?' The photos looked amazing, and me and my sister were like, 'This could be the cover.' It was almost like a joke at the time," says Luna, who describes her mom as a "six-foot unicorn" with a majestic aura that people notice wherever they go. "It's hard to see you not be happy with yourself," she says to her mom. "So especially in moments like that where I know my mom's maybe feeling insecure about her body, I'm like, oh my God, I want her to feel like how we see her." Luna was young when her parents divorced, so she always saw her mother as an independent woman. But over the years, she's been hoping that Heidi would find a solid partner in her golden years that could be a support system and her "best friend," especially since her dad has "moved on" since the separation. She even once signed Heidi up for the Golden Bachelor franchise ("Oh my God, we love to watch it," shares Heidi). Heidi admits that, for a while, she was "petrified of losing" herself in another relationship, but now she's ready to dip her toes back into the dating world. She's not looking for a man with a flashy lifestyle, but someone who understands her on a deeper emotional level. "That person has to add value [to her life]." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The two have yet to start up Heidi's account but are "going to work on it for sure." They are, however, preparing to navigate the dating-site tropes, like clocking the stereotypical photos they come across of men holding up fish. In the meantime, Luna can offer sound advice to her mom. "I'd say just stay open-minded. Even if it's a bad date, you're still learning. Putting yourself out there will up your confidence no matter what." Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘This truck is our home!' How Bobby Bolton found love and purpose on a 42,000-mile road trip
On the eve of his 30th birthday, Bobby Bolton found himself living in a mouldy caravan on a derelict farm in Hertfordshire. His relationship of 11 years had just ended, the construction business he had spent five years building was collapsing and he only had a few hundred pounds left in the bank. 'I had moved out of the flat I shared with my ex, borrowed money from her to buy this caravan and had such low self-esteem about the direction my life and career was headed that I isolated myself,' he says. 'I couldn't socialise and I was stooping so much when I walked that I felt myself getting back issues. My mum thought I was suicidal.' She pleaded with him to come home and live with her in Wigan, but Bolton refused. 'It felt like the ultimate defeat.' He compromised on a weekend visit instead. Driving the 200 miles north, Bolton soon ended up in the pub with old school friends. Several pints in, he saw something that would change his life. 'This battered old Land Rover Defender filled with kit pulled up outside the pub and a couple got out. The man had a big shaggy beard and the woman had wild hair and they both had this look of adventure in their eyes,' he says. 'The Land Rover had a bumper sticker on it that read 'Family Expedition', and I suddenly realised what I needed was to get out on the road like them. I wanted to rediscover my purpose, and that boiled down to three questions: working out where I wanted to live, who I wanted to live with and what I wanted to do.' Three years later, Bolton has travelled through three continents, 53 countries and more than 42,000 miles in an adapted four-wheeler MAN truck. Along the way he has amassed more than 380,000 followers on his Instagram account – and fallen in love again. He and his fiancee, Marie Deleval, are now back in Wigan to plan their wedding and next adventure: a journey through Mongolia and Siberia in a converted eight-wheel-drive military truck. 'I ended up answering all those questions: I want to live in the truck, I want to live with Marie and I want to be an overlander, exploring the world,' Bolton says. 'Throughout this journey I came up with a kind of mantra that sums it all up: 'Don't let who you are today stop you from being who you could be tomorrow.'' That platitude, crafted to be overlaid on a dramatic Instagram image of a sunset, is typical of Bolton's attitude to life: no matter how tough things might be, you can always change. It was an impulse that set him on his journey and it is seat-of-the-pants impulsiveness that has seen him through to the other side. 'We approach everything with a big smile and plucky British attitude,' he says. 'Whether it's policemen, border guards or even terrorists stopping you on the road, you give a big thumbs-up and that's how you talk your way out.' Speaking from his mum's front room, Bolton has lost the layer of dirt that he often sports on Instagram. He has a dark tan, a trimmed beard and eyes that look more tired than full of adventure. Next to him on the sofa is Deleval, the 30-year-old French woman he met in the second week of his travels and who agreed to travel the world with him on their third date. Her bleached blond hair is tied into a messy bun and she sports the same tan and somewhat glazed look. The couple have been off the road for all of 72 hours and even over video call you can sense their eagerness to get moving again. 'It's amazing to be able to do laundry and have home-cooked food – we both smell good and look cleaner,' Bolton laughs. 'But we will get itchy feet. We have a taste for it now and we're looking forward to the next trip.' Bolton describes himself as an 'overlander' rather than 'traveller' or 'backpacker' – the distinction being the independent, uncurated nature of the experience. 'Rather than a backpacker who is constrained by a hostel or a traveller who might be going to tourist spots, we go on dirt tracks and back roads, travelling through society,' he says. 'We get an insight into people's lives and might reach places where they've never seen a foreigner before. You have interactions.' Those 'interactions' form the basis of Bolton's new book, Truck It! In a fast-paced conversational style, full of that 'plucky British attitude', Bolton recounts his journey from relationship and business breakdowns to selling all his possessions to buy his truck, meeting Deleval in France, then driving together with their dogs through eastern Europe, central Asia, Russia and south Asia to end up in Thailand. Along the way, the couple encounter regular setbacks, from being shaken down by Russian police, to fighting with an Azerbaijani man at a border crossing and being held at gunpoint by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Each time, Bolton faces his problems with relentless optimism and a naivety that will be read as either charming or irritating. He has to research the history of Russian-occupied territories in Georgia on his phone while wondering why the locals seem suspicious at the sight of trucking tourists, for instance; in Afghanistan he fires off a pistol round with a group of young men who turn out to be Islamists, before being questioned by the Taliban. 'People had repeatedly told us that we were taking unnecessary risk by going through Afghanistan. Our conversations had always concluded with 'We'll be all right,'' he writes. And miraculously they are. At times Truck It! reads like Top Gear without the introspection. Was the reality more messy? 'Nothing will top those lads coming up to us with a pistol when we were parked in Afghanistan, firing off a round into the distance and then adding me on Facebook, which made me realise they're part of a terrorist group,' he says, shaking his head. 'Then, when the Taliban arrived, we thought we might get our heads chopped off.' Deleval adds that Afghanistan did have other challenges. 'I couldn't do anything; you don't talk to people if you're a woman there,' she says. 'I was completely ignored. We had two separate experiences.' Money is another issue that is more complex than it might seem on the surface of Bolton's travelogue. He left the UK with 'just £600', he writes, and it was an impromptu decision to start filming his travels on Instagram that financed the rest of the trip. Once his first two videos explaining his plans to truck the world went viral, sponsors offered to pay for his Eurotunnel trip or provide him with free gear and cash to produce branded content. 'I never really had any social media before and it's actually been one of the hardest bits of the trip because it can invade our privacy,' Bolton says. 'Me and Marie met as an organic couple but then it was a shock to realise that she had to be on camera and be part of capturing this journey. I never plan the content, so it's on from the first thing in the morning to the last thing at night, and it can be hard to keep things just for us. Still, without it we wouldn't be able to keep going. It's a necessary evil.' Bolton's romance with Deleval is one of the more miraculous and charming episodes of the journey. While sitting with his dog, Red, on a hill just outside Saint-Tropez only weeks into his travels, Bolton saw Deleval running with her dog, Rubia, and was captivated. He plucked up the courage to say hello, and later Deleval found his Instagram and messaged asking to meet up. After two more dates, during which she revealed she had a boyfriend who needed dumping, she agreed to join him on his odyssey. 'Often you hear about couples going travelling and it breaks down because it's so intense – but it just worked,' Bolton says. 'Our 4 metre by 4 metre cab was our home and it really felt easy because we like the same adventures. It supercharged the relationship and the hardest thing is actually being back staying with the in-laws because home is in the truck.' Aside from the couple he saw outside the pub, Bolton describes his parents as his biggest inspirations for the nomadic lifestyle he has now built. His dad was a truck driver and taught him from an early age how to tinker with engines and make repairs, while his maternal grandfather was in the merchant navy and used to regale the grandkids with his travels. 'Both my parents are baby boomers and all they did was work,' he says. 'They just want us to enjoy our lives and see the world. The hardest part was saying goodbye to them at the beginning but they're really proud of what we've done.' Deleval, meanwhile, says that it was her mother who convinced her to go off with Bolton despite barely knowing him. 'I had backpacked in South America for a year and a half and my parents knew that I loved travelling,' she says. 'I told my mum and she said: 'You have to go.' That was that.' While Bolton's parents have visited the couple on their journey, his dad even driving the truck for a while, there have been downsides to being away for so long. 'The last time I went to see my nan, dementia had fully taken hold and she didn't recognise me, which was tough,' he says. 'But my grandparents on the other side of the family have gotten an iPad to follow us on Instagram and it's given them a new lease of life. I think it's brought a lot of the family together.' That iPad will be in frequent use as Bolton and Deleval are planning another trip, this time to the US via Saudi Arabia and Siberia – with a stop in October to tie the knot on the Saint-Tropez hill where they first met. 'I began thinking I would drive to Australia and that's still the finish line, but we have a longer-term plan to reach there now,' Bolton says, smiling. 'We've even talked about starting a family on the road. I just want to inspire people to go after life like we have, whether that means travelling or something else. You don't have to go from stacking shelves to climbing Everest, but you can reinvent yourself.' Truck It!: The Drive Around the World That Saved My Life, by Bobby Bolton, is published by Macmillan (£20). To support the Guardian, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Forbes
3 days ago
- General
- Forbes
2 Reasons Why You Might Be Feeling ‘Lost' In Life, By A Psychologist
If you're tired of living for others rather than living for yourself, you might be feeling lost ... More about what to do next. Here's why so many people find themselves in this position. The journey to finding, or rather, understanding yourself is lifelong and one that is constantly evolving. With every phase of life, you likely learn a little more about yourself. In some ways, you grow and in others, you outgrow the old. This process is rarely ever linear. You may not walk a straight path directly from confusion to clarity. You may experience both, while learning and unlearning parts of you throughout your life. This is why it's normal to go through phases of deep uncertainty. It could be about your path, your purpose and even your sense of self. That said, it's important to remember that there's no deadline by which you're supposed to have it all figured out, even if the world around you often makes it feel that way. It's possible to feel you have found clarity at 22, then question everything at 29 and feel lost at 40, then rediscover something new about yourself at 41. While these periods of uncertainty are natural, there are also certain patterns that can make them more confusing or longer than they need to be. This might lead you to circle around the same questions over and over, such as why you haven't been able to figure out what you want or why you feel so disconnected from yourself. Here are two reasons why you often feel lost in life, based on research. 1. You Confuse External Expectations For Inner Clarity On the surface, you may feel like you've made clear choices and independent decisions in your life. However, these choices may have been subtly or overtly influenced by what others expected of you, including your parents, teachers or your socio-cultural environment. In contrast, goals shaped by genuine self-exploration tend to align with who you truly are, rather than who you're expected to be. This also makes them more fulfilling and sustainable in the long run. Even with this knowledge, the influences from your environment and upbringing are often so deeply intertwined with your sense of self that it can be hard to tell where external expectations end and your true desires begin. It's normal to mistake the opinions and ideals subtly placed upon you as your own, often not out of denial, but simply because it's all you've ever known. Classic research by psychologist James E. Marcia, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, offers some insight into this experience. Marcia sought to understand how young people develop a sense of identity; specifically how they figure out who they are and what they want in life. Participants were grouped into four 'identity statuses' based on whether they had actively explored different life paths and whether they had committed to any, like career choices or belief systems. These categories included people who had explored and committed (Identity Achievement), those still exploring (Moratorium), those who committed without exploring (Foreclosure) and those who hadn't done either (Identity Diffusion). Marcia used both interviews and real tasks, such as mentally challenging puzzles under pressure, to see how well people coped with internal stress and whether their decision-making was authentic or externally driven. Marcia found that those who had explored and then committed (Identity Achievement) were more resilient under stress, set realistic goals and had healthier self-esteem. On the other hand, those who had simply adopted what others expected of them without real self-reflection (Foreclosure) set overly ambitious goals, showed more rigid thinking and struggled more under pressure. This highlights something simple yet profound: that true clarity and confidence don't come from trying to match up to what others expect of you, but rather from exploring your values and desires first. Let this also be a reminder that surface-level certainty, like choosing a career path early or appearing decisive doesn't always mean you're in tune with yourself. So, in case you find yourself spiraling about being confused or unmotivated despite having a 'clear' path laid out for you, just know that it's possible that this confusion is not random. It could be arising from a silent mismatch between what you're doing and what you truly want. Use this inner conflict as a signal to ask yourself if this is really what you want or just what you thought you were supposed to want. When you start being honest with yourself, it can feel unsettling at first. However, this is often the starting point of true inner alignment. 2. You Don't Have The Space To Listen To Yourself Feeling lost is often a result of not having the time and space to connect with yourself. This is especially difficult due to the demands of hustle culture. Your inner voice, wants or opinions can easily get drowned out in the noise of constantly being told what to do. It's possible that you become so used to external input, deadlines and fast-paced routines that the idea of slowing down to actually ask yourself, 'What do I want?' can feel foreign. The problem isn't about being lost. It's more about the fact that you likely haven't given yourself space or a chance to truly listen to your inner self. Research published in Neuroimage explored how the tendency to 'mind-wander,' that is, to get lost in your thoughts, is connected to specific brain networks, particularly the default mode network. Researchers found that by stimulating certain regions of the brain including the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), they could either reduce or increase a person's mind-wandering. When certain parts of the brain, like the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), sent signals to another area called the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), it made people more likely to drift into their thoughts. In short, this means that when the brain is overly activated in certain ways, especially under constant stimulation and busyness, it becomes harder to filter through internal noise and hear what you truly think or feel. This is why stillness is necessary for clarity. Without moments of conscious reflection, it's easy to confuse mental noise for intuition. If you've been feeling unsure about your future or disconnected from your purpose, the answer might lie in taking a pause and doing less. True clarity rarely ever comes in the middle of chaos. Instead, it often arrives in the quiet moments, when you stop trying to figure everything out and simply listen, or rather, when you let yourself just be. Know that your inner voice isn't gone. It's just waiting for enough stillness to be heard. Build Clarity By Getting Closer To Yourself Here are a few ways to feel closer to yourself and more certain about the path that lies ahead. Remember that the point isn't to have everything figured out. It's to get closer to yourself. Not to find the supposed 'right' answer, but to gently tune in to what feels right to you, what lights you up and what makes you feel like you're finally coming home to who you are. Take this science-backed test to understand what's really shaping your choices — internal drive or external pressure: Locus Of Control scale
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
I Thought I Knew What Would Happen When My Kids Finally Left The House. I Was Wrong.
When I was in my 20s and living with a friend, I'd leave cookies in our kitchen, and within a couple of days, the box was empty. For the few years we lived together, I assumed my roommate was sharing in the consumption. It wasn't until I moved into my own apartment and chronicled the expediency with which I devoured a box of cookies that I understood she had never placed her hand in my 'cookie jar.' Back then, I questioned her about my revelation, and she confirmed her distaste for cookies. Maybe I always knew this, but, for years, I validated my cookie binge by imagining she was helping me finish a box (or two). This sweet epiphany shaped my perception of the world. Afterward, I told friends they had to spend time living on their own to figure out who was eating the metaphorical cookies in their lives. Living on your own is an insightful look into who you really are. There's nobody there for you to resent because they left dirty dishes in the sink or to blame for making you stay up too late binge-watching 'Columbo' episodes from the '70s. Conversely, you can't give someone credit for eating the snack food you unintentionally finished in a day or seriously believe the apartment is clean because you're the tidy one. In short, it unmasks you. For the first time in over 25 years, I'm living alone. This is both a luxury and a reckoning. When I was in my 30s, and my children were young, my husband passed away, and I was instantly tasked with balancing a chaotic life. When you're a working single mother, who is also the sole full-time parent in a household layered in a film of grief, you don't have time to think about who is 'eating the cookies.' You simply exist to satisfy any immediate task, whether it be work- or kid-related. During those years, I envisioned a day when my children would be on their own, but it was a concept, like having a fast metabolism or retirement, that seemed either mythical or for much older people. There was no moment for substantial reflection in my chronically busy life, yet there was still time for me to cook up a fantasy version of myself. This figment, born out of my depressed imagination, was the 'ideal me,' the person I could have been if I wasn't saddled with responsibility. The 'imaginary Alison' was more creative, relaxed, successful, civically engaged, well-traveled, and a pile of other hopeful adjectives. I reminded myself that when my kids were adults, I'd finally be able to become this upgraded version of myself. My empty nest years seemed to arrive faster than I imagined, and my kids were both adults. OK, emerging adults who used my Seamless and Apple Pay, but still spent most of the year at school. I was heartbroken. But I was also curious to see who I would become without the constant responsibilities of single parenting. On the drive back from dropping off my youngest at college, I hoped I'd instantly unearth that 'imagined version' of myself. Maybe they'd impress me by composing an opera or by scaling Mount Everest, even though I'm not a musician and am mildly afraid of heights. The next morning when I awoke, I hadn't transformed. Although, I immediately noticed my phone charger was still on my nightstand (with a fully charged phone!). Within a week, I came to the revelation I probably only had to do laundry once a week instead of once a day. Yet I must confess that during my first solo trip to the supermarket, I filled my cart with Yodels, Ring Dings, ice cream and frozen dinners, because I no longer had to set a 'good example' and could finally indulge. Since I'm middle-aged, this sort of 'Home Alone' behavior lasted about a month, before I found myself popping antacids and going back to yoga. But parts of me were being revealed. Yes, my kids required me to do more housework, and my grocery bill decreased by 75%, but when they lived with me, I had to model 'proper adult behavior,' which kept me healthier. However other discoveries took longer to untangle. For instance, did raising kids stop me from being more creative, active or social? Possibly. OK, definitely, but it also deepened my life by making me more selfless. I often used my kids as an excuse for why I wasn't accomplishing certain goals like writing more, and yes, they were eating some of the 'cookies,' but now when I fill a Saturday with unnecessary errands or plop down on the couch and just waste a day watching movies, I have nobody to blame but myself. Truthfully, when I look at my social life over the past year, it looks like someone who is decades younger than me. My calendar is overflowing with trivia nights, book groups, hanging out with my boyfriend, impromptu drinks with my fellow empty nester friends, and although I've taken in a ton of culture, it occurs to me that I was probably more productive when my children were living with me. Naively, I believed if the kids weren't around, I'd be doing more. But my kids weren't stopping me from accomplishing goals — in fact, they were inspiring me. However, despite being one year into empty nesting and finally unmasking the unrealistic version of myself that taunted me for over a decade, I still feel like there is a ghost of my former self haunting me. When I pass by my kid's old elementary school and see the parents lined up, I get anxious that I'm late to pick up my kids, even though it's been years since they've attended that school. Then, I instinctively look for familiar faces in the crowd of parents, but they're all younger than me. It's during those moments when I need to readjust to the reality that being a 'single mom' is no longer the starring role of my life. Although my adult children still need me a lot, we need to give ourselves the space to get by on our own. In doing so, we may also give ourselves the gift of discovering who emptied the cookie jar. Do you have a compelling personal story you'd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we're looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@ Solve the daily Crossword
