Charlie Fletcher is a freelance writer living in the pacific northwest who has a variety of interests including sociology, politics, business, education, health, and more.
A (Not So) Small Price to Pay: What Patients and Doctors Can Do About the Rising Cost of Medicine
No matter who you are or what your station in life may be, the dream of good health and longevity for ourselves and those we love is a dream we all share. Unfortunately, for far too many of us nowadays, that dream also comes with a hefty price tag, one that fewer and fewer Americans are able to pay. In fact, if you’ve found yourself having to pay for any kind of prescription drug in the last few years, you’ve probably been shocked at how much, and how rapidly, drug costs are rising.
This is l...
How the Increase in Alcohol Sales May Create a New Mental Health Crisis Post COVID-19
There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost everyone’s lives in some way. Whether you know someone with the virus, you’ve lost your job, the change in routine has made life difficult, or you miss interacting with others, this pandemic has changed the way many people live.
As a result, mental health has become a growing concern throughout the country. Research discovered that from February 16-March 15, prescriptions for antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and anti-insomnia med...
How Remote Technology is Helping Workplaces Transition to a New Normal
At a time in which we are making significant changes to the way we work, remote technology can help us not only ease into a new normal of working from home but thrive in a post-COVID-19 world.
It’s safe to say that COVID-19 has had a turbulent effect upon our lives, both at work and at home. While many have been hoping for the world to return to the same state as it was before lockdown, the reality is many of the changes are likely to be permanent.
Rather than roll back to our old, comfortabl...
Pros and cons of reopening Illinois schools during the pandemic
The surge of COVID-19 cases in Illinois ended with more than 1,900 new cases in a single day on the last day of July. With that in mind, should students return to school in the fall? Before the outbreak, Chicago public school students were expecting a return to in-person schooling on September 8.
There are both pros and cons regarding returning to school in September. Let’s examine both, despite not having a precise answer on what will happen for the 2020-21 school year. Let’s see what we do ...
How to Freelance When You’re A Parent
When you’re a parent, freelancing can seem like the perfect amalgamation of your personal and professional lives. And the truth is, there are a lot of benefits that the lifestyle provides, such as saving on childcare costs and being able to work around a flexible schedule.
However, once you’re actually employed as a work from home (WFH) freelancing parent, there are several drawbacks to the situation that quickly become apparent. Avoiding distractions, staying productive, and generally balanc...
Virtual Virtuoso: Optimal user experience features for e-learning
Whether you’re an experienced educator or a parent struggling to adjust to remote learning in the face of the national lockdown, chances are good that you’re looking for ideas to help your student, or students, thrive in the unfamiliar world of the virtual classroom.
And it doesn’t much matter if the classroom is your second home, or if you haven’t stepped foot inside of a school for decades. We’re all feeling out of our depth right now as we contend with the fear of the virus, the anxiety of...
The Marketer’s Guide to Building a Consistent Brand
What does it mean to build a brand?
Many of us can remember jingles, commercials, and characters from our favorite brands dating as far back as childhood. From “Got Milk” to “Double Double Your Refreshment,” from the GEICO gecko to Mayhem, certain things are instantly recognizable to many consumers.
These taglines and characters are part of the collective idea we have about a company — that is, its brand.
What can you do to build a consistent, long-lasting brand for your own business? Here ar...
How to Ensure Your Loved Ones are Healthy From a Distance
Long-Distance Caregiving:
At the end of the day, there’s nothing more important than family. But let’s face it. Life is tough. Between the responsibilities of work and home, it can feel like there’s simply not enough of you to go around.
But when you’re tasked with caring for a loved one who lives far away, the weight of the responsibility you carry can feel like the weight of the world. Because added to the duty to keep them safe and well, you may worry about the things you could be missing,...
Introducing Green, Healthy Habits To Your Kids
By Charlie Fletcher
Habits, both good and bad, tend to take root by the tender age of 9. In other words, many of the behaviors that will dominate your life have already been more or less set in stone before you reach high school.
This puts a particular emphasis on parents as they guide their fledgling humans into the tricky business of adult life.
If you’re a parent with young kids, it’s important to approach your child-rearing developing good habits that balance both personal health and care...
Honing skills for career longevity
Once upon a time the average person honed very specific skills for their career, applied to a single company, was given gainful employment for decades, and then retired with a pension from that same employer. Nowadays, the average amount of time someone spends at a job is just 4.2 years.
In other words, modern careers are mobile, temporary, and always changing.
If you’re getting ready to land your first job out of uni, it’s important to understand what skills are necessary to maintain a long,...
Considerations For Starting Your Own Business Post COVID-19
In many ways, you have greater access to resources for creating your own startup than almost any other time in history. The rise of the digital age has helped to ensure that you can survey the nuances of markets you consider entering, learn from industry leaders, and reach a worldwide audience. That’s not to say there aren’t obstacles, of course. One of these as of late has been the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the pressing concerns for any entrepreneur this year has been how the alarming econom...
How Soft Skills Will Help You Land Your Dream Job
Hard skills are easy to measure. They’re the things you can put on your resume. They’re things you’ve worked to get better at over time. Whether it’s typing, computer programming, finance, or legal issues, hard skills are important to most careers.
But it’s equally important not to spend all of your time and focus on hard skills alone. Over the years, soft skills have proven to be just as valuable — if not more so, when it comes to landing the job of your dreams.
Soft skills are things that a...
Why Self Care is the Key to Productivity at Work
Genuine, unselfish self-care strives to maintain your mental, emotional, and physical health. It enables you to properly tend to whatever tasks and responsibilities life brings your way. You may have found that your productivity at work — or really anywhere in your life — is suffering. If your reaction is to work harder, that’s understandable. However, you may want to consider integrating some reasonable self-care measures into your routine to truly get back into a productive rhythm.
Why Slow...
Conversations You Should Be Having in Your Workplace About Race
It’s clear that 2020 has been a year of change around the globe. In the midst of a pandemic, the United States, specifically, is facing a cultural movement. The deaths of Black individuals like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have sparked not just discussions across the country about changes that need to be implemented on federal, local, and personal levels.
As a result, many corporations and small businesses alike need to look internally to determine what to do.
In the wake o...
How to Respond to Microaggressions at Work
There are a number of ways that employees can feel unhappy in the workplace. Dealing with micromanagement, annoying coworkers, and demanding customers can be enough to make even the best workplaces miserable.
If you’re a member of a marginalized group, you may also deal with microaggressions in the workplace on top of everything else. Moreso, microaggressions can be difficult for others to recognize, which makes them even more challenging to address. And while they may not be considered haras...