Thinking Outside of the Box

My life has never fit neatly into categories—or stayed in one version of itself for very long.

Over time, I’ve let go of the need to label things—or people—as simply “good” or “bad.” What I’ve found instead is something more honest, more complicated, and ultimately more freeing.

Since 1989, I have lived with Stargardt’s disease, a condition that gradually took my central vision.
In 2018, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Neither experience turned me into a saint.

But both changed the way I move through the world.

They made me less interested in perfection and more interested in what helps people actually feel alive, connected, honest, and human.

They also gave me a very low tolerance for pretending.

I don’t believe healing means becoming endlessly positive or spiritually polished.

I think it often looks more like:
learning how to stay present to your own life,
finding moments of unexpected lightness,
letting people help you,
laughing in the middle of hard things,
and discovering that meaning and joy are still possible even when life doesn’t go according to plan.

I don’t help people become perfect versions of themselves.

I help create the kind of conversations and experiences where people stop gripping so tightly for a moment…

and suddenly remember they are still in there.

Sometimes that happens through deep reflection.
Sometimes through a surprising question.
Sometimes through laughter that catches people off guard.

Usually, it happens together.