Frank M. Anderson's Writing

Tag: mental-health

  • Politics, Morality, and the Cost of Tuning Out

    Politics, Morality, and the Cost of Tuning Out

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    Why the Issues That Divide Us May Be Hiding the Ones That Matter Most I’ve been thinking a lot about why politics feels so exhausting right now. Not just frustrating—but draining in a way that makes you want to step away from it completely. The kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from caring too much,…

  • Roundup Post: What I’ve Been Writing Lately (And Why)

    Roundup Post: What I’ve Been Writing Lately (And Why)

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    I’ve been writing a lot lately. Not in a structured, “this is the plan” kind of way, but more in a way where one idea leads into another, and before I realize it, there’s a thread running through everything. I didn’t fully see it at first, but looking back over the last few posts, it’s…

  • Tales of a Midlife Drifter

    Tales of a Midlife Drifter

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    I watched a video recently where a guy described himself as a 35-year-old loser. His message was simple: don’t end up like me. Start now. Build skills. Take action. Stop wasting time. And I get it. There’s truth in that. Drifting too long, avoiding responsibility, never committing to anything—that catches up with you. Time does…

  • I Shouldn’t Be Here Or: On Faith and the Never-Ending Story

    I Shouldn’t Be Here Or: On Faith and the Never-Ending Story

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    I have nearly died more times than I can count. That isn’t hyperbole. I’ve been in hospitals, in rapid decline, close enough to death that it stopped feeling abstract. It’s happened often enough that I can’t even give you an exact number anymore. The closest was a heart attack that killed 14% of my heart…

  • Prayer, Mercy, and the Sound of Now

    Prayer, Mercy, and the Sound of Now

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    How U2 and President lead me to prayer. Music anchors my life. It always has. It fills the silence in a way nothing else can, a constant companion when everything else feels uncertain. There are times I step away from it—intentionally, even—but those breaks never last. I always come back. I need it. Part of…

  • Why We Accept the World As It Is

    Why We Accept the World As It Is

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    I want to start with something simple. A small game I’ve been playing lately. I call it watch the problem spread. Next time you’re stopped at a red light, don’t reach for your phone. Just look around for a second. Watch the cars. Watch the people. Most—if not all—will drop their heads almost immediately. The…

  • Life Feeds on Life: The Cost of Being Alive

    Life Feeds on Life: The Cost of Being Alive

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    I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of human existence lately. It feels like the path—if there is one—is something like this: First, know yourself.Then, learn to love and accept other people.Then, maybe, you can begin to understand and love God. I don’t think you can skip steps. I don’t think you can jump…

  • Easter, and the God of Doubt

    Easter, and the God of Doubt

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    I’ve started to wonder if we’ve been thinking about God the wrong way. Not as something hidden from us—but as something that lives in the very doubt we struggle with. That idea would have frustrated me before. It still does, if I’m being honest. Because if God is real, if any of this matters, then…

  • Learning the Rhythm of the New Room

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    This is the new room. Not finished. Not optimized. Just honest enough to work in. It’s where the desk lives now. Where the drums sit close enough to matter. Where I can make noise—literal and otherwise—without worrying about shared walls or quiet hours. A house instead of a condo. More air. More room to think…

  • On Change, Catastrophe, and Balance

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    For a long time, I believed that change meant death—or at least the possibility of it. Not metaphorical death. Not ego death. Real, physical, catastrophic endings. That belief didn’t come from nowhere. It came from impact. From accidents. From moments where the world didn’t just shift, but hit. The waterfall incident. My teeth. A baseball…

  • One Last Session Here

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    So this is my last session sitting in the brain of this operation. This place has been my office and my condo here in Greenville, South Carolina—near downtown, by the YMCA, close to where I grew up. And today it’s making me a little wistful. This space has been a kind of protective bubble for…

  • Big news incoming.

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    Things have been brewing quickly in the mad scientist’s lab of my brain, and the results are almost ready to escape into the world. How soon? Weeks, not months. Here’s what’s going on. Trying to Be Good Trying to Be Good is a small, quiet book.It isn’t a memoir in the traditional sense, and it…

  • On AI, Sloppiness, and Being Honest About the Work

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    When I was a kid, I used to get out of trouble by punishing myself harder than anyone else could. I’d replay mistakes in my head, pick them apart, scold myself privately until whatever authority figure was involved decided I’d clearly “learned my lesson.” In reality, I was just being left alone with my thoughts—and…

  • THE INTERVieW

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    A self-interrogation in two acts.Questions by ChatGPT. Answers by Frank M. Anderson.No softballs. No comfort. No mythmaking. ROUND ONE 1. If The Cancer Diet was written to survive, why publish it? Frank:I’ve always wanted to be a published author, but more than anything, I wanted to leave something for my son. Something he could read…

  • Why I’m a Southern Leftist

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    The more I look at things, the more I realize that communication is our number one problem and our biggest benefit. We’re losing the ability to talk to each other — really talk — across lines of difference. We speak in rehearsed slogans, defend our tribes, and mistake volume for conviction. But if I could…

  • Protecting Everyone: What Marjorie Taylor Greene and James Talarico Showed Me About the Next Stage of Humanity

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    It might sound strange to say that two politicians as different as Marjorie Taylor Greene and James Talarico have both been on my mind. For most of my life, I would’ve counted Greene as an enemy—the “Jewish space-lasers” lady, the caricature of everything I thought was wrong with politics. And yet, lately, I’ve found myself…

  • The Empathy War 2: Charlie Kirk and the Cost of Easy Stories

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    This article is a follow up and expansion of this older article – https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/05/22/the-empathy-war-why-stories-are-the-battlegroundby-frank-m-anderson/ I don’t know exactly when empathy became controversial—but I know I felt it. First as a writer. Then as a teacher. And now as a father watching entire shelves of books disappear from schools. Today, that feeling got louder. On September…

  • The Moon in My Mood: How Lunar Cycles Show Up in My Bipolar Blogging

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    I’ve always known that bipolar comes in cycles—bursts of manic energy, followed by the crash of depression. But recently I discovered something I didn’t expect: my moods don’t just swing on their own schedule. They seem to move with the moon. Looking back at my blog stats, I could already see the rhythm: a manic…

  • What I Won’t Do as an Author (and What I Will)

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    Books are asking a lot of people these days. Time, focus, attention — all of it feels scarce in a world full of noise, streaming services, doomscrolling, and endless distractions. Reading is an investment. When someone chooses to spend those hours with me, I take it seriously. That’s why I’ve been thinking not just about…

  • Breaking Through the Bubble: The Strange Mercy of the Algorithm

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    I don’t trust the algorithm.Not really. But I’ll admit this much: it’s doing a better job of feeding me music I love than most of the avenues real life offers right now. Everyone is in their own bubble these days—tuned into their curated feeds, their scene, their streaming loops—and it takes a lot for something…

  • Mania, Productivity, and the Montage of Joy

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    There’s a strange mixture of energy running through me right now. Mania has me up at three in the morning, typing away, words pouring out faster than I can believe. Thirteen chapters in a day. It feels incredible, but it’s also terrifying. Mania is dangerous. It’s not just “being in a good mood.” It’s a…

  • From The Cancer Diet to The Lying Years: Radical Honesty, Flexibility, and the Long Way Around

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    When I finished The Cancer Diet, I thought I knew exactly where I was going next.I packaged the file, sent it off for publication, and felt that strange mixture of relief and anticipation that comes with letting a book go. The last lines were barely dry before I could see the shape of the next…

  • Radical Honesty – On Politics and Fascism

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    I’ve been thinking a lot about honesty lately — not the polite, softened kind, but the real kind. The kind that risks making people uncomfortable. The kind that might cost you friends, but leaves you knowing you said what you actually meant. That’s the thread I’ve been pulling with these Radical Honesty pieces. It’s part…

  • Radical Honesty—Women and Love

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    I am trying to live by applying the concept of radical honesty to my life. Here is the first of those- https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/08/13/radical-honesty-porn/ Love has always been hard for me.I’ve always wanted it—especially with a kind, loving woman—but I’ve just as often felt like it was unattainable. Kept at arm’s length. Not meant for me in…

  • Radical Honesty – Porn

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    Content Warning: This post discusses pornography, sexual themes, and personal relationship struggles, including references to early exposure to sexual content. Reader discretion advised. When I talk about radical honesty, I don’t mean the kind where you blurt out every passing thought and call it “just being real.” I mean the kind that takes your private…

  • Saying the Word -Suicide- (A Braid with Ren)

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    Content Warning: This chapter speaks plainly about suicide, addiction, depression, and male mental health. I won’t describe methods. If you’re in crisis in the U.S., call or text 988. This is a companion piece to On Suicide- https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/05/19/on-suicide/ I didn’t find Ren by wandering a record store; he found me through the machine. “Hi Ren”…

  • Where I Am Now

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    Lately, I’ve been combing through my old lyrics while updating my Music Hub — pulling out lines from the Incarrion era and holding them up against where I am now. What started as a simple archival project quickly turned into something else: a mirror. The more I compared the songs to my current writing, the…

  • The Spectrum and the Space Between

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    At the table, I laugh at the right moments. I tell stories that are just risky enough to make me seem open, but never so revealing that they could get me labeled. The conversation turns to dating, to attraction, to “type.” I edit myself in real time — trimming pronouns, rearranging sentences, steering away from…

  • Love in the Vortex: A Response to Zen Prem and the Collapse of Dating Culture

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    Zen Prem’s “Modern Love (Part 4): The Uprising of ‘Rather Be Alone Than in Another Relatingshit’” hit my feed recently, and it landed hard. Some men are angry. Others are brushing it off.I flinched too—at first.But when I sat with it, the uncomfortable truth came into focus: He’s not just right about some men. He’s…

  • Life in the Friend Zone 3: The Ones We Let Hurt Us

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    I met her on Facebook.(It’s becoming a pattern—I know.) She showed up in a comment thread. One of those dark little zingers that hits harder than it should. I don’t remember the post, but I remember the feeling—that flash of, “Oh. She gets it.” Bleak humor. Dry. The kind that cuts right to the bone.…

  • Life in the Friend Zone 2: When It Was Never a Zone, Just a One-Way Street

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    We talk about the “friend zone” like it’s some external place we’re shoved into—like someone else stuck us there because we were too kind, too honest, too whatever. But the more I live, the more I realize that the so-called friend zone isn’t a punishment—it’s a perception. And it’s ours. Because when you truly care…

  • Life in the Friend Zone

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    There’s a specific kind of loneliness that comes with being the “safe guy.”The one women say they trust, admire, open up to, call “kind,” “sweet,” and “safe.”The guy they tell everything to—except that they love him. I’ve lived there. I still do, sometimes.And I won’t lie: it messes with your head. It’s not that I…

  • 🧠 Rewriting the Narrator: Why I Joined the Freedom Program

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    Ten days ago, I was preparing to celebrate my birthday with something I never thought I’d live long enough to receive: the quiet relief of still being here. For those who’ve read The Cancer Diet, you know how close I came to not seeing this year at all. The book was supposed to be a…

  • Creation Over Curation: Why I’m Not Playing the Game

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    I’ve published books.Not viral TikToks.Not perfectly packaged Instagram reels.Not pitch decks or newsletter giveaways. Books. And I want them to find readers. I really do. But I’m realizing that I have limits—and I’m learning to honor them. 📉 The Numbers So Far The Cancer Diet has sold 15 copies.Empire, Nevada sold fewer than half that.…

  • On Politics

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    Why I Still Believe in Ideas I’m not a political scientist. I’m not a pundit or a strategist. I’m a citizen—a father, a writer, a teacher—trying to make sense of the world I’ve inherited and the world I’m handing to the next generation. And here’s what I see: We are drowning in noise and starving…

  • The Fulcrum and the Axis

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    I’ve been using the imprint “Fulcrum & Axis Press” for my books, blog, and projects, but I haven’t taken time to explain what it actually means. A fulcrum is the point on which something pivots—the place where leverage happens.An axis is the quiet center around which everything turns. These words matter to me because I’ve…

  • The Cancer Diet — Chapter 13: A Ghost in My Own City

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    June 18, 2025 The release of The Cancer Diet is less than a month away, and I want to give you a glimpse of what’s inside. Today, I’m sharing Chapter 13: A Ghost in My Own City. I’m offering this one without much context—because I think it speaks for itself. It stands alone. And it…

  • Why I Quit Taking My Meds—and Why I’m Back on Them Now

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    ⚠️ Content Warning:This post discusses mental health, psychiatric medication, and experiences with bipolar disorder, including references to mania and depressive lows. If you’re in a fragile state or easily triggered by these subjects, please take care while reading.___________________________________________________________________ I’m going to start by taking the coward’s way out—because the truth is, I don’t have one…

  • The Life of a Bipolar Writer

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    I don’t talk about my bipolar near as much as I should.Partly out of shame and frustration. Partly out of fear. People have seen the worst examples of bipolar disorder and there’s a deep, quiet terror that creeps in when I imagine them projecting that onto me. The word alone—bipolar—carries a heavy load. It comes…

  • What If We Actually Built the World We Pretend We Live In?

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    By Frank M. Anderson Reimagining the Civic Contract in an Age of Collapse Something remarkable is happening when you look at the voices breaking through the noise of modern politics. Dean Withers, a Gen Z debate phenom, and Pete Buttigieg, a calm, incisive explainer of public service, couldn’t be more different in style—but they both…

  • The Empathy War: Why Stories Are the Battleground

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    I don’t know exactly when empathy became controversial—but I know I felt it. First as a writer. Then as a teacher. And now as a father watching entire shelves of books disappear from schools. It’s strange to have grown up with stories that taught me to love the outsider—mutants, rebels, misfits, prophets—and now see those…

  • Radical Honesty at 2 A.M.: The Sensitive Asshole Theory of Writing

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    This is not the sort of thing people talk about.But I promised myself this space would be real. So here it is. I inherited some quirks from my birth mother. She has Crohn’s disease—I don’t, thankfully—but I did inherit a few little joys of my own.And one of them is… a particularly high-maintenance digestive situation.…

  • Kevin Bacon, Cancel Culture, and the Death of Slow Art.

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    There was a time—not that long ago—when culture felt shared. When MTV didn’t just show music videos; it shaped the moment. We all tuned in. We all talked about it the next day. It didn’t matter if it was weird, slick, political, or raw—it meant something because we experienced it together. Now we scroll past…

  • Frank and AI Fix the Universe (Sort Of)

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    An experiment in honesty, outrage, and the quiet human need underneath it all. This started as a game. Just something light. I asked the AI to throw me a few of the world’s big problems and I’d tell it how I’d fix them. It would tell me if I was crazy. That was the bit.…

  • I’ve Got a Complicated Seat at This Table

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    By a Former Teacher, Present Writer, and Longtime Observer of a Fractured System I’ve willingly embraced AI in my creative work. Some might call that selling out—but for me, it was a choice built on trust, collaboration, and survival. This technology doesn’t replace my voice; it helps me refine it. I’ve never been more productive,…

  • The Mask, the Mirror, and the Funnel

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    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the shape of culture, and how we make space for art in a world where the noise never stops. There’s a piece by The Honest Broker that asks, “Are We Living in a Time of Cultural Stagnation?” The author argues that we’re stuck in a loop—a moment where…

  • On Suicide

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    Some truths need to be said out loud. ⚠️ Content Warning:This post contains open and unfiltered discussion of suicide, depression, emotional isolation, and male mental health. It is not a cry for help. It is a lived truth.If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please reach out. In the U.S., you can contact the…

  • May 18: For Ian, For Chris, For the Ones Still Here

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    On this day—May 18—both Ian Curtis and Chris Cornell took their own lives. Two musicians, generations apart, whose voices changed everything for people like me. Ian made anguish poetic. Chris made screaming sound like a form of prayer. They were different, but they understood the same darkness. They gave shape to it. They made it…

  • Not a Brand. Just a Person.

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    Let’s just say it plainly. I’m a washed-up ex-teacher working part-time at Starbucks to barely make ends meet. I sit in my apartment for hours at a time, trying to do something that feels like it matters. I make art. I write stories. I build books that might only ever be read by a few…

  • Bipolar Is My Superpower (And Sometimes My Curse)

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    I live with bipolar disorder. Not in the abstract. Not as a label. Not as a quirky footnote in a conversation. I live with it. Every day. It has cost me jobs, tested relationships, and taken me to the edge more times than I care to count. But it’s also shaped the way I feel…

  • Postscript – The Final Mirror

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    On finishing Unto a Golden Dawn (with help from AI)By Frank M. Anderson This book started as a spark. Just an idea: What if Aleister Crowley and Edgar Allan Poe went to school together? What if they grew up in a world that bent toward the mystical, the historical, the personal? What if the monsters…