Poverty forced her to endure humiliation but she used it to her advantage — When Mary Ann Bevan was born in 1874, she was a beautiful, healthy baby. Nobody knew anything was amiss. Mary Ann grew up in Kent, England with her seven brothers and sisters. She later became a nurse and worked in London and dreamed of having a big family. In her…

Many young people will be forced to rent forever and endure all the uncertainty that comes with that. — The woman who showed us around the house had her hair up in a bun and put out a cigarette before we walked inside. We asked her if she was the estate agent. She said no, she was the tenant. It felt off. Here we were looking to potentially buy…

In former communist nations, women dominate the science field — but is this an example the West can emulate to bridge its own STEM gap? — My mother grew up in communist Bulgaria. The Berlin wall didn’t fall until 1989 and she was a 70s kid. Her formative years were spent behind the iron curtain, where people queued for hours to buy their yearly allotment of oranges. Communism was a grey regime where apathy and a…

Yet another school shooting happened in America, the land of the free. And, in the aftermath of the incredible tragedy that resulted in the death of 21 people, the gun activists jumped in with their usual B.S. “Guns don’t kill people, people do.” Listen, I know you find it hard…

Rob, 35, retired shortly after his risky venture paid off handsomely. — A 35-year-old warehouse worker woke up to a seven-figure net worth after his modest investment skyrocketed. At the start of 2021, Rob was just a working-class warehouse manager, a husband, and a father. He lived in the north of England with his family and led a fairly ordinary life. He…

A decade later, I realized she’d taught me a valuable lesson about self-awareness. — I had this teacher, we’ll call her Ms Patel. She taught me biology for three excruciating years in high school. In those three years, I went from getting As with my previous teacher, to barely scraping by with Cs. I know it’s not all her fault. But it didn’t help…

Many people struggle to afford their basic needs, so telling them to live below their means is patronizing and arrogant. — It’s a sad indictment of society that more and more stories are surfacing about single mothers struggling to put food on the table for their children. There are stories about families with several children living in cramped conditions. …

We all have goals and interests and things we want to learn. Social media can get in the way of that. The answer isn’t to go on a digital detox though. — Working from home has given most office workers the chance for a little ‘me time’ every morning. No more busy commutes or time wasted in useless meetings that should have been an email. And while there are those among us who have filled their time with vigorous exercise routines and…

I used this exact method to get my first five-figure writing client and quit my 9-to-5 job. — What if I told you that you could quit your 9 to 5 and start working as a full-time freelance writer in under a month? Sound too good to be true? I’m not here to make empty promises. But chances are, this could actually work for you. Maybe you’ve made…