The greatest Show on Your street.

Can we stop treating "having people over" like a staged performance?

​Seriously, I’ve had it with the idea that opening your front door means you have to audition for "Host of the Year." If you or your guests are walking into a home viewing the visit as a spectacle to be managed rather than a connection to be made, you aren't hosting—you’re competing.

​When we turn a simple visit into a high-stakes performance, we are literally setting ourselves up for psychological trauma. It’s exhausting. It’s fake. And honestly? It’s toxic. Instead of a night of laughs and genuine conversation, the whole event turns into a silent judgment marathon.

​You spend the entire time panicking if the appetizers are "Pinterest-worthy" or if your house looks like a showroom, and the guests spend the night scoring you in their heads. That’s not a friendship; that’s a deposition.

​If you can’t come over while there’s a basket of unfolded laundry on the couch or if I can’t serve you a basic meal without feeling like I’m being graded, then we shouldn't be hanging out. A home is a sanctuary, not a theater. Let’s stop the competition, stop the judgment, and start actually being human with each other again. If you want a performance, go to the movies. If you want my company, come as you are and take me as I am.