“Just be a little more grateful and you’ll see your negative feelings disappear.”

That’s a common phrase I repeatedly hear when I talk about my depression and what’s been on my mind lately. I don’t necessarily think that it’s bad advice and I know that gratitude can have enormous psychological and physical benefits.

Gratitude can:

• reduce negative emotions like envy, regret, and resentment
• increase empathy
• ensure better and longer sleep
• improve self-esteem
• improve physical health

Some people have even argued that practicing gratitude can lift you out of your depression and while all of that is nice to hear, I…

These past days my Instagram was flooded with pictures, videos, and reports of Anti-Asian hate crimes in the US and the UK. It was emphasized that there was no media coverage, which is why these users took it upon themselves to spread the news.

The statistics and information the posts provided are alarming:

• Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by almost 300% during the pandemic in the UK alone.
• In New York City, anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 1900% from 2019 to 2020, which is why the NYPD had to create an Asian Hate Crime Task Force.
• There have been…

One of my closest friends has been vegan for years. I always thought she was plant-based and sticking to a vegan diet because she didn’t want animals to suffer (as most vegans do).

To my surprise, she declared: “I don’t give a shit about animals.”

I was baffled.

Different reasons for veganism

I do know that some people are vegan because they suffer from lactose intolerance or because eating dairy makes their skin break out. …

This week a very close friend of mine has released her very first podcast episode. A podcast I could have been part of since she had asked me if I wanted to start a podcast with her.

I had considered it but objected. Do you know that feeling when you have a really good friend and you don’t want to live with them because you know it might damage your relationship?

Well, I was worrying that working so closely together on the podcast and negotiating where we want to go with it could negatively impact our relationship. …

As most writers already know Medium doesn’t like clickbait. Therefore, Medium will not distribute any clickbaity articles (even though they have done so in the past).

In Medium’s Distribution Standard, one will find the following explanation:

“We want readers to feel their time on Medium is well spent and are taking a careful look at stories designed to drive views over value. We believe clickbait does a disservice to readers and writers and undermines Medium’s goals of spreading new ideas, deepening understanding of the world, and supporting nuance, complexity, and vital storytelling.”

That’s a shame because clickbait will attract more…

There have been a bazillion stories about how to generate more story ideas already. I don’t want to give you the same old advice about choosing topics that are currently trending, writing about the same topic 5x, or simply reading more to get more ideas.

I have found that the best way to get new ideas (no matter whether you have writer’s block or not) is to get away from words.

How I discovered the most powerful way to generate story ideas.

It didn’t come forced. Actually, it was more of an accident that I made this discovery. …

Hey, yeah. Half my life I heard the same thing...tell others about your goals and you will be accountable but in 75% of cases, the opposite happened. I lost track of my goals, I didn't do anything to achieve them.

I assume there are some lucky people that feel more motivated and driven to go after their dreams when they tell people about it. Alas, for me that's rarely been the case :/