
No, we’re just good friends


Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library

If there’s a risk they’ll harm you in some way, it’s worth weighing that risk against the joy of doing something you enjoy. I hate to think you’d limit your life just to avoid seeing someone you don’t like.

There’s not any one book that covers the entirety of psychology comprehensively without being dull. Here are some interesting, engaging titles to serve as entry points into a variety of fields within psychology: Thinking, Fast & Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (bit.ly/bcl-thinking-fast-slow), Investigating Pop Psychology: Pseudoscience, Fringe Science, and Controversies, edited by Stephen Hupp and Richard Wiseman (bit.ly/bcl-pop-psych), The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, by Oliver Sacks (bit.ly/bcl-man-mistook-wife), The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of of Madness and Recovery (bit.ly/bcl-neuro-lost-mind), and for comprehensive context, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of Pyschology (bit.ly/bcl-oxford-history-psychology). Enjoy!

Patience with yourself and practice is the short answer. Often pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and practicing positive self-affirmation and positive body language are a good starting point. And avoiding comparison. As a wall, I’d say standing straight and being happy with who I am is key, and I’ve also accepted that I’ll never get as much human interaction as the library door and that doesn’t change how much I’m needed as a wall.

Anything that requires auditions is brutal, you have my sympathy. Is there another thing you could do with those talents that you’d enjoy? With a lot of arts anything you do makes you better at them, and it’s a small world, your shot might come around again a little later.