The emotional Fruitcake — one bite at a time!

Jon Acton
9 min readDec 16, 2023

This is a very specialized message. Although extremely personal, I suspect it just might resonate with others for a variety of reasons. I’m not sure if this writing will be motivational, reflective, remorseful or purposeful? Maybe a little bit of everything all dumped into one big holiday fruitcake of emotions.

I have previously shared about difficult health situations, losses of family and friends and even losses of confidence and courage. This one seems to be even more difficult. There is trepidation rising with each word I type on whether to share these thoughts or just swallow the emotions like I have for a long, long time. Another restless and basically sleepless night prods me that I share in hopes this may help someone else struggling with a similar situation. Please excuse me if this message is wobbly, wavy and wandery (is that a word?) The only way to begin is to simply begin.

Life can sure get messy in a hurry. Sometimes there is no discernable reason why, and sometimes a look in the mirror can quickly identify the culprit for the chaos. I wish my mirror wasn’t so clear to see pretty who is responsible for my current mix of maladies. Although I know better, I can make a mess of my mental and physical well-being, finances and relationships. Sometimes that person in the mirror can hit the holiday parlay of what not to do and impact everything at the same time. That takes talent, but not in a good way. I embarrassingly even angrily admit that is me. During this most Joyous time of the year, I feel a…

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Jon Acton

Husband, Father, Former School Superintendent, National Blue Ribbon School Principal, Teacher, Coach, Author in progress