Sublime

The psychologist James Marcia argues that there are four levels of identity creation. The healthiest people have arrived at what he calls “identity achievement.” They’ve explored different identities, told different stories about themselves, and finally settled on a heroic identity that works.

Twentysomething jobs teach us about regulating our emotions and negotiating the complicated social interactions that make up adult life. Twentysomething work and school are our best chance to acquire the technical, sophisticated skills needed in so many careers today. Twentysomething relationships prepare us for marriage and other partnerships.

We are currently in a global mental health crisis that is ruthlessly affecting teens and young adults at a rate unlike anything the world has ever seen. In the dozens and dozens of talks and presentations I’ve given at colleges and universities, this fact seems to be abundantly well-known by those under fifty and almost completely, cluelessly

Play, which I would define as anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than as a means to an end – whether it’s flying a kite or listening to music or kicking around a football – might seem like a non-essential activity. Often it is treated that way. But in fact play is essential in many ways. Stuart Brown, the founder of the National

In 1998, Dr. Martin Seligman, incoming president of the American Psychological Association (APA), had challenged the field of psychology to broaden its focus to study and implement interventions that went beyond human problems and pathology to include the study of human strengths and well-being—basically, what’s going right.2 He thus initiated