Becoming Coco

In the wake of the pandemic, government agencies are struggling with debt and deficits after providing more aid than ever before, but they have found a way to earn it back, and it’s going to cost you. Through my own experience with the Tennessee State Unemployment agency I’ve uncovered a disturbing truth: some unemployment agencies are using scare tactics and bullying to demand seemingly random people who received unemployment in 2020 to return their funds years later. This is the story of how I was demanded to repay $10,300, uncovering a web of bureaucracy and sinister practices across multiple states. When COVID-19 hit, it turned the world and the economy upside down. In the U.S., unemployment skyrocketed as people were told to shelter in place. Only essential workers kept their jobs. I worked at Starbucks, one of the few businesses that stayed open, though many of its locations temporarily closed. For one month we were sent home with a reduced pay stipend and then we returned to w

Warning this is a raw unedited Journal Entry. It shows my mind at a point of darkness when I wrote to release the pain and hopefully find some hope. I don't feel this way everyday, but these are the thoughts I have sometimes as a person who struggles with clinical depression and ADHD. This is my mind's journey on a dark day.  What are you supposed to do when you too terrified to go after your biggest dreams in life? The answers most self-help gurus or well meaning friends and mentors give are obvious and I've heard them all before, but they don't actually solve my problem. I am terrified to go after what I really want in life so I self-sabotage every step of the way. All I've ever wanted to do was be an actress. I remember being 10 years old and begging my parents to take me to an audition with an acting agency that was passing out fliers at the mall. They said my brother and I were photogenic and even at age 10 I knew they were lying, at least about me.  I was born

This all started as a question my work asked us at an icebreaker. They asked “if you could design a planet, what would your perfect planet be like?” And I thought about it and I really liked my answer. I’d love to hear your answers too. Before I share my answer I want to share some of my personal beliefs because they shaped my answer.  I believe that there is a God that created everything, and if there is a God, it’s a good God because I like to believe I am good and if I was created by God they must be good too, super good.  And if God is good and powerful enough to create the world, then I think God also has a plan to fix the world’s flaws. Or maybe the world is just a test or preview of something better to come. Either way there is something better out there. I know this because I’ve never met a human who didn’t wish it to be so. If we all came from nothingness and just existed one day why would we get this idea that there is a better place? Some may say it’s wishful thinking, but I

How to Stop Worrying About Money Money is one of the biggest struggles in life that we face because it feels like every time you need something, the answer is you can’t have it because you don’t have enough money. You need to eat healthier but can’t afford it because whole foods are expensive. You need to lose weight but can’t afford a gym membership, running shoes, or weights. You want to make friends, but you can’t afford to go out. You need therapy, but you can’t afford health insurance, or you have health insurance, but it's still too expensive. Life gets very discouraging really quick when you realize all your goals could be better achieved if you had more money. But to get more money, you often need things like confidence, skills, and knowledge, which usually can be gotten with things that cost money. It's a really discouraging trap. There are plenty of videos out there that talk about how to make more money and better manage the money you have, but those steps take time,