Unfortunately, the word "apologize" isn't in everyone's vocabulary. In fact, many people would stop talking to someone altogether before deigning to apologize to them. Why is it so hard for people to apologize? For one, they have huge egos. They can't bring themselves to show any contrition if their lives depended on it -- no matter how serious their actions. Secondly, they might be in denial, refusing to acknowledge they did anything wrong in the first place. Or, they may try to cast blame on external forces -- anything other than themselves -- including the weather, the alarm clock, or their neighbor. Showing remorse enables one to demonstrate a truly humane side of themselves. People may be reluctant to say sorry lest their apology not be accepted. But the fact of the matter is that the mere act of apologizing makes it much more likely you'll be forgiven. Unless you do something so horrible that an apology falls flat, simply saying the...

As an overthinker, I know firsthand what a double-edged sword it can be. At times, it can feel like a blessing, while at others it can seem like a curse. You're always proactive about everything so as to prevent any mishaps: setting three alarms in the morning so you don't oversleep, making sure your spouse charged his or her phone overnight so that you don't assume the worst if you don't hear from them, checking several times that you locked the front door before heading to work, overpreparing for meetings and presentations, and so on. In other words, an overthinker's modus operandi is to minimize risk and avoid problems, which definitely keeps them out of trouble. The problem is that overthinking can lead one to become very anxious, almost to the point of having a nervous breakdown. There have been times where my wife has left her phone at home or on silent. When I dial her number and don't get a response, I continue to call incessantly until she p...

Now that we're in the thick of the 2016 presidential race, I decided to dig up a few facts on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton that you might not know. Admittedly, despite being your typical politics nerd, I didn't know any of these myself: According to the National Constitution Center, Hillary Clinton wasn’t interested in politics at a young age. Instead, she aspired to "become a baseball player, a journalist, and an astronaut.”  Clinton was once a Republican, even campaigning for Barry Goldwater in 1964. She switched parties in 1968 and wound up working for Democratic nominee George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter in 1976. In 1974, Clinton became a member of the presidential impeachment inquiry staff during the Watergate scandal. President Richard Nixon resigned later that year. Clinton is the first presidential spouse to earn a postgraduate degree and the first to be elected to national office. Hillary was the first presidential spo...