Christopher chose to give up his lust for drugs, after almost losing his daughter to a traumatic incident. Today, he chooses to love himself and be accepting of himself.  Christopher shares the following nuggets of wisdom: - addiction takes the place of love - awareness of self - we are worthy of self-love - arrogance is a cloak to what the truth is - what do we intend to do with our wild and precious life? - find meaning in suffering - be relentless His essays and short fiction have appeared in numerous reviews. He won the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Award. 25 Trumbulls Road, his first collection of fiction, won the Black River Chapbook Award. His latest collection of poetry Music For Ghosts was released in 2022. tags:  Christopher, Locke, writer, author, poet, essay, short, fiction, Without, Saints, 25, Trumbulls, Road, Music, for, Ghosts, story, stories, that, empower, empowering, empowerment, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, encourage, encouraging, encouragement, hope, light, podcast, Sean,