Author: Overcoming Adversity | Buteau’s Odyssey

Family rituals are routines and traditions that honor what is very important to the family (Rothenbuhler, 1998). Rituals include family traditions, such as the specific ways we celebrate holidays, birthdays, vacations, weddings, and graduations, or even our weekly family dinners and everyday bedtime rituals for children. Rituals are valuable when family members perceive them as current and meaningful (Braithwaite, 2022). A few years ago, my friend Kris was concerned that his family was losing their tradition of decorating the family Christmas tree together. Kris purchased their live tree the day after Thanksgiving so they could decorate their tree over the…

Early in her career, USA Today best-selling author Emma Grey felt like rejection would break her. Today, she’s made rejection something to reach for. The fear of rejection is evolutionary—we are hardwired to avoid rejection in order to survive and protect social cohesion. In fact, research shows that rejection triggers the same brain regions as physical pain (Kross et al., 2011). While fearing the pain of rejection can lead to self-doubt, hesitation to pursue our desires, and feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, the experience of rejection can actually build resilience. Rather than leaning into a rash reaction to rejection, tolerating…

American Psycho messes with your head from the start. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s just Patrick’s twisted fantasy. You’ve got the violence, obviously, but then you’ve got stuff like the ATM telling him to feed it a stray cat, or him trying to kill Paul Allen, only to visit his apartment later […]

A museum in Ukraine is pioneering a new role for such a cultural institution: emergency psychological support. Ukraine’s National War Museum, established in Kyiv when Russia invaded the country in 2014, is not only the first to document a war in real time but to offer psychological services to individuals living with the daily threat of bombs and drones and the reality of lost loved ones and destroyed homes. Documenting a War in Real Time The museum deploys teams of historians, archivists, photographers, videographers, psychologists, and local field specialists to liberated areas, often arriving only hours after fighting ends. “We…

We’re down to the final three weeks of the 2025 NFL regular season, with each bit of news across the league becoming more and more critical. Who’s hurt? Who’s practicing? Who’s starting? Who’s on the hot seat?Here’s the latest on what’s happening around the league entering Week 16:Lazard and the Jets “mutually” parted ways after the veteran wide receiver requested his release, per SNY. Lazard was in the third season of a three-year, $44 million deal, which he signed after spending the first five seasons of his career with the Green Bay Packers (2018-22); he took an $8.5 million paycut before…

Is this a time of year that you actually dread and are embarrassed to admit it? Many people feel this way, sometimes me! During the holidays, we’re often surrounded by people and environments who are all wrapped up in the joy and chaos of the season. You may not share their enthusiasm, at least not this year, and feel left out. Perhaps you try, but are just going through the motions, either for the sake of appearances or for friends and family members. You may feel that your life has been interrupted by your mood disorder or other mental health…

She walked into the room with a polite smile, placing her backpack carefully beside the chair as if not to disturb anything. When I asked how her week had been, she answered promptly: “It was fine. Just busy. Nothing special.” Her tone was steady. Her posture upright. But she gripped the zipper of her jacket so tightly that her knuckles had turned pale. In many Western frameworks, this kind of presentation might be labeled as minimizing, emotionally distant, or a “detached protector” mode. But as we spoke, a different picture emerged. She wasn’t shutting down. She wasn’t withholding. She was…

From folk horror to tropical terrors and psychological scares, today’s Horror Highlights features the trailers for Damian McCarthy’s Hokum (starring Adam Scott), Jo-Anne Brechin’s Killer Whale (starring Virginia Gardner and Mel Jarnson), and Sleepwalker (starring Hayden Panettiere and Beverly D’Angelo), and we also have a look at the key art for the new vampire film Night Patrol  from director Ryan Prows. Official Teaser Trailer for HOKUM, Coming to Theaters May 1st: “When reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, the staff’s tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take…

Several years ago, I wrote a blog about the complex economic, cultural, and social factors that usually come together to create a perfect storm, with hate crimes as an emerging consequence. I focused on the unintended effects of rapid technological development over the past 50 years, which boosted economic productivity but also led to job losses and reduced demand for labor. With unemployment comes not only economic instability but also deep frustration and a loss of personal dignity for millions who feel powerless and a sense of having been culturally discarded. In such a social context, political leaders often exploit…

Some people think that The Devil’s Rejects is Rob Zombie’s masterpiece. Anything else is not as good. It’s devisive conversation, one that’s worth having because he is great filmmaker, especially with comic timing. On another note, some people think that Daybreakers is a great vampire film, while others think it…ahem, sucks. The former is getting a limited theatrical re-release by Fathom Entertainment on October 6 and 8 to celebrate it’s 20th anniversary. No such luck for Daybreakers, but both are getting a 4k UHD release: The Devil’s Rejects on October 14, and Daybreakers on September 16. No matter what you…