When Push Comes to Shove: Beyond a Shadow of Self-Doubt

December 30, 2016 by Scott Todnem

There was a time when I kept a pen and notebook on my bedside stand. The goal was to record all those midnight thoughts that seem so intensely important… and also to recall dreams and nightmares to relive the brain’s strangest moments.

I had a dream one night that took me into a jolting and enlightening encounter with a ghost. It was so realistic that it jarred me from deep sleep. Upon waking in the dark hours of the middle of that night, I quickly jotted down a couple lines of scratchy, half-complete thoughts. Configured into full sentence form in the morning, they left me with the beginning of what sounded like a future movie script right there in my journal:

You figured out why ghosts exist.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm: Every Day Matters

September 10, 2015 by Scott Todnem

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. I chose to write today instead of earlier in the month because of the meaning and symbolism behind this day. Each year, September's focus elicits an awareness in me of the journey we are all a part of-- the struggle to constantly stamp out inner demons. The difficult fight within.

My battle? Like any other, perhaps, with the beautiful disaster in the details.
I doubt myself every day. I never know if I’m good enough. Good as a dad, good as a teacher, as a coach, as a friend, as a husband... as a person.

I may not be an early bird, but every day I rise and shine regardless, for those I need and for those who need me.