A short story in The New Yorker went viral this weekend! 

A short story! Fiction! Went viral! This is very new and exciting. 

But equally exciting is the number of conversations this story has sparked, and the lessons women (and men) can learn from it.

People who don't know much about life coaching love to poo poo life coaching. Like, looooove. 

And I understand why. The idea that a 25-year-old with two years of work experience knows what it takes to make you a CEO... is a little absurd. 

Let's bust yet another popular psychology myth.

"Money doesn't buy happiness."

"Opposites attract."

​​"Before others can love you, you have to love yourself."

Popular psychology is full of myths and misperceptions. Money does buy happiness (if you know how to spend it). We like people who are like us (though, often, people who are complementary attract.) And saying, "Before others can love you, you have to love yourself," is ridiculous, and makes zero sense.

I confronted a guy who tried to cut me in the Immigrations line at Bandaranike International Airport in Sri Lanka a few months ago. He fired back by calling me Taylor Swift...

I was all, "Taylor Swift IS the music industry. I don't see how that's a diss."

I studied psychology. When people learn this, they often ask, "Oh! Are you analyzing me right now?"

The answer is yes. Absolutely. And here's my analysis of you: 

Cyber bullies are mean -- especially to women, but also to men. Which is why so many public figures, from Lindy West to Ed Sheeran, have "quit social media" and "left Twitter."

But bullies can also be a blogger's greatest ally! My email list basically doubled this week because a few damaged people decided to call me names on our high school alumni page.

That's the silly thing that bullies don't realize. By "hating" on me... they're kind of giving me exactly what I want. (Kind of like how protestors of conservative speakers take what would have been a one-time audience of 50-100 students, and turn it into an international sensation

So I had another Pretty Little Liars dream last night. 

After an entire adolescence of having my every move watched by a mysterious hooded figure, I was on the cusp of unmasking A. And I wasn't going to do anything idiotic, like hide in a dark shed, alone, unarmed and in heels, to confront my omniscient stalker.

Then all my friends turned up dead.

I recently found myself sitting by a river in Idaho with no agenda or technology - for a whole day! So I read Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life, by Byron Katie.

Love is pretty much the greatest thing ever. People who don't understand evolution think sex is the most important thing ever -- but without love, our species wouldn't exist. It doesn't matter how many women you can knock up if no one loves or cares for anyone and all the babies die.

As such, we evolved to be acutely sensitive to loneliness (and other negative emotions, like jealousy). And we evolved to love love. 

I love my friends. That's why I'm mean to them.

"Hey, man. There's this really cool Exeter party on Friday. I'd totally invite you... but, honestly, you're kind of a clinger, and I don't want to have to babysit you."