For a while now I’ve been thinking through the different coping strategies I use, day in and day out, hour by hour, to stay as functional as I can be. I am trying to determine if there is a “sure thing,” a choice I can always count on to make a difference. And I’ve been struggling to come up with one. Almost everything works for me sometimes and not other times, depending on the intricate chemistry of how a strategy combines with my state of mind, level of fatigue, time of da

The more I write about crisis, the more people tell me stories about things that have happened to them. Every once in a while a type of story reaches critical mass in my mental collection and I’m compelled to write about it. This is one of those times. So, here’s a thing that happens. You have a friend or family member you care about deeply, someone who is struggling with illness, loss, or any other serious personal crisis. You see this person’s state of mind, and you worry

On a Saturday afternoon in June of 2011, our friend and neighbor Sunil Badlani was driving his son Nikhil home from a lesson. Less than two miles from their destination, they passed by a two-way stop at the exact moment when another driver rolled through the STOP sign. The other driver’s car hit Sunil’s vehicle and caused it to flip and spin into oncoming traffic, resulting in an additional collision that took Nikhil’s life. He was 11 years old. Sunil, Sangeeta, and Anay Bad