By Troy Headrick I had a strange upbringing.  Up until the age of, say, five or six, I lived in urban areas being raised by a father and mother who didn’t get along very well.  Then, suddenly, a year or so before starting first grade, my parents found that they no longer wanted to be... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick This is the story of my complicated relationship with money and how such a relationship came to be.  In the telling of this story, I’ll need to explore the nature of fear and how our parents’ fears end up shaping our own inner psychological landscapes. Before becoming an adult and leaving home,... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick Those who regularly read my posts have likely noticed that I’ve been silent for several weeks.  In fact, it’s been close to a month since I published my last blog. Well, I’m back now and feeling strong and ready to go.  I truly believe that my time away from writing gave me... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I didn’t publish a blog here last week.  I kept coming up with possible topics, but none of them felt right for one reason or another.  I’m getting better and better at trusting that little voice inside that says, “Wait, Troy, something feels wrong about this.  Be patient.  You’ll know it—very viscerally—when... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick Exactly two weeks ago today my grandmother died.  This past weekend, I received a text from Robin, a wonderful person and the most senior tutor in our writing center, letting me know that her elderly father had passed away in small-town Ohio, so she has been gone from work these past three... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick It’s possible some of you may have noted my absence these last couple of weeks.  There’s good reason for that.  My maternal grandmother, a woman with whom I lived when I was growing up because of the instability of my parents’ marriage, died eight days ago now.  She was 103 years old.... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick This is the second in a series of blogs intended to thank those who’ve played important roles in shaping my personality and values, in helping me become the person I am today.  If you’d like to read the first piece in this series, check this out. It’s commonly thought that every human... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick If you read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, a book I’ve alluded to in at least one other piece, you’ll see that “Book 1” is a collection of acknowledgements and thank yous.  For example, Aurelius lists family members, friends, “the gods,” and others in this opening chapter.  He thanks each one of these individuals... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I pride myself on being someone who wants to have new experiences, meet interesting people, grow intellectually and spiritually, and expand my horizons in the process. Having said all that, I want to share a story with you about how recently meeting a very special person has had such a wonderfully positive... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick On Friday, October 11th, I attended a professional development workshop at the college where I’m employed.  The title of the session was “Communication Skills for Collaboration.”  Looking back, I don’t think the title gave an apt preview of what the talk would cover.  Plus, the title was boring; whereas, the actually workshop... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I was raised in a very unusual way.  I spent the first eight years of my life as an only child and resided in a rural area.  In fact, for a good chunk of my formative years, I didn’t really have neighbors and certainly not any with kids I could play with.... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick As some of you might know, I am the director of a writing center at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Texas.  Just yesterday, a bright, young woman came into our facility and one of our best tutors helped her with a piece of writing she’d been working on. The tutoring session... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I’m going to share a secret with you.  Several years ago, back when I was living overseas, I used to create artwork and show it internationally.  I even sold quite a few pieces.  Then, for reasons I won’t get into right now, I stopped making art.  (By the way, my header image... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick After I’d posted “Practicing Patience,” Betul Erbasi and I had a really interesting exchange.  (By the way, Betul is one of Pointless Overthinking’s regular contributors and a Turk who is working on her PhD at the University of Southern California.)  The topic of this conversation was anger and American culture.  I pointed... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick It’s not even close to January 1st but I’m making a resolution nonetheless.  I’m resolving to become a more patient person.  The way I want achieve this goal is by establishing a daily habit of practicing patience. Those of you who regularly read my blogs know that I’m an American who spent... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I want to start this one with a warning.  I’m not for sure what I want to say, where this is going to go, or what my real subject is.  I want to discover all of those things through the process of putting words on paper. Lately, I’ve been suffering from a... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick In “What I’ve Learned about Life while Watching My Father Age,” a blog I wrote several weeks ago, I mentioned that I’d been reading On Death and Dying, a wonderfully insightful book written by Elisabeth Kϋbler-Ross.  Throughout that tome, the author argues that doctors need to take a more “human” approach while... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I grew up in a small town and was raised by a very conventional family.  Some might even say my kinfolk were conservative, and certainly many of them were exactly that. I share this bit of autobiographical information because I think my southern upbringing was pretty standard, with the exception that my... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I’ve long been interested in the connection between self-awareness and healing.  This interest didn’t begin in some academic way with me reading something about the causal relationship implied here.  It started in a more practical way.  It began with me trying to deal with a medical condition that has long bothered me.... Continue Reading →