Kim Quindlen

What’s the hardest you’ve ever laughed in a situation where it was extremely inappropriate to do so?

You make the loneliest hours of the night feel a little less lonely.

Aquarius: Your ability to not give a shit what other people think is a way of living that everyone wants to sustain but that few people have success in.

“When the fight was finally over we were at the luggage carousel and I went up to grab a bag and a middle-aged woman whispered, very quietly, ‘You don’t deserve that.’ It was the launching off point I needed. Broke up with her right there in the airport.”

Gemini: You’re convinced that if anyone sees the ‘other’ side of you – the one that is not lively, joy-filled, and bubbly every second of every day – that they won’t ever love you or want to spend time with you. This is causing you an intense amount of discomfort and stress for no reason at all. Stop bottling all of your feelings up and trust that you have enough good people in your life who just want you to be yourself, whoever that is today.

Aquarius: It’s important to you that you maintain your independence and your sense of self in your relationships, and that’s fantastic. But you get so caught up in focusing on that, that you often unintentionally force yourself to be detached and disconnected from the other person, believing that this is the ‘healthy’ way to fall in love.

“When I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.”

“I make it a point to introduce myself very clearly and say my name at least a couple of times. And at the end I ask them if they remember my name. Almost every person forgets. It’s not a deal breaker because I understand that they’re nervous, but when someone does remember it, I have to resist hiring them on the spot.”

“I really just need to spend this time working on myself right now.”

“I miss being able to talk to her about stuff that was really worrying me at work. I have good friends, but it’s just harder to talk to them about serious stuff. She was always really good at giving me advice and providing a second opinion for things.”

You get joy from doing small things that will make the other person’s life just a little bit easier.

He understands that typical romantic gestures (flowers, chocolates, etc) can be nice every once in a while, but he really tries to show you he loves you in more down-to-earth kinds of ways – heating up your car for you in the winter, calling your siblings on their birthdays, offering to keep you company on your trip to the pharmacy. The kinds of things that never seem noteworthy in the moment, but that build up over time into the kind of bricks that strong relationships are made out of.

Reading a sweet text from them over and over and over, because every time you see it you can’t help but smile.

It’s normal that you find yourself punching your pillow at two in the morning, feeling frustrated that the person who broke your heart has also found their way into the one time of your 24-hour day that your mind is supposed to be freed from thinking about them

Pulling out your phone during a mediocre date and scrolling through your other dating apps while your current date is in the bathroom.

Some people are saying she deserved it, some are saying the robbers should have finished the job, some are just making jokes. Whatever the severity of the tweet, the point is, it’s not funny.

Understand that it is possible to love being alone, instead of just trying to survive it. Understand also that even if you eventually find the most perfect person in the world for you, you still have to learn how to be alone.

April Ludgate: You show your affection in offbeat ways, but you also don’t play games when it comes to dating. When you like someone, they know it. You’re incredibly loyal and when you’re in it, you’re 100% in it.