Motivational Monday: Katie Schock

For this week’s Motivational Monday I did a long-distance interview via Skype with an awesome girl named Katie Schock. Katie was born with microtia and hemifacial microsomia, which as she told me, “is a fancy way of saying that I was born without a left ear, leaving me 50 percent deaf, and also severe jaw problems.” Her humor and positive attitude were immediately apparent when we met up online for the interview.

Tell me a little bit about yourself! Where are you from? How old are you? All of that fun stuff

“I’m from Birmingham, Alabama. Not the deep South. I don’t live in a barn. I am a senior in high school right now, so I will graduate this year, and then I have to go on and figure out my life from there. I have always been interested in studying law, but we will see!”

What is the greatest adversity that you face?

“I would say that it’s not actually having the disability, but probably trying to fit in with others and feel ‘normal.’ But as far as my disability goes, I was born without a left ear, there’s not even a hole, so that results in 50 percent hearing loss. I was also born with hemifacial microsomia, I know that is a big mouthful, but it means my jaw doesn’t meet all the way. I have had six major reconstructive surgeries, where they broke the bones in my face to fix my jaw problems.”

How does this adversity impact you on a daily basis?

“On a daily basis, like at school, if there are a whole bunch of people around, I can’t always hear what people are saying to me, and then they get pissed off because I have to say ‘what?’ like five times. There is also the social aspect, because if I have my hair up, people always ask about my ear.”

How do you deal with those questions?

“If people are nice about it or I can tell they are just curious, I am nice back to them. But if they are rude, I usually reply with a rude answer.”

How do you overcome your adversity and live positively?

“You have to realize that even though some abilities are going to be taken away or disabled, that creates an opportunity for you to showcase other abilities that you might have. Also, just realizing that [adversity] can give you a different perspective on life. If you accept it, you can help others that might not be able to accept their own problems.”

Where do you find inspiration?

“Seeing other people who are happy, and seeing other people overcome their own problems. Also, my family and my friends. They are always there to support me and make sure that I don’t ever use my disability as a crutch.”

What makes you laugh?

“Myself. I make myself laugh a lot. Also, other people’s stupidity.”

Thanks Katie for being awesome and letting us interview you!

Motivational Monday: Andrew Gelb


For this week’s Motivational Monday, we had the opportunity to talk to a very insightful individual named Andrew Gelb, a 22-year-old with Type 1 Diabetes, who is, as he puts it, “finishing college and figuring out my life.” Andrew has an awesome perspective on life that we’re excited to share!

Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. Since I was 18, I’ve been going to college in Oneonta, New York, four hours away.

What is the greatest adversity that you face?
The greatest adversity in my life is my diabetes. I’ve had Type 1 Diabetes since I was 12 years old, almost a decade now, and it has never been an easy thing to manage.

How would you describe your adversity to someone that may have never heard of it before?
Originally, I had to take shots of insulin as the cells in my pancreas that normally make it stopped. After a few years of that, I went on an insulin pump, which made things a bit easier, but hasn’t removed the challenge.

How does this adversity impact you on a daily basis?
Any time I want to eat, I should be checking my blood sugar, counting my carbs, and delivering insulin for what I eat. The strict regimen and ambiguity of the measurements of some food makes it hard to maintain it while not feeling like a sort of zombie. And then when I don’t, and my sugars aren’t good, there are all sorts of physical side effects that just generally don’t feel nice.

I wasn’t sure if I should have gone away for college because of my illness, but I did, and I’ve been taking care of it living hours away from home for four years now. Taking on that responsibility after having my parents’ help for so long was a big step, but it’s a challenge I chose, that I rise to meet every day.

How do you think this adversity has impacted your life as a whole?
My whole family is very diabetes-minded, and the supplies all over my house are a constant in my life. My attitudes and decisions about food have obviously been affected, and it’s something I feel will always set me apart in a group; it’s a part of my identity. But not necessarily in a bad way, it has shaped me into who I am.

How do you overcome your adversity and live positively?
Switching to an insulin pump when I started high school gave me more freedom and flexibility in my eating habits, though the freedom is sometimes too much. I do my best to eat right, and to stay on top of what I need to do for my health. Even when I’m not at my best, I chalk it up to a lesson learned, and strive to do better in the future. Recently, I switched to an even newer, better pump that has made getting the insulin delivered much more simple, which has given me a better outlook on the disease and my life in general. I’ve learned that everything is about outlook, and as long as I see my life as good, I’m going to feel good no matter what is holding me back.
   
What do you think the average person can learn from the ways that you overcome adversity?
I think that a general sense of self-love is what helps me the most, and is the most helpful in general. Besides my diabetes, there are plenty of other things in my life that I could do without, but I look at the way I handle it all, and I think of the infinite possibility of what I am as a person, and I can’t help but feel happy. I do what I have to to keep myself afloat, and if nothing more, I have that to feel proud of and keep me going further.

Where do you find inspiration?
Wherever I can. There have been plenty of days where I’ve woken up with low bloodsugar, which is something that can ruin my mood all day if I let it, but just the view out the bus window on my way to campus each morning brings my mood right back. I don’t sweat the small stuff, I love it, and I let it fill me with wonder instead of letting it bring me down. Everything has a story, and that fact alone makes me feel like all of the things in my life have meaning behind them, and even the bad parts are things to enjoy.

What makes you happy?
My friends, my family, good food and drink, music, adventure, and love.

What makes you laugh?
When I’m taking things too seriously and I realize it, wittiness, and the perfectness of everything.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Hope and happiness are, like magazines, things anyone can subscribe too if they feel that it’s worth it. But you can only read what you choose to.

Huge thanks to Andrew from everyone at LAMN! Remember, if you or someone you know is a good candidate for Motivational Monday interview, give us a heads up at laughingatmynightmare@gmail.com

Motivational Monday: Shane Burcaw

For this week’s Motivational Monday we’re going to switch things up a little bit and feature a new story written by the co-founder of LAMN, Inc. - Shane Burcaw. We hope you enjoy it and that his story gives you some motivation today!

Here We Go Again by Shane Burcaw

It started with a peanut. Actually, not even an entire peanut, if it matters. It does. Everything matters.

It started with an almost microscopic fraction of a half-chewed peanut. There we go.

Is Shane’s allergic to peanuts? No, I’m not. But last week I had an experience with a peanut that ultimately left me curled up in bed, cuddled under mounds of blankets, feverish, and reduced to a sobbing, snotty puddle of life-questioning tears. 

I’ll explain.

Becca was home on fall break, so naturally I spent every waking hour at her house that weekend. Here is literally and exactly what we do when Becca comes home from college with zero distortion of the truth for comedic effect: 1. Eat junk while 2. Watching Teen Mom, and 3. Making fun of each other. My cheek muscles burn from laughing after a weekend spent in Becca’s basement. 

On Friday night, Becca’s mom made a glorious announcement from upstairs that she had ice cream and would we like some. Of course we would like some. Not just some… all. Thus our routine described above continued, now with a bowl of rocky road ice cream in each of our laps to go with the sour cream and onion potato chips we had been previously inhaling. To my slight dismay, the rocky road was infused with probably millions of tidbits of peanut, which made chewing each bite with my atrophied jaw muscles somewhat challenging. But ice cream is delicious so I was not about to hand over my bowl to Becca because of a few nuts. Perhaps I should have.

Halfway through the bowl, Becca said something funny enough to make me temporarily forget I had food in my mouth. Somehow in the awkwardness of uncontrollable laughter, while trying not to spew a mouthful of peanut slobber on my lap, I inhaled a little too carelessly and that tiny piece of stupid peanut I mentioned earlier shot right down my windpipe. Coughing began immediately. Not self-generated coughs, but the kind that I couldn’t stop from happening. The ones that are our body’s way of saying, “I prefer having oxygen, so unless you’d rather choke to death and die, I’m going to make you cough very hard until I can breathe again.” 

You have to understand that my ability to produce any type of force with a cough is nonexistent. I have the lung capacity of a baby made of tin foil (they have terrible lung capacity, trust me). So as hard as my failing body tried, the stubborn peanut chunk remained lodged in my air tube. After several minutes of probably appearing like I was about to die, I was able to jostle the peanut into a position where it no longer impeded my airflow. The involuntary hacking subsided, as did the stream of involuntary tears, but the peanut was still very obviously in my windpipe. I spent the next half hour trying to force more powerful coughs to bring the peanut up into my throat so I could swallow it. Even though I could breathe, a foreign substance in my lungs spells extremely bad news for me. If I couldn’t get it out, the peanut would sink further down and almost certainly turn into pneumonia.

I coughed myself to the brink of exhaustion. The peanut wasn’t moving and I no longer had the energy to care. I could breathe fine. “Maybe it already came up and you’re just imaging it now,” I tried to persuade myself to calm my flushing cheeks that knew I was not going to be ok. 

I returned to my now melted ice cream and made sure to pick out the peanuts as I slopped the chocolate liquid into my mouth. Our conversation resumed, now sprinkled with occasional renditions by Becca of my pathetic coughs. A few hours later I went home. The peanut must’ve slid deeper into my lungs, as expected, because I no longer felt it in my windpipe, and by morning I had completely forgotten the lung peanut even existed.

Saturday and Sunday saw Becca and I doing a lot more of the same thing we did on Friday night. We joked and laughed, and ate, and lounged, and played with Becca’s new iPhone. On Monday, however, while Becca was on an early morning bus ride back to Pittsburg, I awoke with a cold numbness in my hands and feet. Odd. Especially considering the heavy blankets I slept under. 

I sat in the living room and sipped my coffee slowly, savoring the warmth of the mug against the palms of my hands. SportsCenter told me that it was going to be another disappointing week in fantasy football, but I hardly cared. My mind was preoccupied by a tiny pinch felt just below the skin on the right side of my chest on every inhalation. The peanut. 

Suddenly my cold hands and feet (and nose, I realized) made sense. I was getting sick. 

Alarms sounded. My breathing became shallow and just rapid enough to hide my panic. Maybe if I don’t take deep breaths the lung pain will go away. Maybe I just slept on it wrong. Maybe the house is just unusually cold. “Is anyone else freezing right now?” Maybe I’m just having a weird morning. That happens right? Bodies do weird things; it doesn’t mean I’m sick. But that peanut definitely never came out. How long does it take for a bacterial infection to start? Why does this have to happen now? Why didn’t I try harder to cough it up? What if this is the last sickness?

The idea of the “last sickness” is one that constantly follows me, but makes itself more known in the winter months, especially when I begin to feel ill. Eventually, I’m going to get sick, it will spread to my lungs, and my SMA ravaged body won’t be able to fight it off. Knowing that every illness could be my last makes every illness all the more terrifying.

With all this in mind, I sent a text to one of my closest friends and told her about what had happened. When I start to get scared about dying, talking to someone is the best way for me to calm myself and make sense of things. She advised me to go to the hospital, to which I replied no because hospitals are where people go to die. Maybe I just needed some rest. 

I spent the afternoon in bed, huddled under a sheet, two blankets, and a quilt. Still shivering, and desperate. I wrestled with many complex thoughts that afternoon, but for the most part grappled with the question “why me?” I cried silently because clearly I will never find the answer to that question. The fear of ceasing to exist took complete control over me that day. The world will someday go on without me. Lying there in tears, sweat and mucous, I came to terms with the fact that I might not have as long as I’m constantly telling myself. Eventually though, I couldn’t resist letting myself laugh as I reflected on the absurdity of the entire situation.

From this laughter came deep sleep. 

When I awoke it was morning. Consciously, I made my lungs inhale deeply. No pain. My heart started to make its steady rhythm felt in my bones and throughout my skull. Several more deep breaths. Still no pain. Someone had removed most of my covers, and to my confusion, I was no longer cold. A frantic glance around the room confirmed that this was indeed reality and not a dream. A sigh of unimaginable relief escaped my chest and ended with massive smile. I’m alive. Not only am I alive, but it seems as if I’m not sick. Did I get lucky? Was it a one-day bug? Did I amplify my symptoms with the knowledge of the peanut?

Regardless of the true explanation for my healing, that massive smile would not disappear. For the next half hour I did nothing but lie on my back, smiling at my ceiling and the sky above, enjoying the freedom of deep breaths and the wonder of having another day to live. Another day to laugh. Another day to procrastinate on homework. Another day to interact with the world and the people in it. Another day to learn. Another day to make mistakes. Another day to admit that my fantasy football team is awful.  Another day to make my time on earth as meaningful as humanly possible. Another day to breathe. Another day to breathe. Another day to breathe.

Breathe.

Motivational Monday: Misty

Misty is an 18-year-old college freshman at a small school in New England. She has faced some pretty serious challenges throughout her life, but has overcome them with inspiring optimism.

What is the greatest adversity that you face?
I was raped at age 7, but I didn’t tell my parents until I ended up in the hospital when I was 15. In high school, I started cutting myself, was dealing with PTSD, and tried to commit suicide many times. When my grandparents found out I was raped, they disowned my family. They didn’t want to believe it because they were supposed to be watching me during the time it happened.

I was in the hospital on and off throughout sophomore to senior year of high school, and because of this, everyone wasn’t sure if I would graduate or be able to handle leaving home and go to college. Right before junior year, I was raped by a stranger near my house. I got pregnant and had a miscarriage. Near this time I also developed an eating disorder. The miscarriage and eating disorder are the hardest things that have ever happened to me. Today, I still struggle with feeling guilty when I eat, but I’m working on it.  

How do you overcome your adversity and live positively?
I was really angry at my grandparents for a while for believing a rapist over me. Over time I came to realize that they were just scared to admit that it had happened. Because my grandparents didn’t believe me, I was scared to tell anyone about it because I didn’t think anyone else would believe me. What really helped was the fact that my parents were there for me the whole time and believed me. Also, these things happening to me helped me realize the good in people. Through this, I’ve had a chance to talk to a lot of people about my story and I’ve found a lot of people who have had similar things happen to them. I’ve also met a lot of supportive people. I truly believe that everyone has good in them. With God’s help, I’ve forgiven the men who raped me, and I hope they realize what they have done is wrong and don’t do it again.

When my baby died, I thought it would be better to be dead too because I thought I had no reason to live. Now, I’ve found that I can always find a reason to live. Even if that reason is just sharing your story with someone else so that they don’t feel so alone. There are so many things I want to do with my life now, and so many people I want to try and help.

Where do you find inspiration?
I graduated from high school and am now in college and I seem to find everything about college inspiring. I love making friends. I think the best thing ever is getting to talk to different people and finding out about their story, and what is important to them and just getting to know them.

Having spent so much time in the hospital surrounded by other teens who had tried to kill themselves, I met some of the most amazing people there. I’m so glad that they didn’t succeed in their suicide attempts and this made me realize that I can help others too with what I’ve gone through.

Another thing I find very inspiring is people who have lost a child and have gone on to live happily. I love talking to these people because it reminds me that while I’ll always miss my baby, maybe one day it won’t hurt as much.

What makes you happy?
Music, reading, talking to my mom on the phone, meeting new people, when someone texts me first, receiving emails from people who have heard my story and when people tell me their stories. I also love Disney movies, playing Neopets, and running around.

What makes you laugh?
I laugh at myself a lot because I do a lot of stupid things that I find funny. I’m always tripping over my own feet.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Things aren’t perfect, I still cry a lot and sometimes I feel like cutting. Everyday I still struggle with making sure I eat and trying not to feel bad about it after. However, I concentrate everyday on trying to do a little better than the day before. And when I mess up, it’s okay because every new moment is another chance to try again.

Motivational Monday: Cindy Vidinha

For this week’s Motivational Monday, we sat down to chat with Cindy Vidinha. (She’s the one in the gorgeous flower dress.) She’s from Canal Folton, Ohio and she says she’s 38 years old minus 20. (If that’s too much, she said she’d be fine with minus 17.) She was a single mom of two kids for many years. Though you never see her complain about it, she looks at life in a totally different light because of what she has been through. She faces her struggles head on with a sense of humor. Keep reading to find out how she stays so positive!

Shannon: What is the greatest adversity that you face?

Cindy: I think my experience of being a single mother for many years. I was raising two children on my own with no financial assistance from any institution or any other family members. I’ve tried giving them as much normalcy as possible while holding one, sometimes two, jobs.

Shannon: How do you overcome your adversity and live positively?

Cindy: I always felt that if there’s a will there’s a way. Somehow…the bills were always paid and there was always food on the table and a roof over our head. Even though the numbers on paper didn’t make it seem like that was possible. I always prayed and had faith in God and trusted in him.

Shannon: Where do you find inspiration?

Cindy: My mother. She raised four children and she was a single mom for three years after the death of my father, she always held everything together. She was such a hard worker but she always took time to love and nurture and take care of her children, despite the burdens she was carrying.

Shannon: What makes you happy?

Cindy: Disneyworld! Ice cream…of course. Sometimes the occasional bottle of wine. Sunshine and rainbows. Hawaii. Family and friends. But what makes me the happiest is when I know when others are happy. 

Shannon: What makes you laugh?

Cindy: Well…when I look in the mirror. Just kidding. My kids! They always say things that are funny, witty, and innocently hilarious but they have no idea that it’s even comedic. Babies too, they are always silly. 

Shannon: Anything else you’d like to add?

Cindy: I think that dealing with a lot of death of close family members and friends, although it’s difficult, it has given me a stronger faith in God and life after death. Seeing other peoples’ struggles and their strength through the tough times makes me so happy. It’s one of the biggest things that has impacted my life as a whole. 

Thanks, Cindy! You were a perfect addition to our Motivational Monday’s! 

Motivational Monday: Sean Quigg

For this week’s Motivational Monday interview, we had a conversation with an awesome dude named Sean Quigg. Sean is 18 years old and lives in what he calls the “biggest small town in Connecticut.” Sean has a form of muscular dystrophy, and is a perfect example of someone that chooses to overcome his adversity to enjoy life to the fullest potential. His thoughts on positivity and life are nothing short of extremely interesting, so take a few minutes and read his interview below!


Shane: What is the greatest adversity that you face?
Quigg: My largest adversity would have to be Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, or more clearly, not being able to walk and have upper body strength. Because of this I lose so many opportunities that people take for granted daily. It’s not as convenient for me to stay out past 10PM because I need my father to get me into bed. I can’t get into my friends’ cars. I can’t get into my friends’ or relatives’ houses. I can’t go on the beach. I can’t properly shake someone’s hand, give a high five, hug, prepare food for myself, walk, jump, skip etc. Name a physical activity and I probably can’t do it.

Shane: How do you overcome your adversity and live positively?
Quigg: I have the best friends and some great parents. I’ve been able to do so many great things. Confined to a wheelchair or not, I would’ve had an interesting life. I’ve been able to experience some of the largest musical festivals, I’ve attended crazy parties, I went cross country, I’ve flipped my wheelchair countless time and broke both my arms twice because of it. I’m not trying to list - but somehow DMD or not - I’m able to do just about everything I want, that I can. I’m stubborn, when I decide I want, or can do something, I make it happen. I’ve always been a very relaxed, drama free person and from this I’ve gained so many great connections. I find friends in every community from hippies to metal heads, tea party republicans to democrats, old to young. Everywhere I go I find good company.

Shane: Where do you find inspiration?
Quigg: My inspiration comes from the world around us. I see so many people worse off than myself, whether they know it or not. There are people who go through life able-bodied but are miserable and work every day with nothing to show for it. It inspires me to not let it happen to myself or my family. Every day I try and push optimism on everyone around me. It may seem backwards, but negativity seems to inspire me. I hate to see people down about petty issues. It makes me think about and want to point out how much better we have it than someone else, how a problem that may occur and last for about a minute can be obsolete if you just shut up and think about it vs. yelling, telling everyone, and letting it get the best of your weeks. The world’s problems, and how the people around me react to it - inspire me to just get over it. I have it so well, my community has helped me greatly, and the same goes for many others. As much as there is to complain about, there’s nothing to complain about.

Shane: What makes you happy?
Quigg: My friends! From all of the crazy and exciting things I do, I’ve noticed that no matter what you do - it’s the people you’re with. I’ve been bummed out at concerts, and laughing after getting kicked out of places. It’s all about who you’re with!

Shane: What makes you laugh?
Quigg: Sarcasm, and crude jokes without ill intent. I try not to laugh at stupid stuff though. Two and a Half Men is stupid. People of Walmart is horrible. I laugh with my friends and family because they’re the best and they’re funny.

Shane: Anything else you’d like to add?
Quigg: Similar to LAMN, my friend Lindsey and I run a volunteer project called Spaghetti Arms. My best friends and I go around to different events like Warped Tour and Bamboozle raising awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, trying to get donations for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. Check us out on spaghettiarms.org, Facebook, and twitter. We hope to go all around the US and into Canada with Warped Tour next year, so look for us! Also, find me on Facebook as Seanny Soybeans! Soybeans cause I’m VEGAN XXX!

Thank you to Sean for taking part in this interview and showing us how he lives positively! Remember, if you know someone who inspires you, we want to hear about them! Drop us some info in our submission page up top!

Happy Monday everyone!

Motivational Monday

Welcome to the very first Motivational Monday interview! One of the main reasons LAMN, Inc. exists is to encourage people to overcome adversity using positivity, humor, and appreciation of life. We thought there would be no better way to begin accomplishing this mission than providing you with examples of how other people overcome their own adversities. Whether their problems are big or small, lifelong or temporary, common or unique, all of the people we interview for this piece serve as beautiful examples of what it means to overcome adversity and live positively.

For the inaugural interview, I decided to stay close to home and get inside the mind of one of my friends at Moravian College. Frank DeFelice is a 20-year-old junior studying Business Management and Philosophy. Since I met Frank a little over a year ago, I have been continually inspired by his uplifting attitude and never-ending generosity. Here is a picture of him so you have a face to put with the name while you read:

To start the interview, and this is how all of our interviews will start, I asked Frank to talk a little bit about the adversity that he faces in his life. He began by telling me about some struggles that he faced very early in his life. Frank lived in Queens, NY until moving to Bethlehem, PA at the age of five.

Frank: “I was born three and a half months premature, so when I was born, I weighed 1 pound 7 ounces and was 11 inches tall. The doctors said I would never be able to walk or run or play sports.” Frank played football throughout high school and in his freshman year of college. He joked that he would like to someday go back to rub it in his doctors’ faces.

He went on to reveal that his medical problems were not the only issue.

Frank: “My birth mom was a little messed up. She abused drugs and wasn’t really fit to be a mother. I was in the hospital for months after I was born, but I was released to my birth mom a little before my first birthday. There was this one time when she got high before taking me for a walk in a stroller. Somehow I fell out and she ran over me, which cut up my face pretty badly. Long story short, she took me to the hospital and they took me away from her.”

Frank was adopted by his biological mother’s sister and her husband. (For the rest of this article, it’s important to understand that Frank refers to his adoptive parents as mom and dad.)

Frank: “After my mom adopted me, we used to have weekly meetings with my biological mom, and at one of the meetings, again before I was a year old, she told my mom that she wouldn’t be coming to the meetings any more, and that was the last time any of us ever saw her.”

As he described these very personal details of his life to me, Frank spoke without any sense of resentment. He explained to me that he believes his biological mother loved him very much; she just wasn’t able to take care of him.

He then went on to reveal what he describes as the biggest adversity in his life.

Frank: “The biggest adversity in my life happened almost seven years ago… My father passed away. He was sick my entire life with emphysema, heart disease, everything. You name it, he had it. But when he was diagnosed with lung cancer seven years ago, everything suddenly changed. My whole life turned upside down after he died. I was 14. All of a sudden I had to become the man of the house.”

Our conversation then moved to understanding how Frank has remained so positive throughout all of these experiences and memories. I asked him, “How do you overcome your adversities?”

Frank: “The answer is actually simple. My dad always said I was meant to do something big in this world. He said I was here for a reason. So I live my life for him. To be the man that he fought so hard to raise me to be. My ultimate goal in life is to be a dad. I want to be the man that he was to me, to my child. I look at the example he set and I try to emulate that. I’d be happy if I grow up to be half the man that he was.”

He went on to explain how this mindset affects the way he lives.

Frank: “Last year I was dealing with depression. I did a lot of stuff that I regret. But at one point I realized that I had to stop. I wasn’t making myself proud, and if I wasn’t making myself proud, I probably was not making my dad proud. I changed my entire way of living almost overnight. The future used to scare me, but I’ve realized that I can’t be the best me in the future if I’m not the best me now, so I try to focus on that.”

I concluded by asking Frank a very general question, “What makes you happy?”

Frank: “Music means everything to me. I don’t know where I’d be without music. I spend more of the day listening and playing music than anything else. I play piano, guitar and bass. I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 and I took them until my dad passed away. He loved it. My favorite band is Chiodos. I’ve seen them play live 21 times. After my dad passed away, I went through a phase where I stopped playing music, but discovering Chiodos helped me fall back in love with playing. The New York Yankees also make me very happy. I love having fun, laughing, and being with people.” 

Here is a picture of Frank with his favorite band:

“Anything else you’d like to add?” I asked.

Frank: “Don’t let anyone give you shit. Live life and be happy, because it’s not worth it to be sad.”

Everyone at Laughing At My Nightmare, Inc. would like to give a huge thanks to Frank for sharing his story with us and being awesome!

If you know someone who you think would be a good candidate for our Motivational Monday interview, please let us know by using our submission page!

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