list

What you need to navigate your love life; advice about dating, healthy relationships and dealing with your overbearing mother-in-law.

The Art of Gratitude
Whenever a new year arrives, I've always expected that it would be terrible for me. However, 2026 so far has gone off to a remarkable start for yours truly. We're not even halfway through the year yet, but I feel like I'm doing something right. Usually, I would be on pins and needles worrying what kind of year I would have. I was a pessimistic individual who was such a Negative Nancy for no reason. I was a worrier. This year is different, because I'm getting better of staying positive and being thankful for the small, simple things in life. I'll share a few of those items in this story. When you don't complain less about what you don't have, life will become much better.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 5 months ago in Humans
Silence: The Place Where You Finally Hear Yourself
Silence is uncomfortable for a lot of people, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because of what it reveals when everything else fades away. When there’s no noise, no distractions, no conversations filling the space, you’re left with your own thoughts, and that’s something most people try to avoid without even realizing it.
By mike5 months ago in Humans
Being Broke Isn’t the Problem—Staying Broke Is
Nobody likes talking about being broke, but almost everyone experiences it at some point. It’s that phase where you check your wallet more than you should, where you think twice before spending on small things, where every decision feels a little heavier because money is always in the back of your mind. It’s uncomfortable, sometimes stressful, sometimes even embarrassing depending on who you’re around, but it’s also more common than people admit.
By mike5 months ago in Humans
Time: The Only Thing You’re Always Losing
Nobody really thinks about time until it feels like it’s running out, and that’s the strange part about it, because it’s the one thing you’re constantly spending whether you’re aware of it or not. Every hour passes the same way, every day moves forward without asking you if you’re ready, and yet most people treat time like something they’ll always have more of. They delay things, they wait for the “right moment,” they tell themselves they’ll start tomorrow, next week, next year, like time is something that pauses just because they’re not ready to move.
By mike5 months ago in Humans
Bad Energy: The Invisible Force You Can Feel but Can’t Ignore
You don’t always see bad energy, but you feel it immediately. It’s in the way a room suddenly feels heavier when certain people walk in, in the way your mood shifts without any clear reason, in the quiet discomfort that you can’t really explain but you know it’s there. It’s subtle, but it’s real, and the more aware you become, the harder it is to ignore.
By mike5 months ago in Humans
Alone Doesn’t Mean Weak
Being alone is something most people are afraid of, even if they never admit it out loud. There’s something uncomfortable about silence, about not having distractions, about sitting with your own thoughts for too long. So people fill that space with noise, with conversations that don’t matter, with scrolling, with anything that keeps them from actually feeling alone. But what if that’s exactly the problem, what if the constant need to avoid being alone is what’s keeping people from actually growing into who they’re supposed to become.
By mike5 months ago in Humans
Fear: The Barrier Between You and Everything You Want
Fear is one of the most powerful forces in your life. It shows up quietly at first—just a thought, a hesitation, a feeling in your chest. Then it grows. It starts asking questions:
By mike5 months ago in Humans
Immunity and Practical Unaccountability
In theory, no one is above the law. This phrase is repeated often enough that it functions as a civic mantra, a reassurance that power is ultimately constrained and that authority remains accountable to the same moral and legal standards imposed on everyone else. On paper, police officers, prosecutors, and government agents are subject to the law just like any citizen. They can be investigated, disciplined, sued, or prosecuted when misconduct occurs.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Humans
Bad Faith Does Not Deserve Comfort
There is a deeply ingrained belief in modern discourse that civility is always morally required, regardless of context. No matter how dishonest a question is, how manipulative the framing, or how distorted the premise, the expectation is that the response must remain gentle, patient, affirming, and emotionally managed. This belief is often treated as self-evident, as though politeness itself were synonymous with virtue.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Humans
Why Comfort Fails and Discipline Endures
Modern culture increasingly treats comfort as a moral guide. Ease is framed as wisdom. Emotional smoothness is treated as maturity. Difficulty is often interpreted as a sign that something is wrong, unfair, or unnecessary. When a task feels heavy, when a conversation feels uncomfortable, or when effort feels draining, the instinct is often to stop and reconsider rather than persist.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Humans
Expression vs Distortion
One of the most persistent frustrations in communication is the gap between what a person intends to say and what others actually receive. This gap exists regardless of intelligence, sincerity, conviction, or depth of understanding. Someone can hold an idea with clarity internally, yet watch it arrive distorted, flattened, reduced, or misinterpreted once it is expressed. The failure is often blamed on the idea itself, when the deeper issue is frequently translation.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Humans
Truth Is Not Obligated to Conform to Your Comfort
Truth does not exist to regulate emotions. It does not exist to protect identity. It does not exist to maintain a person’s sense of safety. Truth describes reality as it is, whether that reality is welcomed, hated, resisted, misunderstood, or completely unprepared for. That is not cruelty. That is simply the nature of truth.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Humans