Mark Manson

I know it’s not what the cool kids like to do, but I like to read non-fiction. Lots of non-fiction. And my favorite moments reading non-fiction are when a book bitchslaps my brain and reconfigures my entire understanding of reality and my place within it. I love that. It’s like a mind orgasm.

Here are seven things we should have learned as teenagers, but didn’t.

Fortunately, there’s been a lot of psychological research into healthy and happy relationships the past few decades and there are some general principles that keep popping up consistently that most people are unaware of or don’t follow.

What would a month in blogging be without yet another obligatory “X Things that Blah Blah Blah” post for all of you and your friends to share? Because reading these days is just too boring unless it’s put into an easily-digestible list form.

OK, imagine Las Vegas, except it’s on a small island in the Mediterranean. Then replace the cheesy casinos with crazy beach parties, make the clubs the best and biggest in the world, and then fill it with drunk English kids and beautiful Spanish people.

In short, our unconscious is wired to seek out members of the opposite sex who it believes will fulfill our unfulfilled emotional needs, to fill in the gaps of the love and nurturing we missed out on as kids.

The fact remains, if all of your relationships end in psychological ruin, then that says more about you and less about the entire female population. Your sample size sucks. And your ability to choose a romantic partner sucks.

This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the United States. The United States is my alcoholic brother. And although I will always love him, I don’t want to be near him at the moment.

I feel more and more that our culture is conditioning us to expect, no — demand a perfect romantic or sexual partner for ourselves. It’s easy to forget that finding someone you truly want to be with isn’t a matter finding someone who is perfect or flawless, but finding someone who you actually grow to love their flaws.

When men suppress their emotions and shun intimacy, the only women whose emotions are intense enough to break through are women who are emotionally unstable.