Once I acknowledged their presence, I could feel them feeding on my desires for acceptance like a group of ravenous parasites. There was no escape. They were on billboards. They were on television....

Recently, I watched the most soul-crushing commercial I have ever seen. A father and a son sit at their kitchen table, each eating a pudding cup. The father tells the boy that he really loves pudding....

  It’s 3:17 a.m. and all you can think about is death. You haven’t even slept for the past four days. All the struggles you face and all the battles you have fought have brought you where you...

  I parked my bicycle on the cobblestone path next to my favorite coffeehouse in London and ran up the pathway. Raindrops fell from the sky as I wrapped my peacoat closer around my body to protect...

You’re on the eve of your 30th birthday. As you’re blowing out the candles on your birthday cake, you remember telling your friends on your 29th that if you didn’t get married by the end of this...

On any other summer day, I would have rather slept in. But Tuesdays were different. Every week, my alarm clock jolted to life at 7:45 a.m., and every week I sprung out of bed, eager to take on the...

August 1 marked the day most college applications opened. The day millions of rising seniors, who had been waiting to reach this pivotal moment like racehorses behind the gates, finally logged on to the...

Long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad made history when she swam 110 miles from Cuba to Florida over labor day weekend. Her fifth attempt since 1978, this feat made her the first person to swim the path without...

The way life is nowadays causes it to be a true challenge to handle school, your social life, and work. Teachers pile on amounts of homework that are almost offensive, as if they are assuming that you...

My feet move quickly-left, right, left-as the set is sent straight to me. Hearing the crowd roar, I make sure to time my jump perfectly. Smack. The perfect corner shot spike. Screams and cheers were all...

At first impression, you might be surprised to find out that I am 17 years old. For years now, people have mistaken me for being much younger than I really am. Most people assume my 14-year-old little...