n to offer yourself a life of authentic freedom? The freedom to embrace yourself with a loving compassion and the opportunity to break away from burdensome caricatures or weary facades? In this heartfelt collection of short poems, the author conducts a painfully transparent exploration of his life dealing with personal demons, mental illness, and what it means to remain true to a healthy, open-hearted human being as the very center of it all. Together, readers will survey alongside the author a diverse range of experiences which run the spectrum of euphoric love and tragic loss - common tropes articulated here with grounded hope and a pragmatic sense of optimism. If life is a journey, then these works are the various mile markers depicting every high and low along the ever-evolving ascent through our troubled youth and into a flourishing adulthood.