Sense & Sensitivity

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have been so busy juggling family responsibilities and the grind of work that I have missed two important calls related to the charity work that I am doing. I feel horrible that I now look like a flake. I’m really not. What’s happened is I have overbooked my schedule and chaos seems to have ensued. I wrote to the woman I stood up twice now for phone meetings and expressed my apology for not following up. I assured her that I do want to have the meeting and asked to reschedule one more time. Is there anything else I should do? -- Stretched Too Thin, Milwaukee

DEAR STRETCHED TOO THIN: For the woman in question, you may want to reach out and give more explanation about your life right now to make it clear to her you are in the throes of a time management challenge.

In general, take a step back and assess your life. Write down your short-term and longer-term responsibilities. List them in categories based on the various projects you are undertaking. Include your personal life as its own category. Put deadlines and appointment times next to each item that requires it. Then include these key dates in your calendar. Put an alarm on your appointments that will remind you a few minutes before you need to make a call or go to a meeting. Finally, drop anything from your schedule that is not essential at this moment.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I’m getting so confused with social media these days. Two so-called “friends” just wrote to me asking to become my friend on Facebook. I felt sure that we were already friends, but I was busy, so I accepted without checking. The next thing I know, I’m getting direct messages from one of them that seem weird. When I looked at her page, it got even stranger. The messages on the page were in patois. This woman is American and, to my knowledge, only speaks English. I called my friend, and she told me her account had been hacked. It’s so creepy how people can do that. How can I protect myself better to avoid this kind of thing in the future? -- Hacked, Boston

DEAR HACKED: You can report the hacking of your friend to Facebook. You can make your page private rather than public. In this way, you control who gets to see your page or access it in any way. From now on, do not accept any friend requests without first checking to see if you have already friended that person. Also, check out the person’s page first. This will give you an indication of whether the person is who she or he is claiming to be, and whether you would like to be connected.

(Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR HARRIETTE: I’m in my 60s now, and I have had a chance to look back on things. I realize that I often hold a grudge against people. The few people who I used to consider my best friends are no longer close to me. We fell out years ago for one reason or another, mainly because something happened and I could not forgive them. I realize now how judgmental I have been. Nobody’s perfect, but somehow I thought that people should be kind of perfect when it came to being my friend. So many years later, I wish I could get some of those friendships back. The people are still alive, but I don’t know what I could possibly say to open that door. Any ideas? -- Down Memory Lane, Kansas City, Kansas

DEAR DOWN MEMORY LANE: Don’t underestimate the power of your own apology and overture to reconnect. Reach out to each of your old friends in the spirit of making amends. State how much you miss the friend, what you appreciate the most about the relationship you once had and that you hope it isn’t too late to rekindle it. Be honest about how your reaction to whatever happened years ago, coupled with your inability to forgive, helped to create a divide for all these years. Acknowledge that you all are getting older and that you want to make the effort to reconnect with your friends. Ask each friend directly if it is possible for you to get together in the near future.

DEAR HARRIETTE: All my daughter’s friends are getting double or triple piercings these days. I know this has been a trend for some years now, but I feel like this is not what my daughter should be doing.

We got her ears pierced years ago when she was an infant, but she has not been successful at wearing earrings without irritation up until this year. She recently has been wearing gold hoops, and she hasn’t had problems. I’m talking just a few weeks of wearing the hoops, though. I don’t think it’s wise for us to add piercings to her ears so soon. I think we should first determine if she can regularly wear earrings in the holes she has. I have expressed this to my young teenager, but she thinks I am being mean. What do you recommend? -- Protecting My Teen, Los Angeles

DEAR PROTECTING MY TEEN: You know your daughter’s medical history, and it is your job to reinforce what you know. You can also enlist the medical advice of your daughter’s pediatrician or even a dermatologist. Find out what the doctor’s recommendation is so you can share that with your daughter.

Beyond the practical, be prepared to talk to your daughter about peer pressure and how to make personal decisions that may be different from her friends’ choices. This is one of the toughest lessons to learn, but it is critical for your daughter so she can assess personally when the group choice should not be her choice. Your job is to help her to learn how to discern the difference.

(Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have lived in my house for more than 20 years, and a whole lot more comes in than goes out. I try to sort through stuff and get organized, but it hasn’t worked out so well. My cousin called recently to ask if she could stay with me for the weekend. I want to see her, but I cannot invite her to stay with me. My place is a mess. There is nowhere for her to stay. Plus, it would be too much for me to even talk about. I’m sure it will hurt her feelings that I am telling her she can’t stay with me. I don’t want to explain it to her, but there’s no way she can cross this threshold. How should I handle this? -- Hoarder Patrol, Queens, New York

DEAR HOARDER PATROL: In the short term, tell your cousin it’s not convenient for her to stay with you now, but you would love to see her. Schedule a time to get together and enjoy each other’s company. If she presses you about staying at your home or visiting, stand your ground. You do not have to get into a conversation with her about your home.

Most important, get some help. If you are a hoarder, chances are that you need professional support in order to be able to get a fresh start. Instead of feeling ashamed, take action. Contact a local service that helps people clean out their spaces and create order. Because you don’t know these people, it may be easier to allow them into your home. They have the expertise to get rid of what is not serving you and to keep whatever can still be of use. This is not an easy process, but if you can go through with it, you may be able to liberate yourself from the isolated life you have built up over the years. Some resources to consider: clutterfreeservice.com, nynjhoarding.com and greenexcleanouts.com. Know that it can be helpful to tell a loved one what’s going on and that you need help. Select someone you trust to be your sounding board and support through this difficult process of purging.

DEAR HARRIETTE: Whenever I see my sister, she claims some wardrobe item I’m wearing. I’m not kidding you. If I’m wearing a scarf, she admires it and then badgers me until she guilts me into giving it to her. Sometimes it’s cute, but other times I really don’t want to hand over my possessions. My sister has a good job and plenty of money to buy what she wants, yet she consistently feels like she must have something of mine. How can I wean her off this habit? I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but her demands are overbearing. -- Not Your Stuff, Pittsburgh

DEAR NOT YOUR STUFF: Your sister is longing to be close to you. Requesting your possessions is her way of doing this. To get her to stop, be counterintuitive. Spend more time with her. Pay attention to her and her interests more. Ask if you can have something of hers. She may relish the notion that you like her things. Over time, you can begin to say “no” when she tries to take your belongings.

(Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)