Coping tools

Surviving the Persistence of Time

by Bill Brenner August 26, 2015 Dealing with life

Here I am at another birthday. I’ve been telling people I couldn’t care less this year. It’s been a rough summer with too much upheaval, too much grief. There’s not much to celebrate. But the truth is, I’m grateful to be here. Mood music: That I’m now in my mid 40s is surprising — in my mind, at least. When I was sick with Crohn’s Disease as a kid, I lost a lot of blood…  [Read More]

The Boy Inside the Man: An Inspirational Story

by Bill Brenner August 25, 2015 Adventures in writing

This blog is my personal tale. That it helps some people because they can relate to it was an unexpected bonus that I try to live up to. As part of that I will share personal tales from other people that have taught me a lot. The latest example is “Being ‘Whole’ Isn’t My Goal” by Paul Nobles. I don’t know Nobles personally, but the man captures things I relate to. He writes of things…  [Read More]

A 6-Step Grief Survival Guide

by Bill Brenner July 21, 2015 Dealing with life

Written in 2015, at the death of my father and aunt a week apart. The hard lessons started when I lost my brother in 1984 and my best friend in 1996.  Having lost more friends and family than I care to count, I’ve tried writing posts over the years that make sense of grief. Or, at least, how I’ve worked through mine. Mood music: With the loss of my aunt and my father in the…  [Read More]

My Kill Switch

by Bill Brenner July 14, 2015 Mental health

For someone accustomed to rising at 4 a.m. on a typical day, getting up at 7 a.m. is a lot like sleeping in. Lately, though, I’ve outdone myself in spades. Some days, I can’t seem to get out of bed before 9 or 10.  I’ve been napping a lot, too. Not just cat naps, but three-hour stretches of being out cold. Mood music: This is what I call my kill switch. During tough times, my body…  [Read More]

Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys

by Bill Brenner July 7, 2015 Music therapy

Being a metalhead, one would expect me to hate a group like The Beach Boys, yet I’ve played them nonstop for a month now. Mood music: I started taking an interest after seeing a preview for the film Love and Mercy, in which actors Paul Dano and John Cusack play Brian Wilson during two stages of his life — the 1960s and the 1980s. I started playing the whole Beach Boys catalog, particularly the album Pet Sounds, widely…  [Read More]

Just Admit You Were Wrong

by Bill Brenner June 1, 2015 Adventures in writing

When you passionately push opinions, it sucks to be proven wrong later. It’s happened to me plenty of times, and I’ve learned to simply correct the record as I go. Doing so keeps me honest. What follows are posts I’ve done here and in my work-related blogs when I’ve had a change of heart. The lesson: When you’re wrong, just admit it. It’s the right thing to do, and it will keep your credibility intact. “The Women…  [Read More]

The Burden of Being Upright, Part 2

by Bill Brenner April 6, 2015 Mental health

I’ve written a lot about the frustrations that come with trying to be a good man when you carry so much baggage. The burden of being upright is something we all carry, but it’s really been weighing on me of late. Mood music: This isn’t a pity party. But I’ve learned over the years that listing my issues and what I’m doing about them can help put them into perspective for me and can encourage…  [Read More]

Metal Made Me Smarter Than I Appeared

by Bill Brenner April 1, 2015 Heavy Metal

I was never considered a particularly smart kid. I didn’t care much about my school work and was written off by some teachers as a waste of space. But according to a new study about smart kids listening to heavy metal, I was apparently just pretending to be stupid. Mood music: A study of more than 1,000 of the brightest five percent of young people found that intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to…  [Read More]

A Priest Comes Clean About Binge Eating

by Bill Brenner March 31, 2015 Addiction

I’ve written at length about two things in this blog: my struggle with compulsive binge eating and my faith. My faith helps me deal with my demons, including the eating. So when a priest comes forward and admits he has a similar demon to fight, I take notice. Mood music: Rev. Ryan Rooney, a parochial vicar at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Springfield, Mass., did just that in an article he wrote about…  [Read More]

The Bright Side of Being Buried Alive

by Bill Brenner February 11, 2015 Gratitude

Here in Massachusetts, hell has frozen over. We have six feet of snow on the ground and at least two more snowstorms in the forecast. The kids have had 2-3 snow days a week since late January. Public transportation is at a standstill. Words like “unprecedented” and “historic” keep surfacing. Mood music (sure, this song is about cocaine, but the title fits): But I’m here to tell my fellow citizens that it could be worse….  [Read More]

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