Help! I Pulled My Neighbor’s Hair!

Dear Don't Dump On Me

I am so sorry you are being harassed and physically attacked by a neighbor. You say your neighbor attacked you and pestered you with dog poop etc. It is a shame that you are being traumatized as you are practicing your zen and gardening. The ordeal frankly sounds like out of a nightmare and your neighbor, as you describe, appears to be an extremely unstable person. If this was simply a dispute, I'd have advised you to try and have a talk with her, however due to the physical violence etc. you are far past that point.

It's fairly common for neighbors to have disputes, and you're not alone. This awful neighbor terrorized his entire neighborhood by chasing them with screwdrivers and screaming in demonic voices, among many other offenses. All in all, he was involved in so many incidents, it amounted to 800 pages of police reports. These neighbors duked it out in the Supreme Court over 20 inches of a fence dividing their properties.

Your version of neighbor from hell sounds like she certainly has committed at least a trespassing offense by hopping over into your yard. I recommend you stay away from her and get a restraining order ASAP. If it's your word against hers, as you say, then you also need to get legal counsel. Lastly, if you have the means and opportunity to, it would be wise for you and perhaps your daughter to seek support with a professional therapist. Hopefully soon, instead of pulling your hair out over this dreadful woman, you'll be busy pulling weeds from your pretty garden!

– The Armchair Psychologist

Dear No Steinbeck,

Hi there in Oslo! I am sorry that you're unable to get your creativity flowing. Writer's block happens so often to even the most famous and productive writers. It is a sort of creative block that is psychological in nature. Some scientists have suggested it is due to unhappiness or anxiety. In the 1970's Yale psychologists Jerome Singer and Michael Barrios created a therapy that included a series of directed imagery and visualization exercises that proved to be very effective.

If you're unable to visualize yourself into positive imagery and goals, you might just have to force yourself to write whether the work is any good or not. As Charles Bukowski famously stated, "Writing about a writer's block is better than not writing at all." For more extreme measures, there is an app called "The Most Dangerous Writing App" that forces you to keep writing and punishes you by deleting all of your work if you stop typing for more than 5 seconds. Get to work!

– The Armchair Psychologist