I just gave up.

I’m embarrassed, ashamed, and afraid that I’ve let my kids and family down.

I’ve been staying in a hotel room waiting for my Airbnb apartment to become available, and I was due to start my first travel X-ray tech assignment this morning. I emailed my recruiter at 2 am — with whom I’d been in contact and preparing for this assignment for the past month — and told her I couldn’t do it.

I’m going back home.

I was supposed to work for three months at the local hospital in a small town in Indiana —…

Two of my remaining children stood on either side of me, holding my hands as I mentally prepared myself to enter the room of the funeral home. I don’t remember who’s hand belonged to whom, but I knew they might have to hold me upright if my heart was unable to handle what was on the other side of the door.

The music coming from the room where my deceased child lay was eerily soothing, and nothing that my son would have appreciated. …

I met a friend for lunch yesterday. While we casually chatted over hot wings and spinach dip on the outdoor patio of a quaint Irish pub, a song started to play that caused my thoughts to drift.

As he continued talking, I was blindsided with a memory that overshadowed the conversation and I felt that familiar welling-up of tears. My friend paused and asked what was wrong.

I couldn’t speak, so I turned my head away in an attempt to regain my composure. …

This past year has been a bit of a bitch. We’ve lost our jobs, health insurance, homes, and sense of security. Many have lost loved ones. Our mental health has suffered from the loss of community, not to mention our immunity has faltered from isolation.

Despite the changes and losses we’ve collectively experienced, the past year has been one of my best yet.

Why? Because of what I’ve chosen to see.

The power of positive thinking is hardly a new concept. …

I know. I know. The topic of ways to overcome writer’s block has been beaten into the ground a thousand times over. So what’s different about this one? All these tactics can be done in a single day, with minimal effort, and basically…in your underwear.

We’ve all been there. You have a great idea in your head for your next piece, you sit down and manage to type up an outline (that’s the easy part), but when it comes to the meat, you can’t figure out where to start.

You type out a few sentences in an attempt to stretch-out…

When it comes to traveling, many are searching for new ways to minimize their travel footprint and focus more on the freedom to enjoy the adventure. The best way to achieve this is to analyze what you think you really need.

I recently took a very spontaneous road trip across the country from Seattle to Atlanta. The trip was more or less a business trip (if you count transporting an awesome service-dog as business), so I hopped on board as a chance to visit parts of the US that I’d never seen. …

The days after Thanksgiving were quietly agonizing. No one really mentioned what was on their minds, at least not to me, but it was felt heavily throughout the family.

Our usual family tradition had been to take a ride up to the local Home Depot the day after Thanksgiving. We’d pick out a tree, my youngest son would stick his bare ass in one of the holes of the photo stand-in scene for the family picture, and then we’d decorate the following day. …

I’d been toying with the idea of writing a salty article about not getting noticed. I’d already written a few whiny paragraphs when I eventually came to my senses and decided to focus on something a little more substantial and, for lack of a better word, mature.

I’ve been writing on Medium since July, but only started taking it seriously and writing daily since the end of October. I was able to get into some top publications early on, and over sixty percent of my pieces were getting curated. …