Telling my writer's origin story as a fairytale. — Hey, y’all. My name is Scott Ninneman, and I’m thrilled you opened this story. After writing dozens of about-me posts over the years, I decided this time to tell my story as a fairytale. I hope you enjoy it. …

Remembering a friendship I had to leave behind. — All spotlights shined on Jack whenever he entered a room. With boyish dimples, dark hair and eyes, and a sparkling white smile, he drew in victims like insects to a web. Jack’s words dripped with honey as he complemented everything from your looks to your intelligence. …

Part 10 of the Surviving Bipolar Series. — In the last post, I shared some struggles I faced on my second day in a psychiatric hospital. While it was tough, there were some positives. This is the rest of what happened that day. Learning Through Activities We also played some role-playing games. Communication was the theme for the first one. The…

Learning a lesson from spiders and frogs. — What do gigantic spiders and tiny frogs have in common? You’re probably thinking one serves as dinner for the other, but it’s not always the case. In fact, some tarantulas and other large spiders develop close relationships with narrow-mouthed frogs known as microhylids. …

Learning to see the positive helped her turn her life around. — Brenda was always a negative person. If something went wrong, she was the first one to complain and stew in her misery. It wasn’t that she was unhappy all the time, but she found it difficult to be positive when things didn’t go her way. Brenda’s negativity affected her entire…

The continuing story of my first stay in a psychiatric hospital. — When you receive a bipolar disorder diagnosis, it brings its own sort of trauma with it. Either you know nothing about the condition or the bulk of your knowledge has come from the media. The problem with the latter is that news networks want advertising income, so they only show…

How a box in the attic changed one man’s life. — It was a dusty old box that had been sitting in the attic for years. John forgot it was even up there, but when he opened it up, he found something inside that would change his life forever. It was a red-leather-covered photo album from his childhood, and looking through…