Reflecting on one year of sober free living — Today marks one year since I decided to break up with alcohol. It wasn’t for anyone else but me, a personal challenge. As I walk into my mid-fifties, it is clear it was one of the best choices I’ve made. The decision had been brewing long before, but my 2022…

A call to action — The fraught history between Indigenous communities and Canada’s colonial past is interwoven with complex narratives, traumas, and political intrigues. At the heart of this intricate web lies the contentious issue of residential schools. This topic has recently found itself back in the limelight following an article by Conrad Black titled…

of toronto streets and internal beats — Life, they say, doesn’t come with a guidebook. If it did, it’d be as obsolete as the Windows 3.1 Installation Guide collecting dust in my basement. While we navigate personal growth and change, external forces like cultural, environmental, and economic shifts persistently reshape our realities, often beyond our control. In…

The coolest customer I ever served — I wrote this in the summer of 2020, after learning about the disappearance and death of one of my early mentors in life. …

Medication disruption and its effects — Like other people who experience the effects of ADHD, there are times when I may appear to be absent-minded, clumsy or disorganized. The symptoms of untreated ADHD can lead to emotional dysregulation, which means being unable to control one's responses to stimuli happening around them. These are effects that make…

Rediscovering Myself through Family, Food and Carpentry — I woke up with a renewed sense of purpose today. I had a great day yesterday with family on my partner’s side, including making a satisfying lunch with salads, meats and cheeses. I completed a major project I had been working on, an interior door made of reclaimed wood that…

From Disguise to Diagnosis: A Journey of Self-Discovery — Imagine living all your life with undiagnosed ADHD. You are unaware of your condition, but you instinctively know you’re different and that these differences make life more challenging. So, you begin to build coping mechanisms. …

Finding purpose in everyday chores — The fact that I woke up feeling like a cycle had turned was signalling that there were changes in store. It was early this morning when I woke up at 5:30 am or before. …

the author’s incomplete compendium — [This story was also published on the CADAAC Blog for Thursday, June 8, 2023.] At age 53, I received a diagnosis that would change my life: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This revelation was surprising and transformative, shedding light on a lifetime of misunderstood experiences and behaviours. Before my diagnosis…