Advice From the Trenches

Pandemic Pod Person: His vibrant wife was replaced with a couch potato. What gives?

Dear C and Dr. B; Before COVID, my wife almost never watched TV. She’d tune in for news, but that was about it. Now all she seems to do anymore is surf Netflix and binge on series she had absolutely no interest in before the pandemic. These new sports are doing nothing for her cardiovascular system, and […]

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Time Travel: It is okay for her man-child ex to live in her basement?

Dear C and Dr. B; I am wondering if I am losing it, or if what I am doing is a reasonable way dealing with difficult and unchangeable realities. I’ll explain. My ex husband lives in my basement. Ha ha. Funny, except it’s true. He really screwed up our marriage and I divorced him for good […]

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Is Valentine’s Day a Made-up Holiday?: Or is this reader’s relationship a fake?

Dear C and Dr. B; Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and, as always, my boyfriend of four years blew it off. He says it’s a BS Hallmark holiday made for corporate profits only and then sold to the masses to feed their romantic delusions. He says that 50% of Americans don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day […]

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COVID Crazy: One reader wonders what to do about her lack of motivation

Dear C and Dr. B; I know everyone is depressed with this epidemic dragging on. With these short winter days, more restrictions, political dysfunction, etc, we are all down in the dumps. But I feel like I am more depressed than everyone else. I’m not suicidal or anything like that, but I feel such a […]

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Forgive ’em? Or Forget ’em?: What to do with Trump-loving friends?

Dear C and Dr. B; There are people in my life whom I was friends with before all the recent election fraud garbage erupted. They were supporters of the now ex-POTUS, and they were spouting such insane garbage, with such conviction, that I didn’t want to continue our friendship. During the month before the final inauguration, […]

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Stuck!: One reader wonders what to do about an unsupportive boss

Dear C and Dr. B; I am caught between a rock and a hard place, and not sure what to do. I teach at a middle school in Providence, and the disciplinary problems are pretty bad. Lots of my kids come from what I would charitably call “dysfunctional” families, with a history of criminal activity […]

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Resolve to Change?: One reader wonders if new year’s resolutions are harmful

Dear C & Dr. B; Every year, I make resolutions for the new year, usually to lose weight and stop drinking. Every year I break the resolutions after a few weeks. Last year, I decided not to make any resolutions, and I lost 5 pounds. My alcohol consumption remained about the same, but still… Now as […]

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