Interior Decorating

Who is this guy?

Hello. Welcome to my world.

I’m a retired journalist living in Kansas. I built this site to showcase my writing and explore the inner unseen world — that rich space where mental health, psychology, medicine, and spirituality meet. They don’t need to compete. It’s not “which one?” It’s “all of the above.”

You’ll find a wide variety of writing here. I’ve never been one to specialize — niche? Never heard of her.

What you can expect: Stories about fitness, the outdoors, travel, and sports. I won’t get into politics much, other than to show it the disrespect it deserves.

My newspaper career took me across the South and Midwest: Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and finally Kansas. It was a blessing and a curse — I could handle just about anything needed to put out a paper, but I never became a star in any one role.

I grew up in East Tennessee, so far east that the mountain out my front door was the North Carolina border. Ironically, I’ve spent most of my life near a state line. Today I live just three miles from Oklahoma.

A big part of my inner world is ADHD. Growing up, no one had heard of it. Everyone, including me, just thought I was scatterbrained and couldn’t sit still or focus. I finally got the diagnosis around age 35, and it explained a lot.

Depression has also been with me as long as I can remember. ADHD and depression are close cousins — they tend to travel together.

Spirituality runs deep for me too. No one had to tell me to believe in God. I sensed a spirit world early on. Church and Bible stories simply gave names to what I already felt. Over the years my faith has become a bit reformed with a touch of Pentecostal fire still in the mix.

Outside of writing, I’m passionate about adventure travel and staying active. I’ve completed hikes in Patagonia and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and I train with heavy rucking (10-mile walks with a 20-pound pack) to stay ready for more. At 70, I’m proof that you can still push yourself and enjoy the outdoors.

I love exploring ideas, and that’s what much of my writing is about. After 70 years circling the sun, a few things feel certain: In the beginning God created. He came to earth as Jesus, died, and rose again to give us victory over sin. Everything else is commentary.

One thing that bothers me is black-and-white thinking. The idea that things are either-or, or that there is only one cause of everything.

Simplistic thinking is easy and comfortable, but it doesn't solve problems and isn't correct. This site is going to contain a lot of my writing, and a lot of that will be about my internal life.

A big part of this website is my search for truth and well-being.

A lot of well-being is mental health. There’s lots of simplistic thinking and easy advice out there - and some even question whether mental health is even a thing. Most of the simplistic nonsense you hear is just that - nonsense.

I am not going to be giving you any simple answers. It is very complex, and even when you think you have something figured out, you can change one variable and the whole house of cards crashes.

This is my journey. I don’t have it figured out and that’s ok.

An old song says:

Don’t ask me for answers

I’ve only got one

That a man leaves his darkness

When he follows the son.

Messages

My philosophy

I had just finished the Inca trail. Machu Picchu is in the background.