ArcaMax

Dear Annie: My sister, "Jenna," is 38 and recently started selling handmade candles online. I was excited for her at first; it's a big step to start your own business. But now, every conversation somehow turns into a pitch. She'll bring candles to family dinners and "gift" them, only to follow up later asking for social media shoutouts or ...Read more

Just how bad is it to be without a mate? If you really want to know what's going on in your inner life, jump into the following and show yourself what you really think about this unmarried life by agreeing or disagreeing with these statements. (This is an equal-opportunity quiz; both genders are invited.)

--Being single means being alone and ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm 65 years old, and after years of focusing on everything and everyone else, I finally feel ready to date again. The only problem is -- I'm not sure how to go about it, or if it's even realistic at my age.

I'll be honest: I have not been the best judge of character in the past. That makes me extra cautious now, especially when ...Read more

Dear Annie: I had my kids in my early 20s, which felt right for me and my husband at the time. We live in New York City, where most parents we meet had children much later in life. At school events, playdates or birthday parties, we're often the youngest parents in the room -- sometimes by more than a decade.

While everyone is polite, I can't...Read more

Dear Annie: I'll be starting college this fall, and while I'm excited to grow academically, I'm also looking forward to making new friends and maybe even finding a boyfriend. But I already know one thing: I don't plan on sharing many details about my romantic life with friends -- if I mention it at all.

Here's why: I've noticed that when ...Read more

I don't want to write today. There wasn't much to say after watching the horrors scrolling on my phone. Whatever I could try to shape into language feels inadequate against a video that rewires your nervous system.

It showed women and children waiting in line outside a clinic, and then they weren't. They were bombed. There was a bloody white ...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm 45 and trying to move forward after the end of a 15-year marriage that left me emotionally and financially depleted. In my early 20s, I was an ambitious, college-educated overachiever who fell in love with a charming, carefree man. He had no real goals, had flunked out of college and was working part-time in fast food. But I ...Read more

It's a complicated challenge, this single life. On your own, shunning both dependency and isolation, you adjust after a while and learn to be in the present moment. Sleepless nights have taught you that you should not voyage into the future (what could be) too often or dwell in the past (what might have been). The fancy footwork needed to ...Read more

Dear America: The Fourth of July was hard this year. The flags still waved, the fireworks still cracked across the sky, but it's an empty celebration when Congress voted for millions to lose health care, when people cheer for humans to be eaten by alligators, and where masked people disappear people off the street, the work site, while gardening...Read more

Sexual expression is part of mental and physical well-being. On that, we agree. And as a single person, you also know how important it is to feel caring and commitment from a partner. The truth is that sexual union has the potential to be spiritual communion. Only when it joins soul mates can it express that high level of togetherness. It is ...Read more