These are The Guidelines — a weekly newsletter, a blog, a place for creativity, conversation, and companionship.

It’s my intention to send to your inbox some form of writing — an essay, a poem, some creative non-fiction — detailing where I am in my own journey of recovery, growth, and transformation.

I started writing this to distill some of the lessons I’ve learned in life — from life’s unlikeliest (or maybe likeliest, I don’t really know) mentors.

More often than not, I’ve felt lost in life. Unsure of what to do, where to go, how to be. I don’t think this is unique to me. I think this is just part of being human.

Maybe with a set of guidelines, I thought, we can walk around a little less aimlessly. And maybe those guidelines were right in front of us all along.

I’m writing to become — or maybe more accurately, to be — the person I always needed the most.

I don’t know. I’m just a person trying to figure things out.

All names of folks appearing in writings have been changed to conserve privacy.

All opinions are my own.

None of this is professional, medical advice. Seek help where you feel you need it.