Who are you when the things that once defined you are suddenly gone?
Recovery After Stroke
That was one of the questions at the heart of my recent conversation with Bill Gasiamis on Recovery After Stroke. I joined Bill to talk about having a stroke at 42 and what came afterward—not only the physical recovery, but the loss of my career and, along with it, much of the identity I had built around what I did.
We talked about what it was like to suddenly find myself without the roles and accomplishments that had once told me who I was, and the long process of figuring out who I might become next.
Talking about my stroke is very different now than it was in the early years of recovery. With time, I’ve been able to look beyond what happened medically and think more about everything the stroke changed.
Identity Loss
Losing my career was difficult, but losing the identity attached to that career was something I wasn’t prepared for. This conversation gave me an opportunity to talk about that part of recovery—the part that doesn’t always show up on a scan or in a rehabilitation plan.
I think one reason identity loss can be so difficult is that we often don’t realize how much of ourselves we’ve attached to our roles until one of them disappears. We describe ourselves by what we do, the relationships we have, the responsibilities we carry, and the things we’ve accomplished. When one of those pieces is suddenly taken away, the question becomes much bigger than, “What do I do now?” It becomes, “Who am I now?” Stroke forced me to confront that question much earlier in life than I ever expected.
One reason I continue to share my experience is that recovery after stroke can be incredibly isolating, particularly when the struggles aren’t visible to other people. There can be an expectation that once the immediate crisis has passed, life simply resumes. Mine didn’t. It took time to understand that rebuilding a life wasn’t necessarily the same thing as rebuilding the life I had before.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this part of my recovery after stroke and am glad to share our conversation here. You can listen to the full episode below.
Final Thoughts
Recovery after stroke isn’t always about getting back to who you were before. Sometimes, it’s about discovering who you are now. I hope sharing my story helps someone else navigating that same uncertain space between the life they had and the life they’re still learning to build.
If you or someone you love is navigating recovery after stroke, you don’t have to figure out every part of recovery alone. There are organizations offering information, connection, and support for both stroke survivors and their families. A few places to start include:
American Stroke Association — Stroke recovery information, an online Support Network, local stroke support groups, and caregiver resources.
Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) — Information, advocacy, and connections to state and community resources that may be useful when recovery after stroke involves cognitive, behavioral, emotional, or other acquired brain injury-related challenges.
Stroke Family Warmline — A resource from the American Stroke Association providing information, support, and connection to services for individuals and families navigating recovery after stroke. Call 1-888-4-STROKE (1-888-478-7653).
Stroke Onward — Resources focused specifically on the emotional journey after stroke, including rebuilding identity and creating a rewarding life after stroke.
And, of course, there are the stories of other survivors. Sometimes simply hearing from someone who understands recovery after stroke and what it is like to lose pieces of your old life, and slowly begin building something new, can make the road ahead feel a little less lonely.
“How are you?” might be one of the most common conversation starters we use and one of the least likely to get an honest answer. Most of us respond automatically: “Good.” “Fine.” “Not bad.” Then we move on. It’s less of a question than a social reflex.
But if you actually want to know how someone is doing, try asking something they haven’t answered a thousand times before. A slightly different question can lead to a completely different conversation, whether you’re talking with a friend, partner, family member, coworker, or someone you’re just getting to know. Here are 25 things to ask instead of “How are you?” that might get you past “I’m fine” and into a conversation that actually means something.
13. What would you be doing if you didn’t have to work today?
14. What’s something good that happened recently?
15. What’s been challenging you lately?
16. What are you excited about these days?
17. What’s taking up the most space in your head right now?
18. What’s something you wish you had more time for?
19. What’s been giving you energy lately?
20. What’s been draining your energy lately?
21. What’s one thing you wish people would ask you about?
22. What’s something going on in your life that you haven’t had a chance to talk about?
23. What happened with [bring up something you had a conversation about recently, e.g., the dinner party they were planning, the puppy they were thinking about getting, etc.]?
24. How is your [family member] doing?
25. Offer a sincere compliment!
Skip the Small Talk
Better questions. Less awkward silence.
Choose your audience and how adventurous
you’re feeling.
YOUR CONVERSATION STARTER
Click below to get started.
An original conversation tool from
Mind Remake Project. No weather
discussions required.
Bonus Section: Conversation Starters with Your Manager
For a boss, keep them warm and personable without getting too personal:
1. How’s your week going so far?
2. What’s been keeping you busiest lately?
3. Is there anything you’re looking forward to this week?
4. Has it been a pretty manageable week, or one of those weeks?
5. What’s been the highlight of your week so far?
These work because they give your boss something specific to respond to without putting them in the awkward position of having to disclose anything personal.
Bonus Section: Conversation Starters for Someone You’re Just Getting to Know (Including First Date Questions!)
1. What’s something you could talk about for hours?
2. What does your perfect weekend look like?
3. What’s something you’re looking forward to right now?
4. What’s something people are usually surprised to learn about you?
5. What have you been really into lately?
These stay light enough for a newer relationship but give the other person room to share something more interesting than the usual job, weather, and weekend small talk.
After months of writing, editing (not always well), second-guessing myself, and one too many late nights, Happy AF (And Flourishing) is officially live.
This is a book that’s meant to be used, not sit on a shelf, even (perhaps especially) when you’re feeling exhausted, burned out, or skeptical about happiness as a whole.
What makes Happy AF different?
No long chapters; instead, you’ll find short daily practices with suggestions on ways to complete them and helpful tools.
No toxic positivity or BS: clear “Why it works” explanations (scientific research to back up the practices).
Designed for helpers, educators, overthinkers, and people who want something practical without being preachy or for anyone who wants a little more happiness in their life.
Flexible enough for clinicians to use on their own or with clients/patients.
Just to be clear, despite the title, this book contains zero profanity. (No actual curse words were used in the making of this book.)
Companion page with free tools
To make it even more user-friendly, I created a companion page with printable tools, sample pages, downloads, and updates that expand on the book.
If you’ve already picked up my book, thank you, truly. If you’re still deciding, the companion page will give you a good feel for whether it’s right for you.
If this book or the companion resources help even a little, reviews and shares make a bigger difference than you might realize.
What’s coming next?
A companion journal is in the works. If you’re actually using the book, this guided journal is for you.
I promise it’s just as helpful, engaging, poorly edited, and steeped in science as the book. Be the first to know when it goes live by subscribing (to your right) or checking the companion page regularly. (I recommend bookmarking it!)
If you’re drawn to bite-sized learning that actually sticks, TED-Ed is a goldmine. Their short, visually engaging lessons spark insight, challenge assumptions, and make complex ideas feel accessible. In this post, I’ve curated 20 of the best TED-Eds for personal growth and learning—handpicked for their clarity, depth, and real-world relevance. Whether you’re a counselor, educator, student, or just someone who loves to learn, these videos can be used for self-reflection, growth, discussion, or as powerful supplements in the classroom or therapy office.
1. The best way to become good at something
2. Do you really need to take 10,000 steps a day?
3. 3 tips to boost your confidence
4. Can saunas make you live longer?
5. How some friendships last — and others don’t
6. How to overcome your mistakes
7. Is it normal to talk to yourself?
8. How to communicate clearly
9. How stress affects your body
10. What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it?
11. How to spot a misleading graph
12. How to spot a pyramid scheme
13. The language of lying
14. What is schizophrenia?
15. What happens to your brain without any social contact?
16. What would happen if everyone stopped eating meat tomorrow?
17. What actually causes high cholesterol?
18. Can you change your sleep schedule?
19. How to enter flow state
20. How to stay calm under pressure
Conclusion
If you’ve made it this far, you’re clearly someone who cares about growing, thinking differently, and leveling up your life. These TED-Ed lessons aren’t just “videos to watch”; they’re quick hits of insight that can change the way you understand yourself and the world. Pick one today and actually apply something from it — even a small shift adds up. Keep exploring, keep questioning, and keep building a life that feels intentional instead of accidental. You deserve that kind of momentum.
I didn’t realize I was burned out until my body made the decision for me. I kept insisting I was “fine.” I told myself I just needed a couple weeks off, stronger coffee, a different supervisor, maybe a second glass of wine at night to take the edge off. Meanwhile, my brain was dimming like a house with faulty wiring, and my body was throwing up red flags I refused to see.
Burnout doesn’t announce itself. It creeps in quietly. And by the time you notice, you’re already living inside it—or you’re on your couch having a stress-induced stroke, not realizing what’s happening until the next day when half your face won’t move and your left side isn’t responding.
Burnout isn’t just being exhausted or stressed out. It’s a full-body shutdown disguised as “pushing through.” It’s your mind, your nervous system, and your physical health quietly collapsing under demands that were never sustainable.
We like to pretend burnout is a personal failure — like if we’d just been stronger, more organized, more resilient, we could have handled it. But burnout isn’t a lack of grit. It’s a physiological response to chronic stress, unmet needs, toxic systems, and emotional overload. It’s what happens when your life keeps asking you to be superhuman and you keep trying to oblige.
Common Signs of Burnout
Exhaustion: physical, emotional, and mental depletion that rest doesn’t fix.
Cynicism or Detachment: withdrawing, feeling disconnected from work or people, going through the motions.
Reduced Sense of Effectiveness: feeling like nothing you do matters or that you’re failing even when you’re not.
Irritability or Emotional Blunting: snapping over small things, or feeling nothing at all.
Sleep Disruption: insomnia, oversleeping, or restless sleep.
Burnout shows up in ways that are easy to dismiss at first. Maybe you start waking up already tired, no matter how much you sleep. Maybe everything feels heavier than it should — answering emails, making decisions, showing up, being “on.” Your patience gets thinner. Tasks you used to handle without effort now feel impossible. You might feel numb, irritable, detached, or like you’re watching your life from the outside.
Creativity dries up. Joy feels distant. Your body may start chiming in: headaches, muscle tension, chest tightness, gut issues, insomnia. You keep pushing, because that’s what you do—until your brain and body stop negotiating and start shutting things down.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not imagining it. There’s data to back exactly how this happens.
A 2020 study found that work stress and burnout feed into each other, but not equally; burnout actually increases work stress more than work stress increases burnout. In other words, once you’re burned out, nearly everything at work feels harder. The small things feel like big things. The doable becomes overwhelming.
Another study showed that even the commute can be a burnout trigger—the longer, more unpredictable, or more draining the commute, the more stress accumulates before you even walk through the door. It’s not just the job; it’s the entire ecosystem around it.
The body is often the first to call out what the mind refuses to see. My wake-up call was an ischemic stroke. I don’t say that for shock value—just to illustrate how far burnout can push you. Before it gets there, you might…
Be unable to sustain your usual pace—everything takes more energy than it should.
Have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up exhausted anyway.
Notice your body reacting—headaches, nausea, gut issues, tension you can’t stretch away.
Have other physical symptoms show up without a clear medical cause.
How Burnout Changes You (The Part No One Talks About)
Burnout doesn’t just make you tired. It changes who you are while you’re still trying to pretend everything is fine. You start cutting corners on the things that used to matter to you. You stop reaching out. You stop laughing as easily. Your world gets smaller. You become someone who runs on autopilot — doing what needs to be done, exactly how it needs to be done, but without the spark you used to have.
And if you work in a helping profession, you feel guilty about it. You’re supposed to care. You’re supposed to be present. But when you’re burned out, empathy feels expensive. Your emotional bandwidth narrows. You still show up, but the part of you that connects — the part that makes you good at what you do — feels muted. And that loss is its own kind of grief.
Risk Factors for Burnout
Gallup identifies five major factors that significantly increase your risk of burnout:
1. Unfair treatment at work
2. Unmanageable workload
3. Lack of role clarity
4. Lack of communication and support from manager
5. Unreasonable time pressure
Preventing Burnout
Preventing burnout isn’t about quick fixes or productivity hacks. It’s about recognizing your limits and honoring them before your body has to scream. That means setting boundaries you actually keep, not the kind you apologize for. It means learning to say “no” without writing a three-paragraph justification. It means taking breaks before you’re shaking, not after.
It means paying attention to the early signs—the irritability, the brain fog, the losing-your-spark feeling—and treating them as red flags, not personality flaws. And sometimes, prevention looks like stepping back, reevaluating the work you’re doing, and asking whether the life you’re building still fits. Burnout doesn’t happen because you’re weak. It happens because you’ve been strong for too long, without support. The strategy is not to toughen up—it’s to stop carrying everything alone.
Healing Burnout
Healing from burnout isn’t quick, and it isn’t glamorous. In my case, the breaking point was a stroke that hit two days after I was demoted, following my report of unprofessional behavior in management to HR.
It starts with stopping—really stopping—long enough for your nervous system to come down from survival mode. That might mean taking medical leave, switching shifts, asking for help, delegating, or letting some things drop completely. Rest isn’t lazy here; it’s treatment.
Next comes rebuilding capacity: gentle routines, predictable days, moving your body in ways that feel supportive rather than punishing, and slowly reintroducing things that make you feel like yourself again.
You’ll probably have to relearn how to do “nothing” without guilt. You’ll also need to examine the beliefs that drove you past your limits in the first place — the “I have to hold everything together,” or “I can’t disappoint anyone,” or “If I stop, everything falls apart.” Healing burnout means choosing your life, not just enduring it. And yes, it’s possible — even if right now it feels like you’re made of exhaustion.
Practical Strategies for Healing Burnout
Reassess your workload and role. Healing burnout sometimes requires changing the job, the schedule, or the expectations — not just changing your attitude about them.
Prioritize real rest, not collapse. Rest on purpose, before you crash. Short, scheduled pauses during the day do more good than occasional total shutdown.
Simplify wherever you can. Reduce decision fatigue: meal plan, automate bills, declutter your workspace, wear repeat outfits. Less mental load = more recovery.
Set boundaries that are non-negotiable. Choose one boundary to start with (ex: “I stop working at 6,” or “I don’t check email on days off”) and hold it firmly.
Delegate or ask for help. Not because you’re failing — but because humans aren’t meant to do everything alone. Even one small shift makes a difference.
Re-establish basic rhythms. Aim for consistent sleep/wake times, gentle movement (like walks or stretching), and regular meals. Predictability calms the nervous system.
Limit overstimulation. Noise, screens, constant notifications, and multitasking all drain energy. Turn off what you can. Single-task whenever possible.
Check in with your body. Notice tension, headaches, stomach issues, shakiness, zoning out. Don’t push through — treat these as signals, not inconveniences.
Reintroduce one thing that brings you joy. Not a whole hobby. Not a lifestyle overhaul. Just one small spark: reading 10 minutes, music that moves you, stepping outside, journaling.
Conclusion
You deserve a life that doesn’t require your body to break in order to get your attention. Burnout is not a personal failure; it’s a signal. A boundary crossed. A story of overcapacity and overcare colliding. If you’re reading this and recognizing yourself, take it seriously — not with panic, but with clarity.
Your body is asking for relief, not punishment. Your life is asking for space, not endurance. You don’t have to earn rest. You don’t have to prove your worth by suffering. You get to choose a different way forward — slowly, gently, piece by piece. And you’re allowed to start now.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was designed for people who feel things intensely and don’t have great models for coping with those feelings. If that’s you, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are excellent DBT resources out there, and many of them are free. The challenge is just knowing where to look.
The skills in DBT are learnable. They take practice. They take repetition. But they’re doable. And they work.
Let’s get into it.
20 Free DBT Resources
Disclaimer: The resources listed in this post are created and owned by their respective authors and organizations. I did not create these materials, and this post is not affiliated with or sponsored by any of the sites or creators referenced. Please use these materials responsibly and respect all copyright and licensing terms. When in doubt, refer back to the original source for use guidelines and attribution requirements.
DBT Self Help | Self-serve resources for the DBT community Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Zen Buddhism. Created by Marsha Linehan, it was originally used to treat Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Now it is used to treat many different emotional dysregulation and impulse control disorders and symptoms.
Free Resources | Online DBT Skills Free videos and downloads to help you learn or strengthen your Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills knowledge and support your mental health.
6-Module DBT Course | An educational course designed for professionals to learn the basic principles for the diagnosis and treatment of borderline personality disorder. There are six 20-minute modules.
DBT skills take practice, patience, and repetition—but they’re learnable. The resources here are a starting point, not a finish line. Take what’s useful, leave what isn’t, and keep going. Building emotional regulation is a process, and you’re doing the work just by showing up.
Welcome to the second post in my NCE study series. Each post focuses on one major topic area you’ll see on the exam and includes short guided practice. Start by watching the videos in order—pause after each question to think through your answer, then hit play to check your reasoning. Once you’ve finished all videos, test yourself with the interactive multiple-choice quiz to lock in what you learned.
This post focuses on diagnosis and areas of clinical focus—two domains that show up frequently on the NCE.
By the end of Part 2, you should be able to:
Identify early signs and presentations of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, Tourette’s syndrome, and intellectual disabilities.
Distinguish between life-course-persistent vs. adolescence-limited conduct disorders.
Describe the core features, diagnostic criteria, and clinical courses of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, GAD, selective mutism, PTSD, and social anxiety disorder.
Explain major learning and cognitive models of phobia and anxiety development (e.g., classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social learning theory, Mowrer’s two-factor model, Beck’s cognitive triad, Seligman’s learned helplessness, Rehm’s self-control model).
Recognize how trauma, attachment ruptures, and unresolved emotional conflict may contribute to substance use disorders from an object-relations or psychoanalytic lens.
Understand the disease model and behavioral models of addiction, including biological predisposition and reinforcement cycles.
Interpret commonly used substance use screening and withdrawal assessment tools (MAST, CAGE, CIWA) and apply scoring guidelines to determine risk and treatment needs.
Describe the effects and abuse potential of narcotics and steroids.
Differentiate among race, ethnicity, worldview, acculturation, social identity, ethnic identity, privilege, stigma, prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and oppression.
Discuss how social power structures shape access, opportunity, and well-being for marginalized groups.
Explain socioeconomic status as a determinant of experience and resource access.
Outline political and rational approaches to social policy development and the concept of lesser eligibility.
Describe permanency planning within child welfare systems and long-term placement options.
Distinguish between developmental crises (associated with normal maturation) and situational crises (triggered by life events).
PART 2: SECTION 1
PART 2: SECTION 2
PART 2: SECTION 3
PART 2: SECTION 4
Click here for Part 1 of the free NCE study guide series!
Click here for Part 3 of the free NCE study guide series!
When most people think of therapy, they picture sitting in an office talking to a psychotherapist. But healing doesn’t always look like a conversation across a couch. While traditional talk therapy is incredibly effective, many people also find relief and growth through non-traditional therapy and alternative approaches.
If you’ve ever felt like talk therapy wasn’t quite enough—or you’re simply curious about what else is out there—this post will walk you through several non-traditional therapy alternatives that support mental health and overall well-being.
Digital Non-Traditional Therapy Alternatives
Sometimes, the biggest barrier is access. That’s where digital platforms can help as non-traditional therapy alternatives.
Headway connects you with therapists who take your insurance—removing one of the biggest hurdles people face.
BetterHelp and Talkspace offer flexible, online therapy that fits into busy schedules.
Online-Therapy.com combines live sessions with structured worksheets, making it a more hands-on, skill-based option.
These platforms expand therapy beyond a once-a-week session and can be more accessible for people who want affordable, convenient care.
Mind-Body Practices
Our bodies hold stress and trauma, so healing isn’t always about words—it’s also about movement and stillness.
Calm or Headspace can introduce daily mindfulness practices to reduce stress.
Insight Timer offers free meditations as well as paid programs with expert teachers.
Yoga platforms like Alo Moves or Glo help people reconnect with their bodies through breath and movement.
These practices support nervous system regulation, which is often the foundation for deeper healing.
Creative & Expressive Therapies
For some, the path to healing is artistic expression.
Platforms like Skillshare and CreativeLive offer classes in painting, writing, photography, and more.
Journaling programs and art-based workshops provide structured ways to process emotions without relying solely on words.
Self-expression can unlock emotions that are hard to articulate, making creativity a powerful therapeutic tool.
Lifestyle & Holistic Wellness
Mental health is deeply tied to sleep, nutrition, and daily habits. Apps and programs designed for whole-person wellness can provide the missing puzzle piece.
BetterSleepfocuses on improving rest, which directly impacts mood.
Noom Mood uses CBT-based techniques to manage stress and anxiety.
Devices like Muse orApollo Neuro use biofeedback to help retrain your brain and body’s response to stress.
Free Non-Traditional Therapy Alternatives: Evidence-Based Self-Help & Mental Health Websites
These are also great resources, including this site, for evidence-based workbooks, worksheets, and psychoeducation, often free or low-cost.
Some approaches may not be mainstream (yet) but are gaining traction:
Ketamine-assisted therapy (in approved clinics) shows promise for treatment-resistant depression.
Neurofeedback and biofeedback offer cutting-edge ways to change brain patterns.
Hypnotherapy platforms (like Grace Space) guide users into deep relaxation and change work.
While these approaches aren’t for everyone, they highlight just how many avenues there are beyond talk therapy.
Final Thoughts
Healing isn’t one-size-fits-all. For some, traditional therapy is enough. For others, combining it with mindfulness, creative practices, holistic wellness tools, or other non-traditional therapy approaches makes all the difference.
If talk therapy hasn’t clicked for you—or if you’re looking to enhance your current treatment—consider trying one of these non-traditional therapy options. Sometimes the most powerful healing happens in unexpected ways.
Disclaimer: A few of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you—if you choose to make a purchase or sign up through them. These funds go directly toward keeping this site up and running. Please note that I do not specifically endorse any product, service, or organization listed here. The links are provided only as potential resources that may be helpful for your mental health and wellness journey.
Guest Post: Introducing a New Resource for Wellness
When we started A Meaning of Life (AMoL), the idea felt at once impossible and completely sane. Impossible because of its scope: to understand human wellbeing in its depth, nuance, and complexity. Sane because—really—what could be more practical than trying to understand what makes life worth living, and then sharing that understanding so others might put that wisdom into practice?
This project began with Randall, our founder, who broke his neck as a teenager, becoming quadriplegic. On the edge of death, Randall chose life—not just to continue living, but to live it fully and to share what he could about how to do so with others.
Decades later—after becoming a PhD psychologist, father, and living a life of many twists and turns—there was no silver bullet. The scientific insights were scattered, the practical applications were fragmented, and the guidance was often oversimplified. Out of that gap came a dream: to create a resource that could bring clarity, evidence, and practical insights together as one.
That dream became A Meaning of Life—a nonprofit and ever-growing library of practical-yet-science-based wisdom for a well-lived life. Today, our website hosts nearly a thousand pages of resources, organized so that it’s personal to you, and you can explore the factors that shape wellbeing in a way that is both grounded in research and deeply human.
Mapping the Web of Wellbeing
At the heart of our project are a handful of helpful mental models: each one takes a different angle of approach to map out the complex, interconnected elements that contribute to a flourishing life. There is the Happiness section, which clarifies the broken concept of wellbeing through both complex and simple lenses—complex like accounting for the inherent tangles in the web of researching wellbeing and providing an overview of Positive Psychology’s leading models, and simple like offering wellbeing in four basic elements: Pleasure, Flow & Engagement, Perspective, and Meaning in Life (the fourth and most important element).
And there are the four Cornerstones of Meaning, each cornerstone itself being a collection of factors that play a role in wellbeing. For most factors of wellbeing (there are 50 identified across the site), readers find detailed infographics, exercises, and curated web resources to guide their journey of learning wellbeing as a skill that can be practiced.
Each section of the site explores one of these factors in depth. For example, our Purposesection doesn’t just define the concept; it presents empirical research, practical exercises, and pathways to integrate it into daily life, making your dream life more life-like. It even has a deep-dive workbook for transforming one’s life into one that is rich with purpose.
Our goal isn’t to reduce wellbeing to a single formula, but to show its complexity—and to empower people to explore it in a way that resonates with their own lives.
From Theory to Practice: The Assessment Center
One of the resources we’re most excited about is our Assessment Center. This is where theory meets practice. Visitors can take evidence-based psychological assessments to measure every one of those 50+ factors of wellbeing, identifying which ones are strengths and which are growth zones. This is an incredible tool in its own right, and when paired with the content on AMoL, it can guide people towards what areas of life to study to get the biggest results on their wellbeing.
The assessments are more than just self-discovery, too. The data (always anonymized) has the potential to fuel research, giving psychologists and social scientists valuable insight into what well-being looks like across diverse populations. In other words, every visitor who takes an assessment isn’t just learning about themselves—they’re helping build a collective picture of human flourishing. And we’re committed to making the data free and open to researching… we are a 501c3 non-profit, and we stand by that intent.
We’re especially hopeful about the long-term research potential. Imagine being able to see, at scale, how gratitude impacts resilience, or how value alignment predicts life satisfaction. The Assessment Center opens the door to that kind of knowledge.
Visual Models for a Complex World
We know that wellbeing can feel abstract, so we’ve invested in creating visual models and infographics to make the science more accessible.
For example, our Crisis of Meaning infographic addresses the modern crisis that many people can feel, but few people have considered in detail.
Our visuals, fridge sheets, and printable exercises aren’t just decorative—they’re teaching tools. They’re designed to spark insight, conversation, and reflection, helping people see the bigger picture while also noticing the threads most relevant to their own lives.
Why We Believe This Matters
In a world overflowing with quick-fix self-help advice, our approach might seem unusual. We don’t promise instant happiness or one-size-fits-all answers. Instead, we embrace complexity. We honor nuance. We believe that cultivating a good life is a lifelong practice, grounded in science but enriched by story, art, and humanity.
And we believe this work matters because the stakes are high. Rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness are climbing. Many people feel disconnected—from others, from purpose, from themselves. In that context, our mission to explore and share the building blocks of wellbeing isn’t just an intellectual exercise. It’s an act of care.
Looking Ahead
We know our dream is ambitious. Sometimes it feels daunting to be building something so wide-reaching as a small nonprofit. But when we hear from people who found comfort in our pages, it reminds us why this work is worth it.
Our hope is that A Meaning of Life can serve as both a mirror and a guide: a mirror that helps people see their own strengths and challenges more clearly, and a guide that points toward practices and perspectives that support flourishing.
An Invitation
If our mission resonates with you, we invite you to explore A Meaning of Life for yourself. Browse our pages. Try out a few assessments in the Assessment Center. Share our resources with a client, a student, a friend, or a family member.
And most importantly, reflect on what you find. Because at the end of the day, the dream we’re chasing isn’t just about knowledge—it’s about transformation. It’s about helping people cultivate lives of greater meaning, connection, and joy. And we’re all on the journey toward that dream together.
If you’re reading this because you’re a stroke survivor—or someone you love is—please know this: you’re not alone.
I’m a stroke survivor. I had a stroke at 42. I was healthy-ish. I was active, I traveled, worked full-time as a mental health professional, and had zero risk factors. It came out of nowhere. One moment I was typing on my laptop and the next, my left hand stopped working. I chalked it up to stress and exhaustion, tried to shake it off, and went to bed.
This isn’t the version of adulthood I planned. But it’s the one I got.
The next morning, I woke up feeling deeply wrong in a way I couldn’t explain. My face was drooping. My speech was off. I couldn’t move my left hand. It wasn’t until I texted my mom—who happens to be a nurse practitioner—that I heard the words: Call 911. Tell them you’re having stroke symptoms. Go to a hospital with a certified stroke center.
I’d had a stroke. A real, actual, life-altering stroke.
Since then, recovery has been… strange. Some days, I feel like a warrior. Other days, I’ve gotten tangled in a hospital-issued gown with my dignity crumpling behind me, cried into my pillow, or peed myself in a parking lot.
This isn’t the version of adulthood I planned. But it’s the one I got.
And I’ve learned this much: stroke recovery is messy, nonlinear, and full of contradictions. You may look fine on the outside while feeling completely broken inside. You may feel pressure to be grateful you survived—even when you’re grieving everything you’ve lost. You may hear “you’re lucky” when what you really want is a minute to process.
Please let me tell you: whatever you’re feeling is valid. You don’t have to be inspirational. You don’t have to bounce back quickly. You don’t have to find silver linings. It’s okay to not be okay.
As a stroke survivor, you do deserve compassion, rest, and room to rebuild.
I won’t pretend to have it all figured out—but I know how isolating recovery can feel, and I want you to know this: you are not the only one struggling. You’re not the only one who’s scared. You’re not the only one who wonders who you are now, post-stroke. And you’re definitely not the only one crying in the shower or pretending you’re fine when you’re not.
Licensed Professional Counselor | Stroke Survivor | Founder of Mind Remake Project
💬 Want to Connect?
If you’ve experienced a stroke or are supporting someone who has, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me at cassiejewellLPC@gmail.com or explore free resources and articles on mental health, resilience, and recovery at www.mindremakeproject.org.
