The Chronicles of John Trammell

      2016 was a great year.  It was filled with adventure, life milestones, hard work, and possibilities for 2017.  Since I have not written on my blog for the year, I wanted to reflect on some of the changes that have happened.       As 2015 was coming to an end, I had learned that Executive Headquarters at The Wildlands Conservancy, which happens to be located next to our Oak Glen Preserve office where I was working as a Naturalist, had a position open for an Administrative Assistant.  I love working for Wildlands, and I would jump at anything to have a career working for Wildlands.  I applied.  We had an interview, and I thought I nailed it.  A few days later, our Executive Director paid me a visit at the Oak Glen Preserve office.  He had told me that they chose to go with a different person for the position.  Immediately, I became very upset (internally) that I did not get the position.  Before I had a chance to say anything, Dave said they had a different position for me.  Beca

Growing up was not always easy for me.  Throughout my childhood, I experienced multiple periods of bullying by different individuals.  These periods of time imprinted emotional scars that continue to influence my actions today.  Overcoming these scars have proved to be one of the most challenging personal battles I have ever faced.  My experiences with bullying peaked in late middle school to early high school; a time when many are discovering more of who they are.  To avoid providing more fuel to the fire, I tucked away certain thoughts, feelings, actions, and more deep inside.  Parts of who I am turned into a secret, in which was kept hidden from everyone (except for one person).  Words can never express the amount of emotional stress that followed to keeping a secret like this.  I went through many episodes of confusion, anger, sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness.  These episodes lasted all the way to college.  For help, I turned to the internet.  I began meeting people who were