Nancy Hernandez

Though I’m not sure what the true definition of “the norm” looks like these days, I can say, I’ve been less than normal for most of my life. More often than not, I find myself questioning the expected, ignoring societal pressures, and doing things differently.

These different doings of mine include, but are not limited to:

• Opting to be vegan for nearly a decade (and still going strong)
• Exiting the 9 to 5 office world (more than once)
• Making an effort to travel more
• Overcoming my fear...

Have you noticed that when someone is acting like a jerk, you are likely to point out that behavior to her by your words or tone of voice?

And then she goes out of her way to prove it to you some more? Why? Because our biggest gut instinct is for survival. That primitive, instinctual reaction causes us to escalate in situations in which we are unhappy, or to withdraw and complain to others.

More negotiations break down over ego differences than over content differences.

Ironically, the...