The Yellow Brick Road Gets Shorter as We Age: Love, Regret, and Real Connection
A reflective, sharp, and quietly hopeful series on love, aging, regret, and emotional growth. Told through the voice of The Cynical Romantic, this 11-part journey explores relationships, fear, comfort, and what it means to keep choosing love as time becomes more finite.
ADHD, OCD and Soulmates
Playing “soulmate” nearly burned me out. This companion essay dives into the part I skipped in the main series: the exhaustion, heroic delusions, and financial tap‑dancing it took to keep a broken love story alive. From commuting fantasies to shopping as emotional CPR, I’m pulling back the curtain on what it really cost to be the hero in a relationship that was slowly draining me. If you’ve ever felt tired down to your bones from love, this one’s for you.
ADHD, OCD and Soulmates Part 2
She looked me in the eyes and called me her soulmate.
I didn’t suddenly believe in The One.
I believed in her belief in me.
Within 18 months: married.
New role: provider, fixer, designated hero.
I treated ‘soulmate’ like a job title I had to earn every day.
ADHD hyperfocus on a relationship looks a lot like devotion.
From the outside: ‘What a committed guy.’
On the inside: ‘If I stop trying this hard, I’ll lose everything.’
Pettiness. Jealousy. Double standards.
My gut whispered, ‘Something’s off.’
The soulmate story shouted, ‘This is just a test.’
Guess which one I listened to?
Pull up a chair. Let’s unravel the soulmate story—and see what’s worth keeping.