Vacation, part 2

Friday Bonus Book Review: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

February 10, 2023

I’m going to start intermittently reviewing books that have been meaningful to me in my journey. I have been blessed to have some excellent teachers, some physically present in my life and some through their writing, and I want to acknowledge and share that. (I have some disclaimers about my reviews here, but basically they’re all unsolicited, I have no connection with the author, I get a small commission if you buy the book from

No Such Thing As “I Have To”

December 13, 2022

One of the things that has always been the hardest for me to deal with is the feeling that I “have to” do something. If I feel that I have no choice, that situations or circumstances or societal pressures mean that I have no options, I can end up in a pit of despair where it’s very hard for me to see a way out. In that state, it’s hard for me to do anything

The Broken-ness of “I Should Be …”

November 22, 2022

There were countless times early in my recovery process when I would think to myself, “I should be {insert self-critical thing here}.” I would berate myself about what I should be doing, how far I should have progressed, what sort of job or girlfriend I should have, how my thinking or behavior should have improved, and so forth. Occasionally, I would even share these thoughts with someone I trusted in my recovery circle. At one

How to Use Criticism to Learn and Grow

September 5, 2023

One of the most difficult things for most of us, particularly at work, is to receive and respond to criticism. Here are some of the things I’ve learned that help me take criticism in ways that are mostly productive. First, Spoiler Alert time: receiving criticism is not any fun. Nothing I say here is likely to change that for you. Nothing I’ve learned has changed that for me. Nobody I know enjoys being criticized. But,

It Doesn’t Matter What You Know. It Matters What You Do.

January 9, 2024

I’ve recently been confronted with this lesson again, so I figured I’d share it in hopes that it would help someone else. It’s easy (for me, anyway) to fall into the trap of thinking that if I’m having some sort of problem, the root cause of the problem is that I’m missing some bit of knowledge, and thus the answer is to learn more. And, it’s easy to fall into the trap that there must

More Posts

Friday Bonus Book Review: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

No Such Thing As “I Have To”

The Broken-ness of “I Should Be …”

How to Use Criticism to Learn and Grow

It Doesn’t Matter What You Know. It Matters What You Do.

Like this?

Vacation, part 2

More Posts

Friday Bonus Book Review: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

No Such Thing As “I Have To”

The Broken-ness of “I Should Be …”

How to Use Criticism to Learn and Grow

It Doesn’t Matter What You Know. It Matters What You Do.

Like this?

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