LJ Herman is a former editor at Love What Matters and lives in Colorado. LJ is a concert, ticket and technology enthusiast. He has seen the Dave Mathews Band over one hundred times and counting.
‘He wouldn’t give me my son. He slammed me into the wall so hard I blacked out.’: Woman shares heartbreaking story of abuse, ‘You don’t realize it’s not right until it’s too late’
“I was pregnant and with my kids’ dad at the time, so I didn’t give him the time of day. He told me he had herpes. Just like that. After a year, and he is just now telling me.”
‘My mind is always racing, and I can’t turn it off.’: Special needs mom gets candid about mental health, urges ‘find the joy’
“I know immediately when someone is being genuine with me, and when someone is just ‘getting along to get along.'”
‘Just stop being OCD and relax!’ I wish I could. Trust me.’: Woman gets real about mental health, urges ‘be kind to people’
“I’m convinced my husband is dead if he’s even five minutes late. I can’t drive behind log trucks because I get actual full-on mental pictures of the post-accident carnage. But I do a terrific job of ‘pretending.'”
‘Domestic violence is a funny thing. It can take YEARS to untangle the toxic beliefs in our minds.’: Woman celebrates 6 years of ‘freedom’ after getting out of abusive relationship
“She has taught me so much, led me home, and reminded me of my humanity. I love her.”
‘My doctor wrote off my symptoms as ‘being pregnant.’ I felt them cut me open.’: New mom urges awareness of PPCM
“They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die, but it was different for me. I wasn’t scared.”
‘I’d been on my phone. I might have judged another mom, had I seen her doing the same thing.’: Mom reminds others not to judge
“I couldn’t process what I’d heard. I still haven’t.”
‘I’m STUPID. I can’t do ANYTHING right.’ These words are like a knife to my heart. Everything in me wants to tell them they’re wrong: Mom urges ‘EMBRACE your difficult feelings’
“My reaction didn’t help, obviously.”
‘I felt nothing. The alarm started sounding and nurses flooded into the room. All I could say was, ‘Does she have it?’: Mom recounts labor experience of daughter with Down syndrome
“And when the nurse said to me, ‘Are you okay? You don’t seem excited.’ I hated her for it. I hated that I hated her for it, but I did. They began inducing me, and the minute they did I started contracting.”
‘A little old lady complimented my car. I could have just said thank you. Instead, I said, ‘I bought it after my husband died.’ She had tears in her eyes.’: Woman shares touching moment with stranger over love and grief
“She told me she’s a widow, too. She told me about losing her daughter. I did something I rarely do—I slowed down. I leaned in. I listened.”
‘I remember what it was like being 13. The social stress. The fear of embarrassment. And NONE of it was happening during a PANDEMIC.’: Mom strives to teach daughter ‘not everything matters as much as you think’
“She’s conscientious. A hard worker by nature. She needs to know it’s okay to let some things go.”