About this site

Every so often, someone says something so simple that you carry it with you for the rest of your life.

“It’s a self correcting activity.”

“Your only choice is to adapt; or not.”

“You have to tune the instrument.”

Most of the essays on this site begin that way—with an ordinary story, an offhand remark, or a lesson from someone wiser than me. A preschool teacher. A monk. My grandmother. My brother. A friend. Sometimes even a television show.

I’ve discovered that the most important lessons in life rarely arrive as grand revelations. They come disguised as playground conversations, family dinners, Cajun jokes, quiet mornings, and mistakes we’d rather not repeat.

Simple Solutions, Hard Problems is a journal about those moments when you don’t have to have the whole thing figured out, just the next right step.

This is a place to explore faith, recovery, psychology, literature, and everyday life through stories that invite us to slow down, pay attention, and perhaps see the world a little differently.

I don’t claim to have the answers.

I’m simply collecting the wisdom that generous people have shared with me over the years and passing it along in the hope that it might be useful to someone else.

If something here resonates with you, I hope you’ll subscribe.

A new essay is published every Friday.

If you subscribe, you'll get email newsletters about new content when it's available.

I’m glad you’re here.

About Me

I am a consultant, writer, lifelong student, potter, and collector of good stories who believes that the best solutions to life’s hardest problems are often hidden in plain sight.

You can reach me at nolacatwoman@icloud.com

Start your own thing

Enjoying the experience? Get started for free and set up your very own subscription business using Ghost, the same platform that powers this website.