Mr. Joyce Takes on the World

I never pictured how I'd feel at different ages. I remember once my mother said to me, “You’ll be twenty in the year 2000.” I turned twenty-one that year, and it didn’t feel any different than the year before. I feel like the most recent birthday that felt any different to me was last year when I visited Winchester Cathedral and the Mary Rose. Prior to that my birthdays from age twelve to the present were largely unremarkable. I want them to be remarkable, but I think that once you get to a certain age they cease to feel special. Maybe it’s the lack of presents, or the lack of fanfare. For me, birthdays are difficult. I’m often reminded of what I’ve lost or speculate on what could have been.             I’ll turn forty next year, which scares the hell out of me. I feel like I haven’t done much in the decades I’ve been alive. It wasn’t until I started traveling that I felt like I started to do much of anything. I’ve always...

One Year After It’s been a year since my work with Julie ended. Yet, it feels much longer than that. Much has happened since then…more so than I can detail here. You’d have to read previous blog posts from the past year to catch up. Instead of a list of misfortunes, and minor victories, I’m going to reflect on where I’m at since therapy ended. I feel that in some ways I’m better. But, there’s still a lot of work to be done. I was under the misapprehension, when I began therapy, that it was a cure all. That one would be completely perfect after the therapist finished their work on the client. Truth be told, that’s not how therapy works. The client does all the work, while the therapist acts as a guide. The client must commit to the work outside of the office. The office itself is a place where ideas are spoken, but the actions of the therapy are committed in the world outside. I have always taken the lessons I’ve learned from therapy into the world around me. Julie would b...

                                                                                                                       A Finger Snap in Time  I’d normally write some sort of introspective piece about my impending birthday. And this is no different.  I’m not where I expected to be in life. I don’t think most of us are where we’d like to be; either emotionally, physically, or geographically. I don’t ascribe to clichés about “life dealing us a hand.” Instead, I feel that life is half of what you do, and half of what it does to you. There are choices that we make, and consequences that follow. Not all of us had the same opportunities in life, and so we don’t all wind up where ...