Sometimes, especially if you are a big people-person, it can be easy to mix up 'loneliness' with 'isolation'. Loneliness is the feeling of missing someone or something, or of being left alone. Isolation is simply the act of being by yourself. While loneliness should be remedied, isolation is a normal and natural part of life. Don't feel obligated to fill up every waking moment with activities and time with people. Time by yourself is healthy and necessary, and unless you are truly feeling lonely, is not something you need to try to 'fix'. When you feel lonely and you aren't quite sure why, it can be easy to fall back on family and friends as a distraction from your emotions. However, doing this simply masks your true feelings, and won't help you to feel better in the long run. Take time to examine the source(s) of your loneliness, and work to come up with solutions for this outside of constantly relying on a friend to take you out. You'll feel better in the long run, even if it does require a bit more emotional and mental work in the meantime. It's not uncommon for someone who feels lonely to end up coping with a possibly addictive behavior - whether it be alcohol, drugs, shopping, food, or something else. When you're feeling sad and really missing someone/something, you need to address your emotions directly. Trying to avoid your feelings or working around them with addictive behavior is not only unhealthy, but it will exacerbate your loneliness problem. Take steps to make healthy life decisions when you're upset, rather than using quick fixes that make things worse down the line.

Summary: Understand that loneliness and isolation are different. Don't become dependent on your family and friends. Avoid addictive coping behaviors.


The top of the head should be facing down on the cutting board, and the stem of the lettuce will be facing up toward you. If you prefer your lettuce shredded finely, this can be easily done with any sharp chef's knife. Set your knife on the edge of the head and slice straight through it, to create thin slices. Cut the lettuce carefully, using long, firm strokes. Continue slicing until you reach the pale center of the head of lettuce. Stop slicing when you reach the core of the lettuce. Turn the head around and continue slicing on the other side until you reach the core. Stop cutting when you reach the core of the lettuce head. Lay the head of lettuce on its side and slice the top of the lettuce from the core, using a sharp chef's knife. Slice off any remaining green leaves, then remove the pale center of the lettuce and discard it. Take the pieces of lettuce that you just sliced, and fan them out on the cutting board. Spread the slices out so that they cover the entire surface of the board. Use a sharp chef's knife to cut through the lettuce in close rows, moving from left to right across the board. You now have a pile of lettuce strips. Turn the cutting board 90 degrees and cut through the lettuce in close rows from the new direction. This will result in a pile of small pieces of lettuce, like the leaves in a chopped salad. If you want even smaller pieces, turn the cutting board 90 degrees and slice through the pieces again. Continue turning and slicing the lettuce until it is as finely shredded and diced as you like.

Summary: Position the lettuce head on the cutting board. Do the initial cutting. Cut to the core. Slice the other side of the lettuce head. Remove the core from the head of lettuce. Spread the slices flat on the cutting board. Create thin strips. Turn the strips into small pieces. Repeat if desired.


Grilling is a common summer cooking method. The weather is nice, the sun is out and you can enjoy eating your foods outside as well.  Although grilling is a very high-heat method of cooking, if you're using an outdoor grill, the heat can dissipate into the air around you. Indoor grill pans or grill tops may heat up your whole kitchen, making your home much warmer.  These still require you to heat up your stove top to a high heat level in order to cook foods thoroughly. Grilling allows you to cook just about every type of dish or food that you'd want without having to turn on your oven.  You can do a whole chicken, make burgers, grill vegetables, make baked potatoes or even make sweet desserts like baked apples — all without turning on the stove or oven. If you don't have the luxury of an outside grill, you'll still need to use your stove to cook foods indoors. Skip the oven and only use your stove top to make any cooked foods.  You may notice a slight increase in your kitchen temperature when using the stove top, but it will be significantly less than if you turned on the oven and decided to roast a whole chicken or bake potatoes. Avoid baking or roasting foods.  These cooking methods require your oven to heat up and stay hot for extended periods of time.  This can make your house or apartment warm and more difficult to cool down. To speed up cooking time on the stove top so you can minimize how much you heat up the kitchen, try:  slicing foods into smaller pieces, using thinner or smaller cuts of meat or poultry, and covering your pan or pot to trap the heat inside. If you can, try to focus on foods and meals that are served cold or don't require any cooking (or very little cooking).  This can help keep you and your home cooler during the hot summer months.  Try sticking to foods and recipes that don't require you to turn on the oven or only need a quick cooking session on the stove top.  This can help reduce the heat dissipated into your kitchen. Chilled foods can include:  cold salads (tuna salad, chicken salad); green salads; cold vegetable salads (three bean salad, beet salad); chilled soups; and yogurt/cottage cheese with berries. Also try to make meals that require little to no cooking.  You can make sandwiches, scrambled eggs on toast, grilled chicken or steak over a salad, chilled soba noodle salad with raw vegetables, cheese and crackers with deli meat, or a poached egg over a spinach salad. Try to figure out a good method of keeping your kitchen cool in the summer as well.  This will help you prepare meals during those hot summer months without getting too hot.  If you have windows in your kitchen, keep them open for ventilation.  You might want to try to opening windows on opposite sides of the kitchen or house to get a cross draft. Try using a portable fan to keep hot air moving through the kitchen.  You can align it so it points toward a window or pushes hot air out of the kitchen area. Also, if you do need to use the oven to bake or roast something, try doing it early in the morning when the temperature is the most cool.  This will help prevent heating up the kitchen in the middle of a hot day.
Summary: Heat up the outdoor grill. Use the stove top. Go for chilled foods and those that don't require any cooking. Keep your kitchen cool.