Mental Health
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Healing from Loss: My Journey Through Grief
I thought when she passed away, time would stop moving forward. Didn’t the world understand that she was gone? I was carrying the pain of knowing I wouldn’t be able to talk to her again. The day after she died, I woke up and thought I should call her today; I hadn’t called her in…
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The Dig: Reflections on Grief and History
The 2021 movie The Dig introduced me to the 1939 archeological discovery of Sutton Hoo (Courtesy of the National Trust). Sutton Hoo is an archaeological site in Suffolk, England, renowned for an exceptionally rich Anglo-Saxon ship burial discovered in 1939, considered one of the most critical discoveries in early medieval European history; this burial contained a…
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From Fear to Enjoyment: My Public Speaking Journey
Public speaking is not something I ever thought I would enjoy or want to throw myself into. I still don’t count it amongst my top 10 favorite things to do with my free time, but something is rewarding about conveying a message to a group of people and not being so petrified. My experience in…
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Navigating Dating with Autism: Challenges and Insights
I was asked recently how having autism had affected my ability to date and find romantic partners. If you had asked me when I was recently diagnosed I would have told you that autism was going to be a defining challenge in my ability to find love and sustain a long-term relationship. I went through…
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Stop Being Haunted
I’ve been thinking about ghosts lately. Not the supernatural creatures we see in horror movies or dress up for Halloween year after year. I’ve been giving thought to the ghosts that follow each person. For me, the ghosts that have followed me doggedly often have to do with loss, trauma, and unresolved grief. The first…
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Being Open to Change
Ask anyone currently trying to date in the swamp that is dating apps, and you’ll be told I’m sure how difficult it is and the innumerable challenges dating in the modern age presents. As I mentioned a few months ago, I went through a breakup and was tentatively dipping my toe back in the proverbial…
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Navigating Pain and Loss
I have yet to meet someone who is a fan of breakups. As someone who is now going through their fifth breakup, I would say I’m a fan of the growth and peace that is often on the other side, just not the pain and loss that always accompanies the first two. The relationship that…
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Community helped save me
I’ve been meditating on the importance of community lately. I keep seeing news stories that suggest we are in a loneliness epidemic and that it’s only getting worse. Pundits love to blame social media; I suppose pinning a single source for a problem must make them feel more at ease since it provides an easy…
Living on the Spectrum 