War Stories and My Magic Silly Band

Learning to open up about the pains of war started with a story about my son

One soldier's journey to opening up began with a story about a gift from his son. Petrenko Andriy/Shutterstock

When I was accepted to speak in the red circle for my first TEDx talk back in 2016, it was hard for me to take the stage. The scars from my transition out of the military were still too raw, too uncomfortable. I needed to face them head-on, and I had to do it fast. So I started working with a performance coach named Joe (not his real name).