How to use this file: This is a preview of your Start Here page. To add it to Ghost: Pages → New Page → title it "Start Here" → paste the plain text into the editor. For the essay links, update the URLs once your posts are published in Ghost.
New Here? Begin Here.
Where to start.
There are seventeen essays in this journal. Here's how to find the ones that are most useful to you right now.
Welcome. This is a journal of faith, recovery, and practical wisdom — written for people who are trying to figure things out and have run out of patience for advice that sounds good but doesn't actually help.
The essays here are not self-help. They're not a program. They're stories — some funny, some quiet, some hard — from a writer who has spent a long time paying attention to the lessons that arrive sideways, wearing disguises, long after you stopped looking for them.
If you're not sure where to begin, this page will point you in the right direction.
Faith & Liturgy
Essays rooted in the Catholic tradition — but written for anyone willing to sit with the questions.
Recovery & Healing
On the slow, unglamorous work of becoming a person. Recovery is not just for addicts — it's for everyone.
Practical Wisdom
The kind of insight that leaves you with something to do, not just something to think about.
Humor & Story
Because some of life's best lessons arrive at night, in south Louisiana, soaking wet.
If You're New — Read These First
1
The best introduction to what this journal is and why stories matter. Start here if you want to understand the whole project in about five minutes.
2
Three words that changed how I think about almost everything. The essay most readers mention first when they write to tell me something landed.
3
A true story about confidence, competence, and a bayou at midnight. Read this one to understand the voice of the journal before going further.
If You're Going Through Something Hard
1
On making decisions without complete information — which is the only kind of decision any of us actually make.
2
On the difference between what you feel and what is true — and why that distinction is worth more than most therapy.
3
For anyone who has ever prayed and heard nothing back. Includes advice from a monk with a Brooklyn accent.
4
On fortitude — the capacity you build by sitting with uncertainty rather than running from it. For the long stretches where nothing seems to be happening.
If You Love Someone Who Is Struggling
1
On the hardest word in love. What a defibrillator taught me about getting out of the way of someone else's transformation.
2
On the difference between caring and carrying — and why you can love someone completely without walking their trail for them.
3
On recognizing what belongs to you and what doesn't — and the tremendous relief of accepting that you were never asked to carry the whole story.
"The next right action rarely requires complete understanding. Most of the time, it only requires courage."
If You're Curious About Faith
1
On Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, and what it means to participate in putting back together what has come apart. One of the most personal essays in the journal.
2
On fatherhood, Ted Lasso, and what it means to be known by someone whose voice helps you remember who you are.
3
On discipline, love, and a preschool teacher who understood both better than most people twice her age.
These essays are free to read. They always will be. If something here helps you, the best thing you can do is share it with someone who needs it — that's how this kind of writing survives.
If you'd like new essays delivered to your inbox when they're published, you can join the journal below. You'll also receive a free copy of Seven Simple Solutions for Hard Problems — a short booklet of reflections drawn from this journal.
No algorithms. No noise. Just the next essay when it's ready.
Join the Journal
New essays delivered to your inbox. Free booklet included when you subscribe.