We all have good-mood days and bad-mood days. As writer Ashleigh Brilliant once said, “Sometimes I feel like I’m on top of the world. Other times, I feel like the world is on top of me.” Why is it so tough to maintain a stable, positive mood? Of course, there are factors like stress, hormonal imbalances, and mental health disorders, but have you ever considered how daily habits affect your mood?

Cooking for one person can be challenging if you live alone or if your eating requirements differ from the rest of the household.

First, most recipes assume you’re cooking for multiple people, as in “serves 4-6”. This means you’re faced with either awkwardly dividing the recipe to prepare a single portion or days of leftovers that may or may not remain appetizing for the duration.

Second, shopping is a hassle because some essentials typically aren’t packaged in convenient, smaller portions, such as fresh foods (e.g., a head of lettuce) or shelf-stable foods in containers that cannot be fully used by the expiration date (e.g., spices).

Third, since many of us derive satisfaction from cooking for others, cooking for only ourselves feels less motivating. Lacking that incentive, it’s easy to avoid solo cooking because of the prep time, washing multiple dishes, and other obligations.

Still, eating alone doesn’t have to mean boring meals, wasted food, or a sink full of dishes. The ideas below focus on making solo cooking simpler, more flexible, and easier to stick with week after week.

Many of us dream of retirement as a time when we can kick back and leave our work life behind. Yet for many people, that picture never quite fits. Some miss the rhythm of working. Others want the extra income. Plenty simply enjoy having something meaningful to build, share, or grow.

That’s where passion comes in. Retirement can be the moment when interests that once lived on evenings and weekends finally take center stage. Activities that once felt like hobbies can evolve into something more purposeful and, in many cases, profitable. In those cases, why not turn something you’re passionate about into an income-producing opportunity?

You’ve probably met someone who walks into a room and instantly feels comfortable in their own skin. They speak with ease. They make decisions without second-guessing every move. Watching them, it’s hard not to wonder how they got there.

Confidence often looks like a personality trait people are born with, but it develops through experience, repetition, and self-trust built over time. It grows when you learn what you’re capable of, test yourself, and recover when things don’t go perfectly. The ideas that follow focus on practical ways to strengthen confidence from the inside out, starting with a clear understanding of what confidence really is.

“I hope you’re sitting down” is the classic phrase spoken when someone is about to deliver shocking news. Well, here’s some shocking news: we’re killing ourselves by sitting too much. A 2023 study cited by Harvard Health found that, among all the physical activities we do during a typical day, sitting is the worst for adverse effects on cardiac health, obesity, and blood sugar levels. Therefore, it's essential to take steps to avoid prolonged sitting and to incorporate movement into our daily routines.

The ideas ahead focus on practical ways to interrupt that pattern and bring more motion back into everyday routines.

As the temperature drops and the snow falls, there’s an important question you need to answer: how do I stay active during the winter? It’s an easy answer for those of us who enjoy cold-weather activities such as skiing, ice skating, and snowshoeing. There are even those who hike or run in the winter, plus there are the adventurous types who love to ride their fat tire bikes through the snow drifts.

For the rest of us, the cold, ice, and snow cast a chilling blanket on our motivation to stay active. There’s a huge temptation to wrap ourselves in blankets and hunker down in front of the television until spring arrives. However, there’s no need to become a couch potato and neglect our physical and mental health during the cold months. To help combat that lazy winter feeling, here are a few strategies to make it easier to stay active all year.

Stress shows up in familiar ways. Tight shoulders. A racing mind. That low-level pressure that hums in the background of everyday life. Some forms of stress push us forward—challenging us to grow, adapt, or face something new. But when stress lingers, piles up, or quietly becomes the default setting, it starts to take a toll.

The tricky part is that excessive stress rarely announces itself all at once. It often slips in gradually, affecting mood, sleep, focus, health, and relationships in ways that feel disconnected at first. Learning to recognize these signals early makes it easier to respond before stress gains too much ground. The signs below are some of the most common ways too much negative stress shows up.

The year is almost over, and it's time to look forward to a fresh twelve months. With the imminent flip of the calendar page to January 1, there is the irresistible impulse to make New Year's resolutions. Yet, how effective are they?

A 2023 Forbes magazine poll found that about half of the respondents made resolutions for the new year, but their commitment to keeping them varied. Nearly two-thirds gave up within 120 days, and the other third threw in the towel by ten months. Only 1% stuck it out until the last 60 days of the year.

Winter can be a dreary time of year for those of us living in cold-weather climates. We miss our favorite outdoor pursuits and dread driving in the ice and snow. Yet, we do our best to tolerate the uncomfortable weather even though we’re cooped up indoors for months. However, there are those among us who find it difficult to cope with the dark months of winter. These folks suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression that is triggered by the seasonal changeover, primarily related to winter. However, about 10% of cases occur in the spring and summer.

Your mother was right. You should eat more fruit and vegetables.

Despite best intentions, they often end up playing a supporting role in our diets—added when convenient, skipped when life gets hectic. The opportunity lies in rethinking where they fit, not as an afterthought, but as an easy extension of the meals you already rely on.

So, even if you're not a fruit and vegetable lover, here are some ways you can incorporate more of these foods into your meals.