Life Experiences

People hear the words Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and immediately picture someone who can’t function. They imagine someone incapable of holding a job, maintaining relationships, or living independently. I understand why. Most people only ever hear about the most severe cases.

I’m not one of them.

[Read more…] about “I Was Born With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Here’s What My Life Is Really Like”

I’ve learned something over the last couple of years that I don’t think most people realize until they experience it firsthand: touch isn’t a luxury. It isn’t just romance or sex or something reserved for the people fortunate enough to have partners. Safe, caring human touch is one of the quiet things that keeps us emotionally alive, and when it’s missing long enough, something inside you begins to harden.

That’s really what I do for a living.

[Read more…] about Confessions of a Professional Cuddler

By day, I look like the person you bring in when everything’s on fire. I’m the one who shows up early, hits targets, remembers birthdays, and answers emails with exclamation points so you know I’m fine. I have the job title that reassures my parents and a partner who says I look younger than my age. If you knew me only from daylight hours, you’d think I’d cracked some adulting cheat code.

[Read more…] about Confessions of a High-Functioning Alcoholic

The first thing people ask is usually, “Don’t you get bored?”

The second is, “What happens if you have an emergency?”

Nobody ever asks the question that actually matters.

[Read more…] about The Truth About Living in the Middle of Nowhere

People hear the word “headache” and immediately think they understand.

They don’t.

What I have isn’t something you lie down with until it passes. It isn’t something you take an aspirin for and complain about at work. It’s something that completely takes over your body, your mind, and eventually your life.

[Read more…] about Living With the World’s Most Painful Headache

I don’t expect anyone to automatically believe me.

In fact, if there’s one thing I hope you take away from my story, it’s that you shouldn’t.

For about a year, I worked for a public relations contractor whose job was to influence conversations online. I won’t name the company. I signed paperwork that still makes me careful about specifics. But I can tell you what the work actually looked like, because the public imagines armies of sophisticated hackers sitting behind glowing monitors. The reality was much more ordinary.

[Read more…] about Confessions of a Professional Shill

I am thirty-eight years old. Before the war, my life revolved around international trade, contracts, shipping schedules, and the ordinary frustrations of office work. Military service wasn’t supposed to define my life. I served years ago as a mortar operator, returned to civilian life, and thought that chapter was over. Then history decided otherwise.

When Russia launched the full-scale invasion, I put the suit back in the closet and traded spreadsheets for artillery.

[Read more…] about A Ukrainian Artillery Commander on the New Rules of War

For most of my life, I thought my childhood was normal.

My parents didn’t believe in traditional school. They believed in something called “unschooling.” The idea wasn’t that kids should never learn. It was almost the opposite. They believed children are naturally curious and that if you let them experience the world, they’d figure out what they needed to know on their own.

[Read more…] about What It’s Really Like to Grow Up Unschooled