When Your Instinct Says Step Back
There’s a difference between someone who talks too much and someone who sets off alarms. The former drains you while the latter tightens something in your chest and has your Spidey-sense tingling. A lady a few years older than me walked into the hangout mid-Friday afternoon. I was taking the afternoon off for the long…
When the Identity (Almost) Breaks
About a year after I was downsized – still deep in the heart of COVID, with lockdowns and stay-at-home orders unless necessary – I took a job delivering refurbished goods to surplus stores. Sales and delivery. Boxes in the back of a truck. Routes. Invoices. Inventory. On paper, it was practical. Income is income. Pride…
The Slow Acceptance That Not Every Hour Has to Be Productive
There’s a particular kind of guilt that showed with me around three in the afternoon. It slides into my brain and asks, quietly, “What have you accomplished lately?” And I can feel the low flame of my brain flickering instead of roaring. For years, I would have fought this hour. I would have forced something.…
Thurmond, West Virginia – The Trains Still Pass Through
Continuing my occasional travel memory blog entries: Thurmond, West Virginia, felt like walking into a paused sentence. The buildings still stand in a straight line along the railroad tracks, their wooden facades facing forward as if waiting for something. But the motion that once defined the town is gone. Its population is five people. Yes,…
Exploring Mississippi’s Legendary Crossroads
Continuing my travel journal: Not far from Money, Mississippi – just a short drive across the same flat Delta landscape – I found myself chasing a very different ghost. Where Money carries the weight of documented history, the Delta’s crossroads carry myth. Somewhere near the intersection of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the…
A Visit To Money, Mississippi
Some places one visits hum with energy and life. Others feel as though they breathe through memory alone. I had read about the town for years because of the tragic story of Emmett Till, but reading about history and standing inside it are two entirely different experiences. Driving toward Money several years ago felt less…
Why Regulars Don’t Want to Be Your Music Consultant
There’s a certain unspoken contract when you’re a regular at a hangout. You show up. You’re polite, and you tip well. You don’t ask for favors but it’s nice when someone goes out of their way for you because you are a regular. You don’t make anyone’s job harder than it needs to be. You…
Where Does It Say I Have to Respond on Your Timetable?
Somewhere along the way, we quietly rewrote the rules of availability. I’m talking about outside of work, though, in a way, it can apply to work. Not in a meeting. Not in a handbook. Not even in a conversation anyone remembers agreeing to. It just sort of happened. If you have a phone, you’re reachable.…
Turning the Lights Back On
As noted in my previous entry, winter has a way of slowly dimming the room without telling you it touched the switch. It’s not enough to make you think something is wrong. Just enough that everything feels a little flatter, a little heavier, a little slower. You’re still functioning. You’re still getting things done. But…
Not Depressed, Just Dimmed
January has a way of turning life’s dimmer switch down without asking permission. Not off. Not dark. Just… lower. That’s the best way I can describe winter when you live in quiet cottage country and work from home. The days aren’t dramatic enough to feel like a crisis, but they’re heavy enough to feel different.…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
johnberkovich.com 