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.
‘She got personal. ‘Grow up! The world doesn’t revolve around you.’ That comment sparked something in me again.’: Woman advocates for social media kindness ‘I realized I’m not alone in these feelings’
“I could stop myself from reading there it was, staring back at me with sharp daggers…a mean comment. The super ‘controversial’ title of the piece they were commenting on? ‘A woman in Walmart made me cry.’ It weighed me down like heavy rocks.”
‘I tried to break up with him. 2 days later, he was curled up with my daughter watching Disney movies. He wanted to destroy me.’: Woman says ‘I’m taking my power back’ after dating narcissist
“I would tell him I was in for the night, he would call and insist I meet him out somewhere. I would say no more drinks, he would order me another one. Every bartender in town knew to pour half my drink out when he wasn’t looking. I was scared to tell him no.”
‘This morning I got some horrible news: ‘Models who aren’t a size 0 are called plus size.’ My body isn’t risky or brave, it’s normal.’: Woman learns lesson on body positivity, ‘I realized it’ll take more than 30 days to do’
“Even skin conditions you have no control over will have people asking you questions about your ability to ‘keep yourself.’ I said I would make it my mission to spend 30 days working on body acceptance. When the 30 days were up, I got some horrible news. I realized, it’ll take more than 30 days to do.”
‘I didn’t get to say goodbye. We had 127 days together, but they just weren’t enough.’: Teacher encourages students, ‘I am still your teacher, always here to support you’
“I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know when our lives will get back to normal. I don’t know what our next school year will look like and when I will get to see you again. But what I do know is you are worth facing any challenge.”
‘The doctor came into the waiting room. ‘Something has gone terribly wrong.’ His temperature skyrocketed.’: Mom recounts son’s experience with Malignant Hyperthermia, ‘It was a day I will NEVER forget’
“He would be so confused as to why he was restrained and had a tube down his throat. I stood bedside, looking at my strong boy who was now lifeless. My world came crashing down. I reflected on how I was going to help my strong dude recover.”
‘I received an email from my apartment manager. ‘We’re revoking your right to live here due to your criminal record.’ I pleaded, ‘You have the wrong person!’: Hispanic man from Colorado says ‘this is my America, walk with me’
“I frantically called. ‘What are you talking about?!’ The receptionist said, ‘According to the background check, you’ve committed several felonies in the state of Texas.’ I’d lived in Colorado for 40 years. The more agitated and defensive I got, the more guilty I sounded. You see, I fit the description.”
‘I always said, ‘He had sex with me while I was passed out.’ That is what I told myself it was.’: Rape survivor says ‘everyday I choose love and forgiveness’
“Like 19-year-old me. The girl who wore diamonds in her hair to the party that night. The night. The night it happened. He was my friend I took to the party. He knew I was falling for his friend.”
‘Some may ask why this bothers me, why it affects me because I’m not black.’: Biracial couple call for open conversation, ‘Rather than raising your guns, help us raise our voices’
“I half expect people to say I’m being too sensitive, or paranoid. Only to be met with, ‘If you want me to say your name correctly, you should have a more American name.’ WE fear for our children as they get older, and I fear for him always.”
‘My husband and I wanted to try something different. The best part? We did it as a family.’: Parents bond with sons by building rock wall
“This was not an easy task. We know they have more energy than we have after drinking three cups of coffee. This was going to be a challenge. We wanted to find something they would all be interested in and would last for years.”
‘I had custody of her son.’ I was the bad guy who worked with DHS to keep Henry. After all, I had the advantages. ‘Would you like me to visit?’: Woman visits son’s biological mother in jail, ‘I left LOVING this woman’
“There was this overwhelming sense I was the bad guy. She’s incarcerated and I’m not. I asked if she would like me to visit. I’m not going to lie, I did not expect to leave the way I did. I was sitting across from someone whose life choices, while pregnant, are the reason Henry will have a lot of challenges.”