FOMO

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I, Andy, suffer from acute FOMO, aka the Fear Of Missing Out. 

It’s a real thing. In the premiere episode of the Andy Overthinks podcast, this millennial phobia is researched and discussed with friends- Jessica Jensen and Levi Ballstaedt, elderly consultants- Toos Ward (87), Aileen Alfano (95), Miss Ruby (91), and therapist Joey Ulrich. andyoverthinks.com/FOMO

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What’s up with that?

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I can raise either eyebrow. Left or right or both. “Look ma no hands!” Maybe it’s not that cool, but it does come in handy when I see something that makes me think, “Mmm…that seems off. What’s the deal there?” OK, the things I list below may seem normal at first, but after lots of overthinking (check) you actually start to have some reservations about the people participating in them. Until I can sort out what exactly is wrong with each offense, I will file the perpetrators under my brain’s “Watch List.”  It’s possible I’m alone on these, but for your consideration here are a few things that may be worthy of your skepticism:  Continue reading →

How to win a Facebook face-off (lose friends and influence no one)

Facebook-Fights

Facebook, once a place to max out photo albums and prove just how awesome life after
high school became (remember when you had to have a college email to sign up?), is now the virtual boxing ring of public discourse. An opinion cesspool. Not too long ago Facebook tried to market itself as a friendly timeline of life events, but it was too late. We didn’t care. Controversy is king and we can’t get enough.

Screen Shot 2016-07-18 at 2.36.09 PMPandora’s box was opened when the status update started asking, “What’s on your mind?” Well Facebook, since you asked…Because really, who doesn’t want to engage in a virtual debate on sensitive social or political issues in front of everyone they know?

After the requisite (and shameful) 10,000 hours, I have officially reached expert level in Facebook spectating. So, allow me to present a few tips and tricks commonly used to dominate a Facebook Face-off.

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The Grief of Gifts

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Giving gifts gives me anxiety. The giving of gifts is among the most dreaded of social obligations. That and small talk in the workplace. I’m starting to resort to a greeting regimen…

Monday- “Hey! Back to the grind, eh?
Tuesday- “Crazy week!”
Wednesday- “Halfway there”
Thursday- “Almost Friday…”
Friday- “It’s Friday!”

We’re human beings in the same daily environment and our only common ground is making our way through weekdays. The real thing we have in common is the desire not to be having this conversation.

Is there ever a time we don’t have some gift looming over our to-do list? Most of the time the gift is for the same person we had to give a gift to last quarter. And we strain all over again to come up with something they would want that they don’t already have that they wouldn’t rather pick out themselves that is fun but also useful that they could probably afford but don’t want to bother with but also wouldn’t expect.

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The True Meaning of Black Friday

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It comes but once a year. A magical consumer celebration of all things capitalism,  commercialism and darwinism….the beloved American tradition of Black Friday. Fortunately many have come to recognize the wonder of Black Friday cannot be confined to a single day. Therefore it has extended into a five day celebration ending with cyber Monday and beginning on Black Friday’s Eve (also known as Thanksgiving).

Black Friday, the day we acquire what we want, lands suitably after the day we celebrate having enough. Continue reading →

The Burden of Beauty

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As I recently wrote, there’s something totally liberating about giving up on disingenuous things. There’s a freedom in surrendering to the truth about ourselves. Being only one person, we can’t be a writer, scientist, adrenaline-junky, botanist, chef, broadcaster, truck driver, actor, entrepreneur and home decorator. We aren’t all thrifty, charismatic, athletic, introspective, organized, detail-oriented, funny and so on (sidenote–people who happen to be all of those things also happen to be annoying). Our differences enable each of us to focus on truer parts of ourselves, and enjoy the things we like and are good at. We discover our likes and abandon our dislikes; we realize our strengths and discard our weaknesses. Typically there is nothing tragic about this process. In fact it’s a critical, enjoyable part of creating our identities.

Andy List

Here is a sample list of things I do and do not do well/enjoy/identify with.

Unfortunately for women, there is one characteristic that we absolutely cannot dismiss from our identity, whether we actually have it or not. And that is beauty.

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Count Me Out

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Peer pressure. The struggle is real. However, I’ve decided to finally put my foot down on a few things. I’m just not doing them anymore people. I’m not. And no one can make me. I feel like a child that has suddenly discovered the word “no,” and it’s liberating as all hell. (Typically I wouldn’t say something like “as all hell” because peer pressure tells me that it sounds stupid. And that’s because it does).

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Run For Your Like

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Running is boring. Literally painfully so. In most sports the goal is to earn points, usually with a team, in order to win against an opponent. That’s why people enjoy sports. Sports are competitive, healthy and enjoyable. However, the goal in running is to simply endure it. You just keep running until it’s time to stop. That’s it. And don’t misinterpret me, anyone who can endure the monotony of running for longer than a mile or two does deserve some kind of recognition or trophy. (Then there’s the treadmill. Keep running, but go no where? Sounds like a perfect purgatory.) Unfortunately running is extremely trendy right now, despite the fact that most of us dislike it. (How did we let that happen?) Running is so bad we’ve had to add all these little extras to make it appealing:

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