Inspirational Posts Archives - Page 10 of 29

The main reason I make everyday a clean slate

It's no secret that I'm struggling at the moment. You can read 3 tell-tale signs I need help with my #Depression for details on why that is. I'm having a better day today, at least comparatively speaking and there are many reasons for that. I want to focus on the main one for right now. It's something my wife and I have instilled in our kids from a very young age. It's called a clean slate. No matter how bad of a day any of us are having today, tomorrow is a clean slate. The idea of a clean slate isn't meant to excuse poor behavior or bad decisions. It's not meant as a get out of jail free card either. In regards to our kids, we remind them every…

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June 12, 2018

3 tell-tale signs I need help with my #Depression

I've been very open in regards to my ongoing war with depression. I feel that the only way we can de-stigmatize things like depression or any other mental health illness, is to speak openly, honestly and without shame. It's with the continued spirit of honesty, that I share with you my current struggles with depresion. I'm not going to go into my past history with depression in this post right now because honestly, this is hard enough as it is. You can however, read for yourself. See My War with Depression. In a nutshell, I'm not doing well. There are a few things that tend to happen when depression is kicking my ass. It's always been that way. As problematic and disruptive as these things can be, it's sorta like…

6 Comments

June 12, 2018

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder / Gavin / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts / YouTube Video

I’m losing my son to Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

This was a very difficult video to record. I did my best to hold it together but talking about Childhood Disintegrative Disorder and how it's impacted my oldest son, Gavin, is incredibly painful. CDD is a very rare and regressive form of Autism. A child will develop typically, hitting appropriate milestones and then one day, around the age of 4, everything changes. You can read more about CDD here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_disintegrative_disorder https://youtu.be/ac-TKjVm8x8

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May 31, 2018

Autism Parenting Insight / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

#Autism Parenting: It’s time to give yourself a little credit

Autism Parents have to be many, many things. Unfortunately, one of the most common things they are is hard on themselves. The average Autism parent is about a million times harder on themselves than anyone else possibly could be. We tend to hold ourselves to an impossible standard and blame ourselves for the struggles our kids with Autism often face. There's even a part of us that feels insane amounts of guilt because we can't take away the struggles our kids face on a daily basis. We often beat ourselves up for things we have absolutely zero control over because... Well, truthfully, I don't know why we do that but I do know it's wrong and unhealthy. We'll tell you all the ways our kids are amazing without any trouble…

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May 26, 2018

Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

An important truth about being an #Autism parent

As an Autism parent, life is exceptionally stressful and that's on the good days. When things in life get rocky, for whatever reason, my body and mind simply want to shutdown. It's a self-preservation thing and unfortunately, being an Autism Parent doesn't leave a whole lot of room for shutting down. There are challenges in our everyday lives that I simply haven't been able to overcome and sometimes, that knowledge weighs heavier on me. I turn forty in August and I'm almost compulsively evaluating my life. There are things that I've accepted will never happen and things that need to happen, regardless of the challenge involved. I'm okay with the things I've accepted won't happen but I struggle with the things I've failed to yet accomplish. I'm not sleeping or…

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May 25, 2018

Gavin / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

The Big Little Brother

I wanted to talk about something that's becoming an issue and will likely only continue to be an issue going forward. I should probably clarify that when I say issue, I'm referring to more of a challenge we're facing. When Gavin was little, it was pretty easy to miss the fact that he was different than most other kids. I don't mean different in a bad way either, just different. Gavin stopped emotionally maturing about the age of six or seven. Until that point in time, his chronological and emotional ages stacked up nicely. Unfortunately, as he's grown up physically, he's never caught up emotionally and so we have a Gavin that has the body of an eighteen year old but the mind of a six year old. It's now…

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May 21, 2018

Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

#Autism is NOT one size fits all

Being an Autism parent isn't easy. In fact, it's considered to be among the most difficult things a human being can do. Every person with Autism is unique in their own right. They each have their own unique personality, likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. In other words, no two people with Autism are the same. As a result of this, every Autism family is different as well. There are similarities of course, but Autism isn't a cookie cutter diagnosis, and neither is Autism parenting. I have three kids with Autism and while they share the same diagnosis, they are very different from one another. Some families, like mine, face very difficult situations, that make life a struggle at times. Other families can be far less impacted and if you didn't…

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April 26, 2018

Autism Parenting Confessions / Gavin / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

I’m a Special Needs Dad, guilty of losing hope

I haven't written a truly heartfelt piece in a very long time. Writing has been such an intrical part of my life for so long now but I feel like I've lost my voice. Writing has lost its meaning and I've lost my passion for it. I'm working to rebuild that part of my life and it's not easy. There are roadblocks I've yet to overcome and others that cause me to veer off course, at least temporarily. That being said, and reasons I can't explain, I feel compelled to talk about hope. I'm not writing about it in a way that's meant to be inspiring to others, at least I don't think it is. I'm writing about how I've lost hope. I'm writing about something very personal and painful…

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April 26, 2018