A reader asks: “After seven years with the same person, our relationship has become sexually stale. Some of our friends who are also couples say, ‘Try different and alternative sexual activities.’ Don’t you think sexual “alternatives” are cop-outs?”

A reader asks: “I met someone at the bar who says he “wants to be with me,” yet doesn’t want to do non-bar related stuff together, not even a movie. When I confront him, he compares me to his abusive ex. Is there an unhealthy issue I haven’t figured out?”

A reader asks: “Do you really think natural foods or alternative medicines have any benefits? Isn’t all that just birdseed and seaweed?”

A reader asks: “Being single is OK, but sometimes it seems so much easier to stay home than to go out just to be ignored. And when I do date, it only lasts a short while anyway. Rejection sucks, so why bother?”