I Quit Friendships, Regularly

ImageCredit…Photo Illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Telling someone you don’t want to be friends anymore can be awkward. So don’t tell them. By Mariah Smith Jan. 20, 2020 The rules for breaking up with a partner have long been established: Try to do it in person or at least on the phone, don’t…

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I Quit Dating Apps. Five Times.

Image The story of a tortured relationship — with a happy ending. Jan. 20, 2020 You’re 24 when you get seriously dumped for the first time. It’s the kind of dumped that leaves you couch surfing with friends watching old episodes of “Top Chef” on repeat and inhaling bags of mini stroopwafels from Trader Joe’s.…

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I Quit the Priesthood

ImageCredit…Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Len Schreiner couldn’t help falling in love. So he wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II and waited. Interview by Danya Issawi Jan. 20, 2020 I grew up in a very Roman Catholic atmosphere in western Kansas and had always been drawn to the priesthood. I joined the Capuchin…

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I Quit Chewing Gum

ImageCredit…Photo Illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times It’s costly. It’s unsightly. And my jaws are tired. Jan. 20, 2020 Forget about “Drynuary,” which I broke on Jan. 2 with that insouciant leftover chardonnay in the door of the fridge. Or diets, long feminized and scorned, and now rebranded by annoying tech bros as “intermittent…

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I Quit Cars

ImageCredit…Photo Illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times And in Los Angeles! Lauren Ferree, 27, does not miss the traffic — or destroying the environment. Interview by Danya Issawi Jan. 20, 2020 I was born and raised in L.A., and my mom is an environmentalist. We’ve always composted and she’s always had some sort of garden.…

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I Quit Buying Things

ImageCredit…Photo Illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times John Michael Hogue, a 23-year-old from Chicago, felt conflicted by consumerism, so he took a leap of faith. Interview by Danya Issawi Jan. 20, 2020 I grew up in Omaha, in a suburban household that had normal consumer routines. But even as a child, some of those…

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I Quit the Act of Quitting

ImageCredit…Photo Illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than not saying no. By Mallika Rao Jan. 20, 2020 I’m a quitter, in the right sense of the word, by present-day standards. I, like so many brave men and women with the means to do so, have gotten by for days…

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I Quit Dating Entirely

ImageCredit…Shutterstock Mae-sa Dixon, 35, swore off sex seven years ago. She says she’s never been happier. Jan. 20, 2020 I started having sex at 16, and I didn’t have my first orgasm during sex until I was about 25. In 2013, I decided to stop dating and having sex with other people entirely. I have…

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