Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

In response to a question, Sugar reveals that while she does not hold conventional ideas of God, she believes that we each harbor a portion of divine spirit and that we can grow bigger than ourselves through integrity, compassion, and love.

Fear of Asking Too Much, a 64-year-old man who threw himself into volunteer work to survive heartbreak, wonders if he should ask out the new volunteer coordinator, whom he finds “exciting” but who is young enough to be his daughter (217). He also worries that his extreme need for love may put her off.

Sugar responds that “love is our essential nutrient” and that this man’s desire for it is entirely natural (219). She says that he should not let his fears get in the way of asking the volunteer coordinator out, although he should bear in mind that she might refuse him on age grounds or because he is a volunteer in her place of employment. He should be assertive about the fact that he likes her and ask whether she would like to go out sometime. Sugar maintains that his longing for love is only one part of him and that he needs to show other facets of his full personality.