A Note About Pictures in this Book

Except for the cover photo, all images in the book were taken by the author. As you will see, the photos emphasize nature and beauty, two important contributors to my own self-care. Several of these pictures are from trips I’ve taken with a close friend of mine, Dan Prendergast. These trips often center around experiencing nature, which is a passion of ours.

In particular, we challenged ourselves several times to hike difficult terrain, including the tallest point in the lower 48 states, Mt. Whitney^[1]. These adventures always result in some kind of personal growth and provide a unique opportunity not only for testing physical limits, but also for mental clarity and reflection.

As mentioned in the introduction, the stories and essays collected in this book reflect an adult lifetime spent in and around mental health services. As my relationship with myself changes over the years, so does my understanding of what shapes behavior and what makes for a meaningful existence (please forgive the philosopher in me; I need to flex my undergraduate studies somehow).

The pictures from these trips remind me of my own progress in various life arenas, and I hope they visually express the book’s content in some small way. I found it much more relevant to use these photos as opposed to pulling stock images that might not convey my own relationship to the material quite as well.

Embedded in these images are the desire for growth, the need for challenges in life, the bond of friendship, and the ineffable experience of being surrounded by something so much greater than yourself.