1. Saying life is anything other than "good" is taboo. 

If you have ever answered "not good" when someone asks the question, "How are you today?" You've probably seen the instinctual reaction from that person. There is a look of stunned surprise, immediately followed by an ever-so-slight moment of awkward silence, and then something like "Oh...I'm sorry to hear that." As people, we are trained the only appropriate response to the "how are you?" question is "fine" or "good". Anything other than those responses shatters cultural norms and creates an awkward interaction.

My decision to start this blog off by saying I felt like my life sucks violated a cultural norm and was immediately perceived to be a cry for help. I thought titling the website Randy Solves Life provided a context clue for the direction I intended for the site. Yet, I still found myself having to clear things up. The reactions I received for saying my life sucks showed me how strongly culture dictates you must say everything is "good". When I said things weren't good, I was immediately met with reactions like there was something wrong with ME not the situations that are causing me to feel the way I did. I know the people who responded that way were well-intentioned. I broke a taboo and they responded the way norms dictated they should.