Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor is a freelance writer, commercial blog manager, and award-winning poet and fiction writer. He is the publisher at Garden Gnome Publications and assists other authors with digital self-publishing. He invites you to read his online memoir at Taylored Content.

How I Overcame Fear of the Unknown

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fear of the unknown

When I left home at eighteen, I knew nothing about the world. Or about myself, for that matter. My education at that point consisted of 12 years of primary and secondary schooling and 18 years of my dad yelling at me. As far as I knew, my existence was fairly normal.
I volunteered for airborne school, a strange combination with the personnel clerk position I was to be trained for. But I ended up being assigned to a Special Forces unit.

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Persistence and Diversion: My Wayward Path Through College

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wayward path

I had joined the Army right out of high school for two reasons: To get away from home and to earn money for college. I succeeded in both goals.

After two years and 10 months active duty service, I mustered out, drove home to Texas, and enrolled in junior college. It was going to save me money on the front end so I could have more for the back end. Good plan, but it didn’t work that way.

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How I Lost Myself And Gained A Family

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family

My father was an angry man. I never understood what made him angry, but I did manage to pick up on it. As a result, I entered adulthood with my own anger issues and ill-equipped to know how to deal with them. For a long time, I didn’t.

For years, I avoided the “L” word, the “M” word, and the “C” word – Love, Marriage, and Children. They may have been okay for others, but not for me. I had other things to do.

I’m not sure what motivated me, except fear. I rationalized my bitterness, putting up a front that I was perfectly content living alone, being alone, staying alone. Truth is, I was lonely, bitter, and destined to stay that way. Then one day, I decided to make a change. I began to look for a wife.

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