Going through illness & abuse has not made my life easy. If you’re like me, a victim of any extreme adversity, you know how it changes you. I’m not glad I had those negative experiences…I still DO have triggers from what I’ve been through. However, despite going through ALL of these incredibly difficult adversities at a young age…I’m still alive….I’m still here. Shouldn’t that be enough to be grateful for? It is. With the incr...

It only takes one....one person to change your life forever. It’s hard to explain sexual abuse or sexual assault to someone who hasn’t gone through it before. All I can say is that you change. You change how you let people in. You change how you express yourself. You change how you experience the world. That change is forever. So many people take this life changing experience with them to their grave, bearing that burden, neve...

I still remember hearing the panic in my step-fathers voice as he yelled for help. 15 years old; my mom and I run out of our rooms to see the limp and motionless body of my 2 year old tea-cup yorkie, Max, in my step-fathers hands. I’m not ashamed to admit that Max was my best friend. We adopted him the year I became very sick; Mostly when I found myself at home more than I was at school. I lost so many friends due to my heal...

Hey there! I'm back for the first edition of "Taylor's Talk on Life". This series will cover various topics that we all deal with at one point or another. Life is hard and it's good to acknowledge that no one's life is easy. I've always felt that the best knowledge comes from learning from other's experiences (as well as your own). With that being said, this series will be all about sharing my...

A 19 year old. Someone who does not live a normal life. Someone who takes medication multiple times a day to stay alive, battles constant fatigue and weakness to get out of bed, and someone who has to plan hours ahead of time to do a simple task. When most people hear this description, they probably picture someone who looks sick, skinny or unhealthy. It's easy to get an idea of someone when you don't have a picture to...

Now I know what you're thinking when you see this headline. "A real man? Who is he to say what a real man is?" "He's only 19 years old? What does he know? He's still so young!" I'm going to stop you right there with this one sentence. A "real man" is whoever you want it to be. There is no set of guidelines that you have to follow to be a "real man." Some may say, "We...

How many times are we really forced to be cut off from the world? No contact with others, no looking at social media or watching the news. Well, this past week, I was forced to do just that. On November 17th, I underwent a spinal tap for something that I thought would be a piece of cake. Most people would be concerned if they knew that they had to get a 6 inch needle stuck into their spine while awake, which of course I was, b...

When you think of a teenager, you probably think of someone who's in high school, someone who plays sports or participates in school activities, someone who has homework on the weekends or someone who hangs out with friends. For most teenagers, that's a pretty normal life. I mean, honestly, that's what the life of a teenager should be. The last 5 years of my life has been anything but that. Since the age of 13 year...