My tank is on empty. I’m emotionally exhausted and mentally fried. I’m trying not to be a bummer, but my options this week were honesty or just Continue Reading
Mental Health & Wellness
Uneasy Aeneas: Thoughts from a Dream
A few nights ago, a phrase came to me. Or more accurately, a pair of words: uneasy Aeneas.From time to time, things pop into my head when I'm about to Continue Reading
Personal Hygiene Mistakes That Are Easier to Fix Than You Think
Photo by Tadeusz Lakota on Unsplash Good personal hygiene is often associated with major lifestyle changes, expensive products, or complicated Continue Reading
Dry Spell
If you’re reading this in the Southeast, you know that we’ve been in a severe drought. My little area in North Carolina is between 8 and 12 inches Continue Reading
Behind Friendly Lines
A few weeks ago, at the height of burnout and a real period of darkness, I got a text from a friend that offered a glimmer of hope. He asked if I Continue Reading
The Gun Comes Last
I have responded to enough crime scenes in my career to know what violence looks like up close. I have seen what a bullet does to a human body. I have Continue Reading
The Hidden Scars
We are the tales of A. A. Milne’s "Hundred Acre Woods." We are forever seeking to explain the bipolar results of war. How can we so rapidly Continue Reading
What Every Rocket Leaves Behind: The Invisible Scars of Terrorism
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash Within moments, cameras are rolling — recording the collapsed concrete, the charred remains of vehicles, and the Continue Reading
Firefighters Deal with More Than Just Flames
By a Volunteer Firefighter I had been a volunteer firefighter for a few months. I was 16 years old at the time. My father dropped me off at the Continue Reading
The Knife-Edge Between Caring and Caring Too Much
Editor’s note: This piece is drawn from the author’s Coast Guard correspondence. The dry dock that we endured in the last two months of 2015 was Continue Reading
When Survival Becomes the Lens
A while back, I had a conversation with a friend that has stayed with me long after it ended. He said something simple: “Observe the observer Continue Reading
Great Warriors Stumble: The Silence of Suicide
The aftermath follows an all too familiar script. A post rich with the accomplishments and feeling about the warrior lost, though the reason is Continue Reading