A Road Trip to Love

I was just telling someone today that sometimes when we pursue a dream or career outside of the norm, it can feel isolating. Not everyone will understand your vision and even the people closest to you might judge or have a hard time knowing what to say or ask about your experience. For instance, if I was going to buy a house, my whole family would know how to get involved. They’d ask me how many square feet, where is it located, how many rooms, etc. However, with a recent tra

“As a child of God, I am greater than anything that can happen to me.” ~ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Since living in Los Angeles for 10 years and working in West Hollywood, LA’s gay neighborhood, I’ve known far too many people who have overdosed from drugs or alcohol or who have died by suicide. Just last night I was told that a young man I once worked with at a bar, who from the outside appeared to have it all, killed himself this week. He was handsome, charming, in good shape, and c

Last week, I taught a class to a group of seventh and eighth graders using the metaphor of a tree to talk about life and all the different elements important we must have in order to grow. For example, how a tree’s roots represent our foundation and what we need to help us stay grounded, and its fruit—our dreams and the gifts we came here to share. After class, I made the drive across town to attend a workshop I had signed up for a few weeks ago called, “How to Heal Your Hear

“Healing yourself is connected with healing others.” Yoko Ono During college, it was easy for me to hide who I was. I used to jokingly tell people I could’ve won an Oscar for the role I played as a straight man. I joined a fraternity and trained myself to act like the guys I knew. I had girlfriends and a life-size poster of Heidi Klum in a bikini hanging on my bedroom wall. I even went so far as to strategically place Playboy magazines in my room to make sure guests saw I loo

Since becoming sober five years ago, I frequently have people reach out who want to meet and talk about my experience. Usually, it’s because they’ve heard a whisper deep inside of themselves and are curious about the sober path, so they have questions they’d like me to help them answer. One of the questions I let them know that I won’t be able to answer is whether or not their drinking is a problem. Knowing that we have a drinking problem is something I believe we have to arr

A few days ago, I overheard a young homeless man say to his friend, "I may look dirty, but I’m actually clean." They were talking about how they've both recently become sober. It made my heart hurt to hear him bring awareness to his appearance and recognize what people may see when they look at him. It also made me think how much more aware we are than we actually realize. It was like his higher self was speaking and saying that even though his shirt was stained, his jeans we