Of course, sex and relationships are far from the only subjects that Havrilesky tackles. There's a certain existential thread to many of the letters she chooses to respond to. Her answers to questions about pursuing a passion, quitting a job, letting go of a toxic relationship, and struggling with body image tend toward the philosophical and can often be pared down to following your heart, letting go of things that don't serve you, and remembering that life is not a dress rehearsal, so you better make this round count.

But my favorite piece from How to Be emerges from an essay written in response to a person who calls herself "Career or Baby." At 27, this woman is trying to decide whether or not she should give up her job at a bank to have a child — if this is the right time, if there is a right time, if it's okay to choose starting a family over her career goals for the time being. Havrilesky banishes the idea that women necessarily need to think about those two things diametrically, asserting that it's okay to just decide to have it all. "Choose both," she writes. "Choose the career, AND choose the baby. Don't put off one for the other. Choose both now and later, and accept that you'll be juggling for years no matter what you do.

"Why not juggle things you love? Sure, you'll have to work hard and make some sacrifices. Accept it and move forward," she adds.

This is just one of many pieces of widely applicable wisdom that Havrilesky imparts in How to Be a Person. But, in my opinion, it's one of the best — because it's a reminder that not everything is either/or, and that the decisions we make about how to lead our lives aren't black and white. Being a person means wading through the gray area, and unlike Dear Abby, Havrilesky doesn't even try to give off the impression that she has an objective view. She's refreshingly human, just like the people who seek her insights. You can feel the heart in how she responds, and that mark of humanity makes her advice memorable — and worth following.

How to Be a Person: Ask Polly's Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life was released July 12, 2016.