Life after door kicking.

Tag: resilience

  • Trying to Be the Man of the House

    Most people who know me know the military stories. They know about Afghanistan and Iraq. They know about deployments, firefights, and the years I spent in the Army. What they usually don’t know is much about the life that came before the uniform. They don’t know the kid from Las Vegas. The teenager who spent…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • It wasn’t bad enough so I let it get so much worse

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    This is the post I didn’t want to write.What makes it worse is that none of this is new to me.I wrote about this years ago. It was actually the first thing I ever wrote, even if it wasn’t the first thing I posted. I talked about the panic attacks, the hyper vigilance, the feeling…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Rage by a Thousand Cuts — A First-Person Stoic Reflection

    This morning wasn’t destroyed by one big thing.It was wrecked by a thousand tiny irritants — a soggy dish towel left in the sink, my son taking the last two bananas probably to smoke out of, chores undone even after I gave extra money, him dragging his feet and making everyone late, my wife getting…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • From Duty to Dad: Navigating Fatherhood After War

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    I never really knew my dad.If you added up all the time I spent with him, it wouldn’t make six months. The first time I saw him, I was around eight, and I don’t remember doing much with him. The next time was as a preteen, and that round didn’t do me any favors —…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Season’s Greetings from Life After Door Kicking

    Merry Christmas and happy new year. If you celebrate something else I hope that goes well for you.This year reminded me that survival isn’t the same as living—and that clarity usually shows up after the noise fades.To everyone still sorting through the wreckage of bad systems, bad years, bad decisions, or inherited lies: you’re not…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • The Cost of Isolation: Six Lives That Prove We’re Meant to Be With People

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    And Why I Still Fight the Urge to Pull Away Isolation is tempting. Quiet. Predictable. Controlled. I battle with the urge to isolate. There are days when even stepping into a party, a store, or a casual conversation feels draining, like the world is tapping a vein and taking what I’ve got left. Sometimes it’s…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking

  • Speaking extemporaneously

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    This is something I didn’t write so much as find —the pen just moved, and I followed.Sometimes the mind drags you through chaosjust to remind you what clarity costs.These words came from that place. — Sometimes this dream feels like a nightmareIntrusive like a sledge, like I’m having night terrors,and I just can’t back up…

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    lifeafterdoorkicking