Just Me

Several years ago, someone emailed me saying that she was happy to find someone else out there in the world who was not only a burn survivor but also deaf. Unfortunately, at the time I received the email, I was hip-deep working on one of my many projects, so it was some time before I was able to respond to her email. And when I finally did, she read me the Riot Act for taking so long to respond to her email. I tried apologizing but, unfortunately, never heard from this person again.   This is not the first time this has happened. It has happened with MANY other people getting upset over my very delayed replies to their messages.   Thankfully, I have friends who are more understanding about my neurodiverse ways, as well as my VERY BUSY life, so they don’t make a federal case out of me taking some time to get back to them. Still, I feel guilty about being unable to respond to messages and then jump right back in to whatever else I was doing.   Take today, for ex...

  I am very grateful that I have my priorities set in life. I know what I want to do, where I want to go, and who I want to be. This realization did not happen overnight. I actually got started on working on myself and doing everything I need to do to improve myself after I got sober in late 2017. This meant going through a lot of trial and error, making lots of mistakes along the way, and doing a whole lot of soul searching. And listening.   That is what it took for me to finally get to the point where I am today. I also had a bit of inspiration from my loved ones on the other side. All of that work has helped me to become the person I am today.   But I’m not at the end of my journey yet. I still have a ways to go to get to where I want to be.   And because of this, it’s easier for me to turn away from anything that I know will take me off that path. I won’t allow anything into my life that I KNOW will disrupt my plans or the goals that I want to achieve...