Category Archives: mental health

A Handful of Pecans Against the Specter of Death

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Ryn PB

I am a pessimist. Just like being an optimist, being a pessimist has its pros (being prepared, less disappointment) and its cons (being overly stressed, less hopefulness), but the one thing I like most about being a pessimist is when … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health | Tagged anxiety, birds, bluejays, death, hope, LGBT+, life lessons, mental health, nature, pessimism, squirrels | Leave a comment

Days Well Spent: The Building Doesn’t Fall Down

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Ryn PB

A few nights ago, as I lay in bed, waiting to fall asleep, I was hit by the vision of the building around me crumbling down. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health, original writing | Tagged 2024, 2025, anxiety, books, day well spent, fortune, hope, hwang bo-reum, intrusive thoughts, korean lit, life, life lessons, life well lived, mental health, misfortune, miyazaki, new home, new year, new year's eve, nye, reading, shanna tan, the boy and the heron, translated lit | 1 Comment

My Second Favorite Bridge: A Life in Three Bridges

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Ryn PB

Introduction Recently, while flipping through a book of writing prompts, I came across one that asked, “What is your second favorite bridge?” Surprisingly, I had an easy answer to this one. I have my second favorite bridge tattooed on my … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health, original writing | Tagged abuse, anxiety, architecture, bad boss, bad job, bookstore, bridge, bridges, car, cartrip, childhood, concrete, construction, emotional abuse, employment, fired, history, jobs, john cheever, memory, mormon, nebraska, nostalgia, omaha, phobia, roads, roadtrip, short stories, short story, streets, tappan zee, tattoo, tattoos, travel, trip | 1 Comment

Dead Birds and Pharmacies

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Ryn PB

CW: Big Pharma, dead animals, mental illness I’m still half asleep. I just dragged myself away from my cat, who inevitably started acting cute right as I grabbed my keys, and now I’m preparing my customer service brain for work. … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health | Tagged anxiety, apology, bad omen, big pharma, dead bird, hadestown, LGBT+, life lessons, meds, mental health, mental illness, omen, pharmacies, sorry, writing | Leave a comment

“Doubt Comes In”: On Hadestown, Turning Around, and Living with Doubt*

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Ryn PB

The dog you really got to dread Is the one that howls inside your head It’s him whose howling drives men mad And a mind to its undoing… I’ll tell you where the real road lies Between your ears, behind … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health, polysyllabic spree | Tagged anais mitchell, anxiety, broadway, change, city, crisis, doubt, emotion, eurydice, family, friendship, greek myth, greek mythology, hades, hadestown, hermes, hope, life changes, life lessons, lillias white, love, love story, mental health, moving, music, musical, mythology, new york, npr, nyc, orpheus, orpheus and eurydice, persephone, quarter life crisis, reeve carney, romance, stories, story, storytelling, tennis, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, trust, us open | 1 Comment

I’m Thinking About Moths

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Ryn PB

I accidentally killed a moth. I was sitting outside, crisscross applesauce, back against a brick wall, sweating under the late May sun; the moth saw the shadowy space underneath my legs and beelined for the shelter with inevitably misplaced trust. … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, mental health | Tagged anxiety, bookseller, change, friends, friendship, half price books, hpb, job, knives, life changes, life lessons, may, mental health, moths, nature, nebraska, outside, reading, summer, the mountain goats, work | 1 Comment

September 2021: How the Magical Readathon helped me find purpose in the simple things

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Ryn PB

What I Got: Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey The Girl Who Became a Beatle by Greg Taylor Vogue Dec. 2020 What I Read: King of Scars (reread) by Leigh Bardugo The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen Rule of Wolves … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, mental health, polysyllabic spree | Tagged adaptations, bees, black history, books, challenges, dark academia, discrimination, emily m danforth, fairytales, fear, ghost stories, ghosts, graphic novels, grisha, grishaverse, historical fiction, horror, justina ireland, leigh bardugo, LGBT+, life lessons, literature, magic, magical, memoir, mental health, middle grade books, movies, nonfiction, novice path, orilium, paranormal, queer lit, queer literature, queer women, racism, readathon, reading, six of crows, supernatural, the devil all the time, tom holland, wasps, writing | Leave a comment

August 2021: How I relaxed my reading expectations after losing my job

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Ryn PB

What I Got: The Heartbreak Bakery (ARC) by A.R. Capetta The Prodigal Tongue by Lynne Murphy We Are Not Like Them (ARC) by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza As You Were (ARC) by Elaine Feeney Grievers (ARC) by adrienne maree … Continue reading →

Posted in mental health, new era, polysyllabic spree | Tagged anxiety, ar capetta, arcs, athletes, bakery, baking, bojack horseman, book nerd, bookish, books, bookworm, depression, erin morgenstern, fantasy, fence, getting fired, graphic novels, green day, illustrations, jobs, kevin panetta, LGBT+, life lessons, magic, music, queer lit, reading, romance, romance books, sapphic, skateboarding, sports, the starless sea, work, writing | Leave a comment

June 2021: How a pile of Hydra heads fell on top of me and my reading life reflected it, or How I’m all bullshitted out

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Ryn PB

What I Got: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi L’arbre généreux: l’école de loisirs by Shel Silverstein Honing Your Craft: Developing Your Writing Skills on a Budget (zine) by Lydia Rogue World War Z by Max Brooks is5: poems by e.e. cummings … Continue reading →

Posted in mental health, new era, polysyllabic spree | Tagged ace rep, alice oseman, anthropocene reviewed, anxiety, bo burnham, books, comics, dark humor, depression, elatsoe, freshwater, inside, james baldwin, john green, julia kaye, LGBT, LGBT+, lgbtq, loveless, maggie stiefvater, mental health, mister impossible, pandemic, queer lit, readathon, reading, tea dragon, the dreamer trilogy, the raven cycle, trans | Leave a comment

January 2021: How I started off the new year by reading about ghosts, music, and intelligent kids

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Ryn PB

What I Got: The Toll by Neal Shusterman How Do You Live? (ARC) by Genzaburō Yoshino Brown Girl Ghosted by Mintie Das Roving Pack by Sassafras Lowrey An Abundance of Katherines by John Green Nobody Likes You by Marc Spitz … Continue reading →

Posted in mental health, new era, polysyllabic spree | Tagged an abundance of katherines, books, books about music, comics, doodle, Indian lit, japanese classic, john green, miyazaki, music commentary, muslim rep in lit, new puppy, new year, nick hornby, phantom of the opera, pop music, pop science, queer lit, songbook, the great gatsby, the mysterious benedict society, translated lit, yesimhotinthis | Leave a comment